Last chance to be serenaded at Brisbane Festival
Turning up unannounced in suburbs all over town for Brisbane Festival’s Street Serenades has been a joy for Brisbane performer Emma Dean and her band. Their show is called Hot Mess Mama and, frankly, the frontwoman is trashy. On purpose.
Brisbane Festival
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Turning up unannounced in suburbs all over town for Brisbane Festival’s Street Serenades has been a joy for Brisbane performer Emma Dean and her band. Their show is called Hot Mess Mama and, frankly, the frontwoman is trashy. On purpose.
This is a much shorter version of a cabaret show written by Dean and playwright Kathryn-Lyall Watson. It has an environmental message and on stage Dean wears a dress made of rubbish.
“It’s a weird ballgown made of trash,” Dean says. “In the show we see mother Earth hit rock bottom and I’m the human version of her in trouble. It has a serious message but it’s not all doom and gloom.”
Street Serenades, a flashmob style program of entertainment, has been the delight of the festival this year. Street Serenades has fanned out across all 190 suburbs of greater Brisbane usually unannounced due to COVID-safe regulations. The festival has staged 573 performances across 244 locations, programmed 120 events – 101 of which were free. The festival also commissioned 28 new works and provided employment for 1002 local artists.
Artistic director Louise Bezzina says she has been thrilled with the response to her COVID-safe festival and there has been strong support. Despite the challenging economic environment this year Brisbane Festival drew $1.55 million cash and $2.29 million in in-kind support through sponsorships, grants and partnerships. The Giving Program resulted in $555,000 in philanthropic support.
Most of this year’s festival has been free with community events such as Street Serenades which winds up later today.
Usually the locations are unannounced but we can let you in on a little secret – Hot Mess Mama is coming to Pinkenba, Nudgee and Fitzgibbon this afternoon so keep an eye out. Brisbane Festival winds up tonight and it was hoped there would be a display of aerial acrobatics but that has been cancelled. So the finale will be Sunsuper Night Sky, the cool laser show that we have been enjoying each weekend of Brisbane Festival from 7pm to 9pm. Not the usual “shebang” according to Louise Bezzina but hopefully Sunsuper Riverfire will return next year.