The annual Anywhere Theatre Festival returns to Brisbane for a fourth consecutive year.
“You can expect a really interesting experience, regardless of [whether] you want to just explore bits of Brisbane or whether you want to see some really fascinating or exciting performances,” event organiser Paul Osuch says.
This year’s festival will differ from the previous instalments with more performances and greater variety. “There's actually 420 performances,” Osuch says. “One of the big things that we're really excited about is that because it's our fourth year there are many different producers and performers that are now coming up with really fascinating shows that are using these unusual locations. So it's not just a play in a pub or a comedy show in an alley. People are now coming up with stuff that uses the space and makes it part of it all.”
Osuch continues: “Drama, comedy, improv, circus, burlesque, music; there's even a couple of online shows again — one that's coming from Brazil — and every kind of performance style is in there, plus poetry and puppetry; there are three different puppetry shows this year!”
The festival has grown from meagre beginnings in 2011. Osuch recounts why he co-created Anywhere Theatre Festival with Alexandra McTavish: “The purpose was that I really loved seeing performances and I know that I hate theatres. Normally the seats are uncomfortable, it's generally very contrived and it all feels kind of false. The best shows and performances that I’ve seen have not been in theatres. The ones that I've seen in theatres I've actually thought would be better if that they actually just put the play in a house instead of spending a fortune and getting a set to look like a house. That way, instead of spending the money on creating a set, they could actually spend it on the performers and the people that created the work.
“The most rewarding part for me is seeing what producers and performers come up with when we've provided this space and this framework for them to create something, and seeing how audiences respond to that. Then seeing the people that come along aren’t normally the kinds of people that go to theatre. Things like that, I think, are amazing.”
The success and scale of the festival has grown substantially, somewhat to Osuch’s surprise. “I had always hoped that it would grow and became bigger, but initially I thought it was going to be a small little thing with maybe ten shows over ten days. It was really exciting to then see all these different performers grab onto the ideas and be enabled to do things they couldn’t do in a normal theatre. This year we had to, for the first time, limit the number of shows that were actually in the festival.
“The only criteria for hosting a performance is that the business, location or the house is offering the venue for free to performance. It doesn't charge a hire fee. We do that because we know that if they host a performance, we'll be bringing an audience to their business and to their door which obviously holds a lot of value. The value for the producers and the performances is they don’t have to pay for venue cost which makes it more likely for them to actually make money from putting the shows on.”
Anywhere Theatre Festival takes place around Brisbane from May 8-17. Visit anywherefest.com for more info.
