The 2015 Brisbane Festival has revealed an unprecedented potpourri of arts and music boasting 456 shows, 7 world premieres, 13 Australian premieres, 4 new commissions and a new Festival Village at South Bank named ‘Arcadia’ that will occupy a site five times the size of previous years.
Brisbane Festival continues to strive to ensure the arts are accessible with the inclusion of no fewer than 164 free events in September. Free shows include a QSO concert Symphony for Me to the Clem Jones City Hall Concerts and Festival showpiece Sunsuper Riverfire.
The Treasury Casino and Hotel will light up its facade with Treasury Lights: with a light and sound spectacular following the success of the Colour Me Brisbane light show on Treasury’s façade during last year’s G20 cultural celebrations.
Velvet
Artistic Director, David Berthold revealed a stunning mix, embracing dance, theatre, circus, cabaret, opera, hip hop, film and visual arts. Brisbane Festival will circumnavigate the globe, bringing provocative and innovative performances to Australian stages from 11 countries and 5 continents. He said, "some big subjects would be explored, including colonial legacies, environmental issues and the relationship between race and authority, but among the serious conversations there would be some serious fun."Stars include Bernard Fanning, Megan Washington, Tim Winton, Martha Wainwright, Tom Thum, Lady Rizo, Marcia Hines, Paul Lewis and Renee Fleming.
Cabinet Of Curiosities
From the USA, Flexn is a new, politically-charged work from street dance pioneer Regg Roc and Peter Sellars, arguably America’s greatest living theatre and opera director, created in an era of unrest following the rulings on Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York.
Exclusive to Brisbane Festival, Beautiful One Day tells the Australian story of the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee in police custody on Palm Island and the subsequent uprisings.
Complementing the theme of indigenous heritage is a collection of Australian, street-inspired shows: Hot Brown Honey’s all-female feats of hip hop passion and politics; beatboxing virtuoso Tom Thum’s collaboration with Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) Thum Prints; and RAW Dance Company’s free opening day dance-off RAPCity.
Music For Little Monkeys
Four outstanding productions, from or inspired by Democratic Republic of Congo, will shine a light on the war-ravaged yet vivacious nation. All are premieres and exclusive to Brisbane Festival
- The staggeringly good Coup Fatal by dance theatre living legend Alain Platel, countertenor Serge Kakudji and 13 musicians from Kinshasa;
- Macbeth recast with Congolese warlords by provocative South African director Brett Bailey;
- Le Cargo by dancer/choreographer Faustin Linyekula; and
- Prize Fighter, a world-premiere Congo-to-Brisbane story by one of Australia’s most exciting young playwrights.
To mark its 50th anniversary of independence, Singapore is also under the spotlight with five exclusive shows:
- The Importance of Being Earnest by Singapore’s 'sexiest theatre company' W!LD RICE;
- a compelling one woman show, Best Of; and
- music courtesy of T’ang Quartet, Margaret Leng Tan and Charlie Lim.
ARCADIA
The new Brisbane Festival Village – Arcadia – will have two big performance tents, fabulous food and four bars, games, 3D chalk installations, sensational shows, mind-blowing music and much more. Club Swizzle and Fear & Delight promise new and decadent shows, nightly in the two tents.Cabaret and circus lovers can also indulge in the boogie wonderland of Velvet with Marcia Hines, the award-winning family show FLOWN from the UK’s Pirates of the Carabina at The Piazza and Il Ritorno, a world premiere work from Brisbane’s incredible, internationally celebrated company Circa.
Music lovers can revel in nightly shows in The Spiegeltent including Megan Washington and 4ZZZ is Forty - a star-studded celebration of the last four decades - and opera experiences from the baroque to romantic eras and beyond.
A State of Grace: The Music of Tim and Jeff Buckley will feature Martha Wainwright, Casper Clausen, Willy Mason, Camille O’Sullivan, Steve Kilbey and Cold Specks, led by Gary Lucas with his band Gods and Monsters.
Tim Winton, Bernard Fanning, Katie Noonan, Jessica Watson, Professor Iain McCalman and Ignatius Jones will join forces for the world premiere of Rise for the Oceans, a multimedia tribute to Australia’s marine ecosystem.
Theatre Republic at QUT’s Creative Industries Precinct at Kelvin Grove, will once again be a pulsing festival hub - bringing an insurgence of thought-provoking and politically charged works with headline acts including Adrienne Truscott. Audiences are invited to linger in the Theatre Republic garden bar with a nightly program of free music and artist chats, and tempting artisan tastes.
Brisbane Festival runs from 5 to 26 September 2015. For more information visit Brisbane Festival website.
