Brisbane Festival is now a fully city wide event
Brisbane Festival has never been more local and with the return of Street Serenades and Brisbane’s Art Boat, the city is being celebrated like never before with 139 productions in a staggering 223 locations.
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Louise Bezzina had a dream. Lots of people do. But as artistic director of Brisbane Festival she was able to make hers come true. Ours too.
Last year she did that with her first festival which was dubbed “Boldly Brisbane”. It was a triumph that defied the pandemic and mined the rich ore of Queensland talent. For 2021 the festival is branded as “Brightly Brisbane” and while her horizons have expanded it’s still a triumph of homegrown talent.
Bezzina will launch her program for 2021 on Wednesday and it will feature 139 productions in a staggering 223 locations across the city. There will be 63 Queensland arts companies involved and 1183 artists, 1011 of whom are local. And this year Brisbane Festival’s largest First Nations program will be presented with 168 First Nations artists engaged across the 23 day festival which runs from September 3 to 25.
Bezzina says her plan to make it a largely local affair was hatched even before the pandemic hit.
“I was always very much about presenting a boldly, brightly Brisbane Festival,” Bezzina says. “That idea came before the pandemic hit. It’s not about being parochial, it’s an opportunity to give our artists a chance to realise their dreams.
“And with Street Serenades nobody will miss out. There will be 190 concerts across the city in cul de sacs, aquatic centres, alleyways, parks, golf clubs. Everybody loved Street Serenades last year and this year we will have artists including Montaigne and Christine Anu as well as Queensland Ballet and The 7 Sopranos and many more.”
For performers such as Brisbane soprano Panayiota Kalatzis, one of The 7 Sopranos, it’s a wonderful opportunity to perform as part of Street Serenades which bears the subtitle At Our Place this time around.
“It’s a great platform to showcase the incredible voices of Brisbane,” Kalatzis says. “We’re all pretty excited to be involved because it’s such a big event. We’ll be hitting the streets but we don’t know where yet.”
There’s a brand new festival hub this year with the BOQ Festival Garden popping up at South Bank for the duration. Free and open to all it will feature live entertainment, roving performers, school holiday fun, food, bars and a mysterious interactive adventure.
The festival kicks off with a very local production, the highly anticipated season of Boy Swallows Universe, the stage version of Trent Dalton’s best selling and very Brisbane novel of the same name. Presented by Brisbane Festival, Queensland Theatre and QPAC that production opens the festival on September 3 in the Playhouse at QPAC.
David Campbell will also present his Back in the Swing show for one night only on opening night. Northshore Hamilton is another hub and will be one of two ports of call for Brisbane’s Art Boat, a new floating art experience cruising between South Bank and Northshore Hamilton. The boat will be home to the Airship Orchestra, a multisensory inflatable installation and Sky Castle, an interactive dreamscape of inflatable, luminous arches and ethereal symphonies.
The most novel show is Let’s Be Friends Furever, a theatrical community crowdsourced homage to our four-legged best friends and yes, real dogs will be involved.
Most of our major companies will be represented including Circa, Queensland Ballet, Dancenorth, Camerata, Dead Puppet Society and many others. The Tivoli will be home to a First Nations led program of music and Polytoxic’s sassy new show Demolition will feature at Brisbane Powerhouse. And of course all eyes will be on the sky for the grand finale ... the return of Sunsuper Riverfire on September 25.
Louise Bezzina is urging everyone to set some time aside to enjoy the festival. Last year it was the only major arts festival to be staged and this year it will be even bigger with all Covid safe precautions taken in consultation with Queensland Health.
“Block out your September because you are going to want to be part of this party,” Bezzina says.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday July 14 at 10am.
brisbanefestival.com.au
YOUR BRISBANE FESTIVAL TOP TEN
Brisbane’s Art Boat
Where: Northshore, Hamilton and South Bank
When: Every Thurs – Sun of the Festival
Price: From $35
This wondrous floating art experience will travel between Northshore, Hamilton and South Bank, immersing audiences in a glowing world and experiencing the Brisbane River in a new light.
Boy Swallows Universe
Where: Playhouse, QPAC
When: Monday30 August - Sunday 3 October
Price: $69 - $99 + booking fee
Boy Swallows Universe is adapted from the smash-hit novel inspired by Brisbane author Trent Dalton’s own childhood.
An exhilarating story of magic and madness, of beauty and brutality, of joy and heartbreak, and of the power of love to triumph over the darkest of circumstances.
Street Serenades
Where: 190 suburbs of Brisbane
When: Every Thurs – Sun of the Festival
Price: Free
The biggest music extravaganza ever to be staged in Brisbane’s history is back! We’re on the road again to serenade 190 suburbs of our glorious city with pop-up concerts delivered direct to your neighbourhood. From concerts in cul-de-sacs, symphonies for your suburb and performances in your favourite park, our new rolling stages will bring music to the streets.
Sunsuper Riverfire
Where: Viewed throughout Brisbane
When: Saturday 25 September
Price: Free
Sunsuper Riverfire returns this September to ignite our skyline and wrap up three
incredible weeks of Brisbane Festival for yet another year.
First Nations Fashion
Where: South Bank Piazza, BOQ Festival Garden
When: Saturday 4 September
Price: $45 - $50
Bringing together a selection of contemporary garments and textiles by First Nations designers, multicultural Australian artist, Grace Lillian Lee, has created a literal platform in way of a runway for cultural celebration. Involving designers from across Australia and 20 local models, First Nations Fashion: Walking In Two Worlds is an exemplary showcasing of Indigenous fashion, dance, film and live music.
Silver City
Where: Rainforest Green, BOQ Festival Garden
When: Saturday 3 - Saturday 25 September
Price: $35 - $40
Silver City is an immersive and daring new work by world-renowned circus company, Circa, together with UK architects, AL_A.
Inside a luminous constellation of chrome bubbles awaits a moving and transforming experience where acrobats tumble and leap. Extreme skill meets bold design in this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Ishmael
Where: Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
When: Monday30 August - Saturday 11 September
Price: $39 - $49
Ishmael is the latest work by the internationally acclaimed Dead Puppet Society who lend their trademark theatre magic to Herman Melville’s beloved classic, Moby Dick.
In this reimagined contemporary space saga, Ishmael recasts earth’s no-longer-vast oceans with the immensity of the universe, and the endless possibilities and terrors it holds.
Let’s Be Friends Furever
Where: Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
When: Thursday 16 – Saturday 25 September
Price: $40 - $45
From guide dogs to show dogs, sniffer dogs to your dog, Let’s Be Friends Furever is a community crowdsourced homage to our four-legged best friends. Melding documentary with video in a theatre-turned-dog-park, The Good Room invite you off-the-leash and on-the-record to witness canines and their companions in all their short-and-stubby, tall-and-lanky, perfectly groomed and helplessly haywire glory. And yes, there will be real dogs on stage.
Demolition
Where: Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
When: Saturday 4 - Saturday 11 September
Price: $45 - $50
Demolition is an explosion of cabaret, theatre and social activism set to rebuild the world from the ashes up. Featuring killer physical feats, daring aerials and frantic antics, this is a s*xy-as-hell, sweaty, and unapologetic reclamation of space by performance renegades, Polytoxic.
Skyfall
Where: South Bank Piazza, BOQ Festival Gardens
When: Tuesday 14 - Saturday 18 September
Price: $45 - $65
Join Queensland’s leading couple of song, Naomi Price and Luke Kennedy, along with an incredible band of double agents and formidable femmes, as they perform
the iconic hit theme songs from the incomparable 007 franchise.
These big swing hits, brass blasts and fresh arrangements will leave you shaken and stirred.
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