2008
Murray Bramwell

With the 2008 Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts over for another two years we have time to reflect on what was and, perhaps, what might have been. And despite Peter Sellars’ declaration, in 2002, that the era of the “big safari” festival, with its big game trophy events, is over – interest in the headliners has been as keen as ever. That is hardly surprising because, although Australians travel more than ever, the tyranny of distance is …

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams
Schaubuhne am Lehniner Platz Berlin
Her Majesty’s, Adelaide. March 11.
Until 16 March.

Since one of the highlights of Brett Sheehy’s 2006 Adelaide Festival was Nora, the theatrically inventive re-framing of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House by Berlin’s Schaubuhne Theatre, the company’s scheduled return this year with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has created high expectations and a great opportunity for festival audiences not only to renew the connection with director …

The Angel and The Red Priest
by Sean Riley
Music direction by Gabriela Smart
Oddbodies Theatre Company
Adelaide Centre for the Arts, Light Square.
March 2.

Lovers and Haters
by Maureen Sherlock and Rob George
Music by Quentin Eyers
Prospect Productions and the Adelaide Festival
Norwood Town Hall, March 6.
Tickets $40- $50. Bookings BASS 131 246
Until March 16.

Two new works in the Adelaide Festival dealing with historical figures have produced wildly different results. The priest in The …

Murray Bramwell

When the Rain Stops Falling
by Andrew Bovell
in collaboration with Hossein Valamanesh
Brink Productions and State Theatre Company of South Australia
Scott Theatre, Adelaide. February 28.
Tickets $25 – $60. Bookings BASS 131 246
Until 15 March.

Moving Target
by Marius von Mayenburg
Translated by Maja Zade
Malthouse Theatre and Sydney Opera House
Odeon Theatre, Adelaide. February.29
Tickets $25 -$49. Bookings Venue*TIX (08) 8225 8888.
Until March 8.

Two keenly anticipated works have been unveiled for the …

Artistic Director Brett Sheehy talks about his 2008 Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts with Murray Bramwell

The Adelaide Festival took something of a thumping in the early part of the 21st century. The Peter Sellars Experiment in 2002, while not a catastrophe in itself, nevertheless unsteadied the balance for a cultural event with a proud forty year history. Perhaps it was the timing – with other capital city festivals on the ascendant. Perth was looking good and Melbourne, especially, was …

2006

Here Lies Love
David Byrne
Ridley Centre

The Three Furies
By Stephen Sewell
Dunstan Playhouse

Macbeth
By William Shakespeare
Scott Theatre

David Byrne is just the sort of person you want in a Festival. Since fronting the innovative, late 70s band Talking Heads, his singular career has continued to thrive with a fascinating array of projects – and his world premiere of Here Lies Love, a song cycle based on the life of Imelda Marcos, written in collaboration with …

Murray Bramwell

From the moment of its program launch in the Cunard ambience of the brand new international terminal at Adelaide airport, the 2006 Adelaide Bank Festival has been looking to the skies. Director Brett Sheehy says he dislikes heavily themed festivals, but from the ornately decorated gas balloons of the opening event, Il Cielo Che Danza, to the centerpiece opera, Flight, the impression has been of things taking off.

And that included the ticket sales, which topped fifteen thousand …

Murray Bramwell

Nora
(Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House)
Schaubuhne am Lehniner Plaz, Berlin
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide
March 11. Tickets $85 – $20. Bookings BASS 131 246
Until March 17.

It has been said that when Nora Helmer slams the door behind her in the final scene of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, its echo could be heard for the rest of the nineteenth century. Thomas Ostermeier’s inventive and incisive re-staging for Berlin’s Schaubuhne company is proof that the play still …

Murray Bramwell

Here Lies Love – A Song Cycle
Music by David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim

Ridley Centre, Royal Adelaide Showground
March 11. Tickets $59 – $20. Bookings BASS 131 246
Until March 14.

By way of preface to Here Lies Love, David Byrne wonders how people can justify “their nastier behaviours to themselves” – but twenty four songs and a reprise later, we are still not any the wiser. Imelda Marcos is both an interesting subject and an …

Honk If You Are Jesus
By Peter Goldsworthy and Martin Laud Gray

State Theatre Company
Odeon Theatre

Murray Bramwell

There is something really fascinating about cloning. Not so much Dolly the sheep, after all, she was only one more of the same. But the idea of cloning something extinct – like a Tasmanian tiger. Or something unique, like a famous person…? That is where Peter Goldsworthy’s intriguingly prophetic novel Honk If You Are Jesus comes in. Published in 1992, long …