A stellar programme for Brisbane’s fifth annual Anywhere Festival will be on display this May, with music, comedy, theatre and everything in-between.
Held throughout the wider Brisbane region and now extending through to the Sunshine Coast and Ipswich, the 17-day festival will be hosted in the most unconventional arts performance spaces, everywhere and anywhere. Nothing is off-limits with non-arts buildings and areas transformed into amphitheatres and workshops.
La Andariega © Juan SantacruzOnstage (or rather off-stage), drama lovers won’t want to miss shows and performances scattered around the region. including:
- ‘Purgatorio’: this critically-acclaimed performance features one woman and a faceless man, delving into the depths of murder, betrayal, love and revenge.
- ‘Awful/ Big Adventure’: The Suicide Ensemble are embodying Peter and The Lost Boys, throwing a Neverland party for the people, a ‘performance playground’ for audiences to experience mayhem and mischief to revive their youthful character.
- ‘Don’t Mind Us’: a real and honest, yet playfully intriguing theatre performance by Logan Youth Theatre Ensemble stepping into the worlds of the mentally unhealthy.
The Moon MenHowever, if you’re after something a little more light-hearted, get stuck into ‘The Gremlins’. Bent Schematic’s family of Gremlins launch their own (almost completely unreliable) budget airline, strapping in passengers (and audiences) for hilariously slapstick comedy. For more comedic sketches and magic shows head to:
- ‘Master Of Delusions’: watch as comedian and magician Aaron Ducker deconstructs all those annoying, overdone magic tricks in an alternate comedy show, perfect for a satirical performance lover.
- ‘Smooth End Of The Pineapple’: for the third year in a row, this hour of comedy sketches, performed by Mango-a-GoGo Productions, will be just like an old-school radio show, entertaining audiences with hilarious voices and sound effects.
- ‘Hyperbole!’: with successes throughout the past year at festivals around Australia, The Sexy Detectives are bringing their new show to Anywhere Festival featuring the trio’s hilarious new sketches, unseen by Brisbane audiences.
Musically, audiences will be treated to a fabulous range of genres and styles, such as:
- ‘The Bossa Nova Sunset Club - Samba Tropicalia’: explore the history of samba, including songs, stories and archival images of the traditional element of Brazilian culture.
- ‘A Cappella Groove’: the popular music style will be brought to Roma Street Parklands on Mother’s Day by Brisbane City Sounds with renditions of contemporary hits and musical favourites.
- 'FLOW - music, movement // underground, underwater’: in the maze-like chambers of the Spring Hill Reservoir, experience the disorienting mixture of reconfigured acoustics, electronics and strings in the location’s unique surround sound.
Retail TherapyFor those who want to get involved, get onstage themselves or don’t mind getting a little bit crafty, there are workshops and tours, including:
- ‘Steampunk Jewellery Workshop’: re-imagine sci-fi and fantasy jewellery with second-hand and salvaged bits and bobs for a one-off creative, futuristic piece you’ll love and wear for years to come.
- ‘Bio Drama/Dharma Intensive’: participants will spend the 17-day festival collaborating with the Sunshine Coast’s Gubbi Gubbi community to perform two shows of a Dreamtime-inspired script.
- ‘Living In The City - New Architecture In Brisbane & The Asia-Pacific’: explore the importance of architectural design and how it reveals the personality of the city it creates during a day tour of Brisbane.
Medievil Market Audiences can also experience the art of slam poetry and spoken word with ‘Straight On ’Til Morning’ and ‘Future/Past/Present’ by Kelvin Grove State College students. As well as circus acts and cabarets such as Flipside Circus’ ‘The Circus Claire Show’ and the return of show of ‘Giggleback Kidz! - The Reunion Tour’ after their hit ABC miniseries (not suitable for younger audiences).
