Micahel Hurst dons the Fool costume for King Lear, three decades after first tackling the role. By Barney McDonald.

The cover of Max Emanuel Cencic's Venezia says it all. The Croatian countertenor is all elegance, in dinner jacket and cravat, in front of an ornate wallpaper that might adorn the walls of a Venetian palazzo.

Pictures from the opening night of the Auckland Arts Festival performance by French pyrotechnical wizards Groupe F

Artist Ralph Hotere, who died last week, has been immortalised by a street artist in Auckland.

Just go see this. French pyrotechnical wizards Groupe F offer a superlative, splendiferous, explosive extravaganza. Artistic director Christophe Berthonneau and his team, and Red Leap Theatre, are to be congratulated.

Walking tours - especially those guided by a remote, apparently all-seeing, all-knowing central HQ - are full of tantalising possibilities: where will I be going? How will I know how to get there?

Cantina opens with a velvety voiced crooner promising to "shoot the moon right out of the sky" and honours that with an exhilarating acrobatics display set in the seductive ambience of a 1920s speak-easy.

Pacific Les Mis musical hugely leavened by romance, humour and funky 70s style

What Auckland's cultural scene does lack, when it comes to Ateed and Aucklanders in general, is a true appreciation of the goodies that are on offer on their doorsteps.

At the North Shore Woodturning Guild, Danielle Wright discovers a piece of the past with a link to the future

The body of artist Ralph Hotere arrived to emotional scenes at Mitimiti in Northland this afternoon.

Thousands of people filled St Joseph's Cathedral in Dunedin today to farewell celebrated artist Ralph Hotere.