THAT’S A WRAP: The Darwin Festival ends for another year and new artistic director steps in
After 18 days of stunning performances and entertainment, the Darwin Festival comes to a close.
Northern Territory
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ONE of the most wonderful times of the year for the Top End has come to a stunning close and with a bundle of success under its belt, it will be back.
Australia’s hottest winter arts festival Darwin Festival tied the ribbon on Sunday night with final acts including the Australian Art Orchestra, Balarr Inyiny, Patrick Livesey and Wil King, Ngaiire and more.
This year’s electrifying program featured more than 150 performances and 80 events spread across 20 venues. It showcased more than 400 artists from the Territory, Australia and overseas.
After six and a half years, this year’s festival will be the last for artistic director Felix Preval.
“It’s bittersweet but mostly sweet,” Mr Preval said.
“It feels incredible to have made it all the way to the final night after two seriously Covid interrupted years.
“To have the pleasure of successfully inviting interstate and international visitors back to the Top End and showing them all what a magical place this is, it’s been incredible.”
Mr Preval said he could confidently hand the baton to the capable hands of Kate Fell, who will take the reins as the artistic director.
Ms Fell said she couldn’t wait to relocate to Darwin in October and begin work on next year’s event.
“The festival is so special and everyone knows that,” Ms Fell said.
“My job is to build on that, I want to keep surprising people and bring new artists and stories to the festival.”
With so many exciting interstate and international acts, Ms Fell said it was a priority to make sure the festival had “a strong local voice that connects with communities”.
After spending the festival duration in Darwin, Ms Fell couldn’t be more ready to pack her bags and get started.
“So many people I’ve met have told me their journeys to Darwin and how it has hooked them in,” she said.
“I can see that for me, I feel very hooked by Darwin already – I can’t wait to get up here,” Ms Fell said.
Local art hangs on the festival
A GROUP of local talented Top End artists are displaying their incredible works as a collective exhibition as part of the Darwin Festival.
The Rapid Creek Artists Collective are showcasing their latest Rapid Creek themed artworks made using a range of textiles like painting, ceramics, jewellery and printmaking.
One of the seven artists, fine artist Catherine Miles, said the exhibition was the first time the crew had brought their pieces together and displayed them as a collective.
“You’ll see lots of native animals, lots of bush and birds, jelly fish and maps created through painting, print, pottery, weaving and all sorts – we’re all very different,” Ms Miles said.
“The Rapid Creek theme shows the reflection of our environment, of where we all live in Darwin.”
With all seven members residing in Rapid Creek just “a hop, skip and a bike ride from each other” the accurate group title makes a lot of sense.
To see the members’ works; Aly de Groot, Katie Bradley, Catherine Miles, Alison Dowell, Russell Mead, Henry and Fernanda Dupa, pop your head into the exhibition before it ends on Saturday August 20.
For more information or opening times for this free event at the Darwin Visual Arts (DVA) centre in the Harbour View Plaza building, click here.
Tim Minchin puts on a show for Darwin
HE’S not sure about eating laksa for breakfast but one thing funny man Tim Minchin is certain about is that there will be a “party” at the Gardens Amphitheatre on Saturday night.
The man of many talents plans to put on a show like a mixed bag of lollies, offering the audience a variety of genres with his engaging music.
Mr Minchin said the show would be a party set filled with laughter, dancing and storytelling.
“I’ll have a chat, people will laugh and there will be listening too because my lyrics are always saying something or telling a story or making a point,” Mr Minchin said.
“That’s my thing, keeping people really engaged with the words because I’m a words guy.”
The crowd can expect two new songs which Mr Minchin described one as a ballad and the other as a “ridiculous funk disco song”.
“I think there’s still tickets, it will be a great night, it’s the first time I played here since 1995 Intervarsity hockey when I was playing left wing,” he said.
In a nod to when American singer-songwriter Kenny Rogers played at the Darwin Festival in 2012, Mr Michin said: “I don’t think we’ve sold as many tickets as Kenny Rogers but we might play the gambler anyway.
“I just walked in and this venue looks absolutely perfect, it’s going to be beautiful.”
For more information on the show or to purchase tickets, click here.
Thunderbirds are back at the Prehistoric Picnic
IF you hear feel reverberations coming through the ground in Darwin, don’t be alarmed, it’s because prehistoric Territory megafauna creatures have been brought back to life.
Apart of the Darwin Festival, all ages can experience and learn about the Thunderbird (Dromornis) which once roamed Territory soil 20,000 to 50,0000 years ago at Erth’s Prehistoric Picnic held from Thursday August 11, to Sunday august 14.
These true to life mega birds function by having two puppeteers working hard to keep the large bird suit upright and moving, as if it were ancient times.
Additionally, any questions the audience and the public have after the show can be answered by two expert palaeontologists Dr Adam Yates and Sam Arman.
The pair have only recently returned from a fossil site in Alcoota near Alice Springs where they were able to extract the bones of a Thunderbird from the ancient Central Australia soil.
Dr Yates said the walk-throughs of the museum gallery before and after the shows would showcase the real fossils that the thunderbird reconstructions were based on.
“I’ll be telling you about the palaeontology of these things, like where the bones are found, how old they are, what they tell us, where they came from, all these sorts of things,” Dr Yates said.
“And later on next week, I’m giving a public talk about our latest museum expedition to our Alcoota where we excavated some bones that belong to these giant birds.”
He said the two puppets captured the essence of the prehistoric creature with it’s “ridiculously deep beak” and their mammoth bodies and long legs.
“They’ve been found in a number of different places across Australia but both of the best spots to find thunderbirds are in the Northern Territory,” Dr Yates said.
“It’s something the Territory can be really proud of. The NT produces the best (thunderbird) fossils by far.”
Dr Yates insisted that anyone who was even the slightest curious about the puppets or the history of megafauna in the Territory, to follow their curiosity and come to a show.
“They’ve got all the mannerisms, they behave like real animals – there’s a lot of love an attention that has gone into this which I’m sure is going to delight and fascinate older people and really thrill the younger members in the audience,” he said.
The two thunderbirds are “recycled dinosaurs”, according to the artistic director, Scott Wright, of the city based international performance company Erth.
He said the creatures were repurposed from previous dinosaur puppets the company had created in the past.
“I think the great thing about this show is that people are going to come because of dinosaurs. But as a result, they’re gonna learn a little bit more about the megafa`una and the creatures that lived here after the dinosaurs, specifically here in the Top End,” Mr Wright said.
“These are megafauna, not dinosaurs. Dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, whereas these existed 20 to 50,000 years ago.”
Darwin Festival artistic director Felix Preval boasted the fact that the event was not a fraud and was “R. E. A. L”.
“The prehistoric picnic promises to be something the young people of Darwin have never seen before and unlike other attempts this year, it’s not a scam,” Mr Preval said.
“So exciting to have Erth visual theatre back in Darwin, it’s been a long time since they’ve been here they’re obviously, world leaders in large scale puppetry.
“People should get on down to MAGNT to catch all of the fun there are still plenty of tickets available.”
Anyone who is interested in seeing these large scale creations and learning about their history, click here.
Cheers to local bevs
A LOCAL brewing company has clinked glasses and said ‘cheers’ to the milestone of being stocked and sold at this year’s Darwin Festival for the first time ever.
One Mile Brewery have three enticing beverages on sale at Darwin Festival event bars – selling alcoholic lemonade, ginger beer and cider with a new look of being sold in cans which the team refer to as ‘Top End tinnys’.
For the past six years, director, brewer and drinkers Bardy Bayram and Stuart Brown have aimed to have their drinks sold at the 18-day festival, now they can crack open a coldie and celebrate.
“Big milestone for us, – I think the drinks have been received very well from the first week of operations,” Mr Bayram said.
“All of our products are made from local ingredients, the lemonade is made from local rosella, all real fruits and locally sourced.”
Just as the festival began on August 4, the next day brought another triumph as the brewery celebrated its 8th birthday.
“Feels great, it’s almost like an early birthday gift to have our product showcasing at Darwin’s premiere festival of arts and entertainment,” Mr Bayram said.
“It’s a big achievement for us, we’re proud to work with the festival while showcasing our product.”
Another local distillery has celebrated a similar success to the One Mile Brewery boys.
Willing Distillery owner Dave Willing had been working on the taste of the festival for five months before he pitched it to the festival organisers.
Coming in cool for the tropical heat, Mr Willing exclusively distilled a native finger lime and grapefruit gin to be poured at Darwin Festival bars and events.
“We wanted to make sure the new flavour was in-line with the fact it was a tropical festival so people could imagine and relate to our tropical environment,” Mr Willing said.
“That’s why we went with native finger lime and grapefruit and it’s all grown locally.”
Mr Willing couldn’t promise whether the refreshing flavour would become a permanent product on his shelves so anyone who was curious to try the troppo tasting gin better make their way to the Darwin Festival soon.
“It’s fantastic for our business to have people from interstate tasting our gin for the first time while at the Darwin Festival,” Mr Willing said.
“I’m absolutely stoked.”
What’s to come?
Australia’s only tropical arts festival will once again take over Darwin in the coming days when hundreds of artists spread across the Top End.
The variety of shows on offer at this years Darwin Festival makes it a stand out.
Comedy, dance, theatre, cabaret, circus, music and magic will collide every day from August 4 to 21.
One of the great joys of the festival season is bouncing between shows after grabbing a bite to eat at Festival Park.
However, one popular favourite is not coming back to Darwin Festival this year.
Hanuman will be conspicuously missing from Festival Park.
But if you are stretched for time here are the shows that should definitely be on your bucket list.
Tim Minchin
MUSIC
Sat 13 Aug
Tim Minchin has established himself as one of the world’s most popular Aussie live acts, selling out award-winning gigs in the UK, US and Australia for over a decade.
His most recent tour has been seen by over a quarter of a million people and is now heading to Darwin.
Minchin’s eclectic repertoire combines music, comedy, and satire to create an astounding performance which always delivers a good laugh.
Darwin local Caiti Baker will open the show with her powerful and soulful presence alongside DJ Lady Kay.
Tickets: $91 – $95
Venue: Darwin Amphitheatre
Sunshine Super Girl
THEATRE
Fri 12 – Sat 13 Aug
The Playhouse at the Darwin Entertainment Centre is transformed into a tennis court in this heartwarming production following the story of Wiradjuri Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong.
The former world No. 1 was one of the world’s leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, but this show – directed by Andrea James – will take you back to the outback farming town where the legend was born.
With its distinctively Australian sensibility and humour, Sunshine Super Girl asks us to consider our nation’s future and the part we can play for the next ‘Goolagong’ waiting in the wings.
Tickets: $15 – $65
Venue: The Playhouse – Darwin Entertainment Centre
Mitch Jones: AutoCannibal
PHYSICAL THEATRE
Fri 5 – Sun 7 Aug
AutoCannibal is a gruesomely funny work by Mitch Jones which tackles self-harm and environmental destruction.
Set in a dystopian future where environmental and social collapse have left humanity on the brink of starvation Jones combines circus, performance art and physical theatre in an unnerving performance which will have you on the edge of your seat.
WARNING: Audiences will need strong stomachs.
Tickets: $40 – $44
Venue: Studio Theatre, Darwin Entertainment Centre
Jaguar Jonze
MUSIC
Fri 12 Aug
Jaguar Jonze has become known for exciting costuming, great lyrics and energetic live performances, and yet the Taiwanese-Australian multimedia artist remains vulnerable as she transforms the toughest of personal trials into dark, inventive music.
Hear Jonze perform songs from her latest album Bunny Mode and her previous acclaimed EPs in a gig that promises to be dramatic, magnetic and a whole lot of fun.
Tickets: $38 – $42
Venue: INPEX Sunset Stage, Festival Park
Balarr Inyiny
NT ARTIST / SPECIAL EVENT
Fri 19 – Sun 21 Aug
An epic spectacle of light, movement and sound transforms the night sky in a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the whole family.
Led by Larrakia artist Jenna Lee in collaboration with music producer Kuya James and composer Lena Kellie, Balarr Inyiny, meaning Light Dreaming, will take place over the festival’s closing days.
Tickets: Free
Venue: Jervois Park
NT Dance Company: WAŊA (Spirit)
DANCE / NT ARTIST / WORLD PREMIERE
Fri 5 – Sat 6 Aug
Presented by NT Dance Company and Darwin Entertainment Centre this moving and epic production exquisitely captures both the pain and relief of a spirit’s passing, and shares solace in the sorrow of those left behind.
Gary Lang fuses traditional lore with contemporary movement to share his poignant experience of grief and joy.
Tickets: $40 – $45
Venue: The Playhouse, Darwin Entertainment Centre
Nath Valvo: Back in the Habit
COMEDY
Tue 16 Aug
Festival favourite, Nath Valvo returns to Darwin with his brand new show.
The award-winning comic has captivated crowds from a round the globe with his trademark cheeky material and whimsical wit.
Far from camera-shy, Nath has an impressive list of TV appearances under his belt having hosted ABC’s Comedy Up Late and recorded an hour long stand up special as part of ABC’s Comedy Next Gen.
Tickets: $34 – $38
Venue: INPEX Sunset Stage, Festival Park
Dane Simpson: Didgeridoozy
COMEDY
Tue 9 Aug
Didgeridoozy is full of music, fun facts and gut-bustlingly funny stories that will have you in stitches. Discover the what, why and how of the didgeridoo and have a hell of a lot of fun along the way!
It has been a fast-rising trajectory for Wagga based comedian Dane Simpson who has scored has appearances on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala, the Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow, Channel 10’s Have You Been Paying Attention.
Tickets: $34 – $38
Venue: INPEX Sunset Stage, Festival Park
Dirt
THEATRE
Fri 19 – Sun 21 Aug
Set against the horrors of the anti-gay purges in Chechnya and brought to life by a team of (mostly) queer artists Dirt traverses the exhilarating course of one night where two people meet, drink and fall in love.
Written by Angus Cameron and directed by Bronwen Coleman (The Actors Studio, New York), this smash-hit queer thriller stars Wil King and their real-life partner, multi-award winner Patrick Livesey.
Tickets: $30 – $34
Venue: Brown’s Mart Studio
Alex the Astronaut
MUSIC
Sat 13 Aug
The 26-year-old artist imbues her songs with equal parts self-awareness and sensitivity, imagination and idiosyncratic humour. The result is a body of work affirming Alex as a truly essential songwriter, capable of transforming the way we view ourselves and the world around us.
Alex’s 2017 hit ‘Not Worth Hiding’ detailed her journey with her own sexuality. The track arrived as Australia was debating marriage equality and became the unofficial anthem of the Vote Yes movement. The mammoth single then went on to receive support from Elton John on his Beats 1 radio show and score #23 in triple j’s Hottest 100.
Tickets: $38 – $42
Venue: INPEX Sunset Stage, Festival Park
Prehistoric Picnic
FAMILY / SPECIAL EVENT
Thu 11 – Sun 14 Aug
Presented in association with Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Prehistoric Picnic is an interactive adventure that sends Territorians back to the wilderness of a distant era.
The picturesque lawns of the MAGNT are the perfect picnic ground for a prehistoric pack – and the whole family is invited to get very close to some lifelike ancient creatures.
With the Earth team and two young local tour leaders as your guides, you can meet the ancient creatures that are remembered in the stories of our First People, including the newest members of Earth’s prehistoric menagerie – the towering, three-metre-tall Thunderbirds!
Tickets: $20 – $25
Venue: Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
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