Adelaide summer festival season picks

Farrin Foster recommends:

Grey Rock (Adelaide Competition): Returning to Adelaide Competition after the embrace of his mild, humorous and affecting Azza in 2018, Palestinian playwright and director Amir Nizar Zuabi brings us Gray Rock – the story of an extraordinary man within the West Financial institution making an attempt to construct an area shuttle in his shed. Depicting two extremes of life – big-scale desires and quotidian realities – the play is introduced collectively by Zuabi’s poetic and poignant scripting. ­– March 9-12, House Theatre

Recalibrate (Adelaide Fringe): A brand new and really totally different work from SA Playwrights Theatre (whose present The Deep North was lauded at Fringe in 2021), Recalibrate is a narrative of female kinship and its many pitfalls and joys. Written by Lucy Combe and nominated for the Jill Blewett Playwright’s Award, it options highly effective native actors together with Kelly Vincent and Emma Beech, and has robust potential to grow to be the subsequent homegrown spotlight. ­­– March 1-5, Mild ADL

Jurrungu Ngan-ga (Adelaide Competition): From dance firm Marrugeku, whose work has been held up alongside the likes of legendary contemporary choreographer Hofesh Shechter, Jurrungu Ngan-ga [Straight Talk] blends dance, sound and set up to take audiences into the fractured Australian psyche. Inspecting each Indigenous incarceration and the indefinite detention of asylum seekers, it’s an pressing name to reconnect with the emotional actuality of those ongoing and infrequently abstracted human rights abuses. ­– March 10-12, Dunstan Playhouse

Michelle Wakim recommends:

The Coconuts – Brown on the Outside, White on the Inside (Fringe): This musical comedy duo is made up of queer filmmaker and TV presenter Leela Varghese and actor Shabana Azeez. The pair first bonded over “being brown” and have channelled their distinctive views and experiences into unique songs, witty banter and cheeky political commentary. They’ve made a reputation for themselves within the Adelaide Comedy scene, and if Sammy J or Flight of the Conchords are your factor, little doubt you’ll get round The Coconuts. ­– The Bally at Gluttony, March 7-19

YUCK Circus: DEADSET (Fringe): Award-winning firm YUCK Circus is again in Adelaide, bringing comedy and acrobatics collectively in an ode to Australian icons resembling Kath and Kim, Bondi Rescue, and “the Aussie larrikin Id”. The WA ensemble is made up of all femme-identifying people – in roles on stage, on the tech desk and in inventive and managing positions ­– and so they endeavour to amplify the feminine inventive voice in any manner they will. – The Vault at Idiot’s Paradise, February 21-March 5

A Little Life (Adelaide Competition): Hanya Yanagihara’s fascinating, critically acclaimed novel A Little Life explores common and timeless themes of ambition, privilege and energy – and now it’s coming to the Adelaide stage. Offered by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam with a formidable ensemble underneath the path of Ivo van Hove, who is widely known for his epic productions, that is set to be a singular theatrical expertise. – Adelaide Leisure Centre Theatre, March 3-8

Love on the Margins (Adelaide Writers’ Week): Randa Abdel-Fattah, a multi-award-winning Palestinian Egyptian Muslim writer, and Sarah Ayoub, a Lebanese journalist, best-selling writer and educational, shall be in dialog about romance, young-adult fiction, and the complexities that include writing non-western characters. Drawing from private expertise, Abdel-Fattah and Ayoub are set to debate how they craft practical characters, the tropes of the romance style, and the way their experiences of “otherness” inform their work. – Pioneer Ladies’s Memorial Backyard, March 5. (Learn extra about Writers’ Week in this InReview interview with director Louise Adler.)

Graham Strahle recommends:

Ngapa William Cooper (Adelaide Competition): For those who got here throughout Compassion, the beautiful track cycle by Nigel Westlake and Lior from some years in the past, its shiveringly lovely concluding track Avinu Malkeinu (Hymn of Compassion) will instantly spring to thoughts. Effectively, they now have a brand new work, Ngapa William Cooper, which addresses comparable humanitarian points by specializing in the outstanding anti-war protests of Yorta Yorta man William Cooper. It was created in collaboration with considered one of his descendants, singer-songwriter Lou Bennett (with further inventive lyric content material by Sarah Gory). The premiere of this work is unhesitatingly my first Competition choose. – UKARIA Cultural Centre, March 5, and Adelaide City Corridor, March 7. (Learn Graham Strahle’s interview with Westlake and Lior here.)

KRONOS Five Decades (Adelaide Competition): KRONOS Quartet will get a simple advice, too. Adelaide audiences have lengthy admired this Californian classical crossover group for its trendy sonic edge and unrivalled innovation in growing new repertoire. This time, they play a retrospective program that appears again on an nearly unbelievable 50 years of taking part in collectively. George Crumb’s Black Angels would be the piece to listen to. KRONOS are additionally appearing at WOMADelaide should you’re headed to that. – Competition Theatre, March 13 (Adelaide Competition) and WOMADelaide, March 11-12

Messa da Requiem (Adelaide Competition): No, Verdi’s spiritual work is neither an opera (as billed) nor a dance piece (as primarily described), however this choreographed model of his Requiem Mass attracts the best curiosity at this competition each for its audacity and its stupendous scale. The stage shall be swirling with some three dozen dancers from Ballett Zürich. Christian Spuck’s manufacturing, first proven in Zurich in 2016, has gained huge admiration for its visually arresting energy. However even musical purists must be glad as properly, with a wonderful forged of singers becoming a member of the ASO on this efficiency. – Competition Theatre, March 8-11

Alison Flett recommends:

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Adelaide Competition):  After the tidal wave of rave evaluations and accolades for Kip Williams’ 2022 manufacturing of The Picture of Dorian Gray, it’s arduous to not get super-excited in regards to the newest providing from the Sydney Theatre Firm inventive director and his workforce ­– an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic basic Unusual Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. With the extra draw of Ewen Leslie within the starring position, that is positive to be a 2023 Competition spotlight. ­– Her Majesty’s Theatre, March 3-12. (Learn InReview’s interview with Ewen Leslie here.)

Escaping, with Shannon Burns (Adelaide Writers’ Week): I used to be blown away once I learn Shannon Burns’ memoir Childhood final yr. The fantastically crafted, totally compelling prose provides a uncommon perception into the thoughts of a kid combating a tough home-life. I’m wanting ahead to listening to Burns’ additional reflections on his tempestuous upbringing and his escape into the world of literature. My high choose for AWW 2023. ­– Pioneer Ladies’s Memorial Gardens, March 7, 10.45am

Electric Dreams: Torrent (Fringe): I do love the magic and thrill of multimedia occasions, and Torrent (an exploration of our relationship with water) has all of the components of an expertise to recollect. Stay dancers leaping right into a digitally-created world, propelled by digital music from dynamic British duo Yard Nule and new spoken-word poetry from award-winning Yankunytjatjara/Kokatha poet Ali Cobby Eckermann: put together to be mesmerised! ­– Mild ADL, February 17-March 18. (Torrent’s director explains extra in regards to the present in this InReview story about Fringe experiences that put the science in artwork).

Katherine Tamiko Arguile recommends:

Andy Warhol & Photography – A Social Media (Adelaide Competition):

A social media influencer, perhaps, before influencers became a thing, Warhol would no doubt have loved Instagram and TikTok. Yet for all his fascination with celebrity life, the artist was somewhat of an enigma. This exhibition presents his hidden side through his and his contemporaries’ photographs – as well as experimental films and paintings, such as his iconic 1960s portraits of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Munro. It promises to be as unforgettable as the man himself. – Art Gallery of South Australia, March 3-May 14

The Umbilical Brothers – The Distraction (Fringe): I’ve to admit that I’d made assumptions about this Australian comedy duo, primarily based on snippets I’d seen of their youngsters’s TV collection The Upside Down Present. That was till I noticed a YouTube clip of their later, adult-oriented work. I used to be bought. Combining virtuosic mime, music and cleverly crafted concepts, it’s simply what we want in fraught instances. The Distraction has them making use of large digital screens, tapping into our screen-oriented lives. Assured laugh-out-loud stuff at an inclusive, reasonably priced ticket value. ­ – Backyard of Unearthly Delights, Feb 17-March 19

Messa da Requiem (Adelaide Competition): Customary music-only productions of Verdi’s Requiem are already huge. Carried out by 200 singers, musicians and dancers from Ballett Zürich, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Adelaide Competition Refrain, with choreography by Christian Spuck, this model of Requiem guarantees to be large and totally unforgettable. With imagery harking back to a Delacroix portray, the extraordinary staging is prone to be a efficiency that may stick with you for a lifetime. A steep ticket value, nevertheless it must be properly price it. ­– Competition Theatre, March 8-11

Suzie Keen recommends:

The River that Ran Uphill (Adelaide Competition): Having listened to Ni-Vanuatu man and consummate storyteller Edgell Junior recount first-hand his experiences of being caught up within the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Pam within the South Pacific in 2015, I anticipate this present by Slingsby Theatre’s Flying Squad ensemble shall be a homegrown spotlight of the competition. Primarily based on Edgell’s story, and incorporating the type of theatrical methods for which Slingsby is thought ­– together with shadow and light-play, dwell music and 3D miniature worlds – it guarantees to move audiences to the attention of the storm however finally ship “a raft of hope”. – House Theatre, March 1-6. (Learn extra in regards to the present in this InReview story.)

B.A.Bz World Tour (Fringe):

Talking of homegrown expertise, drag artist and 2023 Adelaide Fringe ambassador Kween Kong (aka Thomas Fonua and head of native drag collective Haus of Kong) is taking to the stage this competition season with a brand new present that includes two fellow finalists from season two of reality-TV collection RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Beneath: Hannah Conda and (winner) Spankie Jackzon. It’s an irresistible line-up for followers of the worldwide juggernaut that’s Drag Race, however anybody in search of a high-energy night time of enjoyable, glitz, laughs and “insider tea” ought to sashay on down. – Wonderland Spiegeltent, Hindmarsh Sq., March 8-18

Place des Anges (WOMADelaide): The sight of 1000’s of competition goers gazing skywards, bewitched by spectacular aerial acrobatics carried out underneath the celebrities in Botanic Park after which smiling in delight as they have been blanketed by cascading feathers, stays considered one of my most memorable competition moments of current instances – and this yr French firm Gratte Ciel is returning to current Place des Anges not simply on one night time however throughout all 4 evenings of WOMADelaide. It’s a must-see for competition goers. (And should you’re , an article on the event website explains extra in regards to the feathers used within the efficiency.) – WOMADelaide, Botanic Park, March 10-13

Murray Bramwell recommends:

Jesus, Jane, Mother & Me and Bonnie Fechters (Fringe):

I can never go past the Holden Street Theatres program, particularly its sponsored Edinburgh Fringe choices. This yr, Jesus, Jane, Mom & Me by UK author Philip Stokes ­– whose Heroin(e) for Breakfast featured again in 2010 – is the story of a wierd boy and a Mom’s Day like no different. ­– Holden Avenue Theatres, February 14-March 18

And, additionally hailing from Edinburgh, is Morna Burdon and her cabaret present Bonnie Fechters, a stirringly Scottish tribute to ladies of braveness down the ages. ­– The Warehouse Theatre in Unley, February 16-March 5. (Learn an interview with Morna Burdon in this InReview story.)

The Sheep Song (Adelaide Competition): All the theatre program is robust this competition, particularly the excellent and various choices within the first weekend. However it’s The Sheep Music, late within the ultimate week, that additionally catches my eye. From the placing efficiency picture within the printed program – of a sheep standing up for itself in a “two-legs good” type of manner – to the truth that it’s described as a wordless parable of a sheep leaving the flock to hunt acceptance within the wider world, I’m intrigued by this Belgian manufacturing from FC Bergman and Toneelhuis. It guarantees 90 minutes of theatrical spectacle and darkish shock. ­– March 16-19, Dunstan Playhouse

Rizwan and Muazzam Qawwals (WOMADelaide): With a document variety of artists attending this yr, the place to start with strategies?  A characteristic of this occasion over 31 years is that, whereas all the time bringing progressive new music, it has its traditions as properly. From the very first WOMAD in 1992, when the late nice Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan launched his very good Qawwali vocalising rhythms, Adelaide audiences have been drawn to this meditative Sufi artwork kind. This custom continues with the return this yr of Nusrat’s nephews, Rizwan and Muazzam, and their troupe, who will fill the late-night air on Saturday and Monday with their chic sounds. – March 12 and 13, WOMADelaide in Botanic Park

Rachael Mead recommends:

Where to From Here (Fringe): Adelaide dwelling treasure Tracy Crisp has a brand new present and I can’t watch for this recent dose of her witty and insightful Gen-X perspective on the fashionable world. Including to my pleasure is that it’s the primary of a brand new trilogy, so there shall be two extra distinctive Fringe reveals to look ahead to sooner or later. ­– Studio 166, Goodwood Theatre, March 2-5 and 9-12

Adelaide Writers’ Week: Writers’ Week all the time retains my diary packed, and this yr appears particularly thrilling for poetry lovers with Australia’s Sarah Holland-Batt, British Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, and a session on the Poetry of Dispossession together with Mohammed El-Kurd streamed from New York. Kim Mahood, Ann-Marie Priest and Shannon Burns are additionally on the high of my non-fiction must-see listing. ­– Pioneer Ladies’s Memorial Backyard, March 4-9

A Little Life (Adelaide Competition): This epic novel by Hanya Yanagihara burned itself into my consciousness once I first encountered it again in 2016, so there isn’t any manner I’m lacking this stage adaptation by the sensational Ivo van Hove and the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. ­– Adelaide Leisure Centre Theatre, March 3-8. (Learn extra about A Little Life in this InReview story.)

This text first appeared in InDaily. Learn the unique here.