To the uninitiated, the theatre might seem a little daunting. But, in an age of relentless screens and endless scrolling, live performance offers an experience I’m certain we’re all craving — one of connection, cultural immersion, and a reprieve from the digital overwhelm of modern life.
And, if you’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to dip your toes into the world of theatre (and earn some serious cultural clout in doing so), consider a mixtape for maladies the perfect foil.
Approachable, captivating, and perfect for a night out with friends, family, or your better half, this perspective-shifting saga is set to a soundtrack of nostalgia. Written by one of Aotearoa’s most gifted storytellers, the play follows Sangeetha and her family as they navigate the shifting tides of history. In a small Sri Lankan village, songs are the thread that holds Sangeetha’s world together — until civil war shatters everything she knows. Decades later, in Aotearoa, her son Deepan pieces together their past through an old mixtape, each track unlocking a memory long buried.
Poetic and deeply moving, a mixtape for maladies is a story of resilience and a testament to how songs shape our memories, marking the moments we never forget.
Unlike film or television, with its fleeting dopamine hits and ability to temporarily switch our brains off, live performance is a real-world experience — its immediacy and intimacy sweeping you up in a narrative, holding you there until the final curtain falls. And in a city that thrives on creativity and culture, engaging with the kind of art that showcases not only Auckland’s incredible pool of creative talent, but presents an opportunity to immerse yourself in an experience that enriches your mind and invites you to view the world from a different prescriptive, is essential.
So, if you do one thing this weekend, secure your spot to a mixtape for maladies and allow yourself a moment to disconnect from everything else and just be — present, engaged, swept up in something extraordinary, in real life, in real time.
Secure your spot at this unmissable showcase, here.
Auckland Theatre Company presents a mixtape for maladies
When: 4 – 23 March
Where: ASB Waterfront Theatre
