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September 2017
Sultan of The Disco (South Korea)
Inspired by soul/funk music from the Golden Age represented by Chic, Jackson 5 and Kool and the Gang, this Kooky five-piece Korean disco band delivers a vintage sound to modern listeners. Cool costumes, cheeky lyrics and unique group dancing will get the crowd grooving along!! Purchase tickets at brisbanefestival.com.au Venue: The Tivoli 52 Costin Street FORTITUDE VALLEY QLD 4006 Date: Sat 20 September @8PM Cost: Adult - $40 Concession - $35 At the door - $45
Find out more »October 2017
Tetsuya Umeda
Japan’s master artist of sonic visual sensations, Tetsuya Umeda is set to thrill with his site specific occupation of The SUBSTATION from 30 October to 4 November and a one off performance on Friday 3 November, guiding audiences to a dynamic experimental path. Umeda creates dynamic environments with architectural structures, sound and light. His mesmerising and surprising performances produce intricate soundscapes and musical compositions through live experiments with everyday tools and scraps, re-purposed machines and electronics. Umeda’s site-specific installation employs found domestic objects, transformed from their daily familiarity into a transcendent spectacle of the unexpected. Umeda’s work demonstrates elaborate systems of cause-and-effect, with elements powered by gravity, wind, centrifugal force or falling objects, capturing the moments where ordinary and extraordinary collide. His richly dynamic and embodied installations are often situated outside of the gallery context. The transparent process taking place before the audience’s eyes, exposes viewers as both witnesses and collaborators as they engage with his interactive performance pieces. …
Find out more »November 2017
URBAN LAYAS presents The Colour of Desire
Bold, Rebellious and Stereotype busting! Seven female voices performing a repertoire of songs that will shatter your understanding of Indian classical music forever! .............................................. THE COLOUR OF DESIRE presented by URBAN LAYAS is a two hour exploration of female desire in South Asian music and poetry, through a unique combination of vocal, instrumental and dance performances by some of Melbourne's emerging artists. From fun and frivolous to deeply romantic and even tortured, The Colour of Desire reclaims female sexuality in all its hues, puts it back in the bodies and voices of real women, and engages with the question of the gap between the sexually liberated female voice in music and contemporary representations in everyday life. “Our aim is to use poetry and performance to engage audiences in a powerful and long overdue conversation about gender equality and cultural sexual repression, and, in particular, give agency to women of South…
Find out more »Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit
Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit – Jean Tong World premiere 14 – 26 November 2017 There’s something so enticing about forbidden fruit A musical romp better than the best mod-rom-com, Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit takes the star-crossed lovers audiences know and love, and makes them better as starcrossed lesbians. Featuring a Dead Lesbian chorus and some pretty gay songs, Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit is fun, campy, politically irreverent and casually incisive. Writer, director and lyricist Jean Tong explains that the creative team are young, queer and want to party while opening up pathways into shifting the state of representation as it currently stands, “It’s 2017 and the world is still telling the same, tired old story about queer people of colour and our access to spaces.” “Whether on the news or on Netflix, we’re still watching ourselves die for someone else’s happiness, someone else’s comfort. Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit is…
Find out more »We’re Queer Here
Rainbow Alert! Presented by Peril Magazine and the City of Melbourne as a part of Digital Diasporas - we are delighted to invite you to a night of queer art and performance. All year we've been working hard to support queer artists from diverse cultural backgrounds to make and share new work as a part of our rolling edition, We're Queer Here. And now we're ready to share it with you live and IRL. Join us at Art Play on Transgender Remembrance Day for a night of art, performance, perspectives, solidarity and community that celebrates the diversity of the LGBTIQ communities of colour across Melbourne. Interrogating place, home, identity, belonging, culture, race and sexuality, We're Queer Here puts the queer human, body and thinking at the foreground of a night of art, collusion, creativity and community. While content will contain adult themes and discussion (we will provide guidance for self-curating…
Find out more »May 2018
Theatre: Hungry Ghosts by Jean Tong
Hungry Ghosts is a new Australian work by Jean Tong starring Emina Ashman, Jing-Xuan Chan and Bernard Sam that offers an unconventional take on contemporary life as it criss-crosses between the fate of flight MH370, Malaysia’s billion-dollar 1MDB scandal, and explorations of identity. Filled with humour, vivid imagery and rebellious energy, Hungry Ghosts promises to be a haunting theatrical experience when it premieres at Southbank Theatre, The Lawler on Saturday 5 May under the direction of Petra Kalive (Melbourne Talam). Tickets available here.
Find out more »Next Wave Festival: Baby Cake
Two performers, one baby. One life, one choice. Your hosts, Kerensa and Yuhui, are both women of childbearing age. One is a mother. The other is not. Both are acutely aware this single decision has the power to alter the course of one’s entire life. This compelling live performance slips between the autobiographical and the absurd, the banal and the surreal, the conversational and the theatrical. Amidst chaos and control, restraint and rebellion, a baby watches the performance unfold from his throne. Drawing on their interest in domestic ritual, Diball and Ng-Rodriguez invite you in and offer morsels to share. Partake in their candid response to the pressures of being a good woman, a bad mother, becoming our mothers and what it means to have children. Or not. As a part of Next Wave Festival, Baby Cake runs from 9-13 May, Wednesday to Saturday at 6.30pm, and a relaxed performance on Sunday…
Find out more »June 2018
Reading the Suburbs -EWF
Milk bars, fast cars, the Maccas run, shopping trolleys up the creek, tags and plastic bags, skate parks, ovals, summer sun, slow trains, even slower buses, the walk to school and Aussie Rules, your church, your mosque, your temple, your shopping centre. Readings and performances about the ‘burbs, held in a local backyard. With Eleanor Jackson, Lian Low, CB Mako, Omar Sakr and Sumudu Samarawickrama.Hosted by Khalid Warsame
Find out more »Imaginary Homelands – EWF
“I am a turtle, wherever I go, I carry ‘home’ on my back.” – Gloria Anzaldua. Seven artists reflect on the poetics and politics of place-making. In the second half we invite you onto the stage. Come prepared or improvise —in any genre or style — and tell us: what does home mean to you? With Rhea Bhagat, Kat Clarke, Mindy Gill, Marjon Mossammaparast, Sharifa Tartoussi and Manal Younus. Hosted by Natalie Kon-Yu Presented in partnership with Victoria University
Find out more »July 2018
TAHA
Palestinian writer-performer Amer Hlehel tells the story of the great poet Taha Muhammed Ali, whose beloved verses document the compelling and heartbreaking experiences of Palestinian refugees with hope and optimism. Based on Adina Hoffman's book My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness, Hlehel skilfully interweaves Taha’s exquisite poetry with his compelling life journey – a journey that sees a humble, engaging man evolve into a renowned Palestinian writer against all the odds. With no props other than a bench and a briefcase, Hlehel delivers a deeply affecting, tour-de-force solo performance. TAHA received critical acclaim in London, Edinburgh and Adelaide festivals and continues to tour internationally. Performed in English. Audience members are invited to stay for a post show Q&A with Amer Hlehel following the performance on Wednesday 11 July.
Find out more »November 2018
Anita Ratnam: Bringing Neo Bharatam to Australia
Dr Anita Ratnam, based in Chennai (Madras), India, is highly respected as a performer, writer, speaker, arts entrepreneur and culture mentor. She has been described as an ‘intersectionist’, whose work weaves the many disciplines of dance, theatre, spoken word, ritual, archaeology, dramaturgy and women's issues. For over 40 years, her distinguished career has witnessed over 1000 performances in 27 countries. In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for contemporary dance by the President of India. This is Ratnam’s first performance tour of Australia and will include the following events. Solo Performance of Ma3Ka and Artist Talk at Chunky Move for Mapping Melbourne 2018 Saturday, 1st Dec 6 pm to 8 pm Chunky Move 111 Sturt Street, Southbank, VIC 3006 Buy Tickets She is energy, exuberant in play. The joy of experience passed on generously from within. She is a confluence, a woman, owning her powers. She is Ma3Ka. Woman. Earth Mother, three times and…
Find out more »May 2019
nomnomnom
Fresh from winning the Melbourne Fringe 2018 award for Innovation in Culturally Diverse Practice and sell-out shows in Iceland, nomnomnom is a site-specific, participatory event in which YOU the audience role-play as time-travelling food delivery people. Explore time travel portals at nomnomnom HQ (aka Testing Grounds) and deliver fresh meals and your winning smile to households around the world. We’ll provide the visors – all you need to bring is an open heart and your passion for customer service! Tickets are limited so lock in your first shift now! This project is supported by City of Melbourne Arts Grants Program and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Development support by Moreland City Council. Between Thursday 9 May 2019 6:00 PM and Sunday 12 May 2019 7:30 PM Image by: Vy Nguyen
Find out more »January 2020
Double Delicious
The flavours and scents of our favourite dishes wind their way through the deepest recesses of our being, and even the thought of a particular meal can transport us back to a pivotal moment. Double Delicious offers a taste of the meals that mean everything to five fascinating public figures. From the creators of the critically acclaimed 2014 Sydney Festival hit The Serpent’s Table, this sumptuous storytelling and culinary experience sees storyteller cooks share the secrets behind the dishes that have proved significant in their lives. Join cooking legend Elizabeth Chong, writer and media personality Benjamin Law, kimchi specialist Heather Jeong, performance maker Valerie Berry, and choreographer and performer Raghav Handa as they reveal intimate glimpses into their lives in an immersive performance that tantalises all the senses.
Find out more »February 2020
Torch the Place
For his hysterically funny and moving stage premiere, Benjamin Law employs his effortless self-deprecating wit to spark joy in the clutter. Teresa’s mum finds it impossible to let anything go – from grudges to household objects. She thinks of her home as a museum full of irreplaceable treasures. But she’s not really a curator – she’s a hoarder – and her house is enough to give Marie Kondo heart palpitations. When her kids return home to celebrate her 60th birthday, she’s over the moon to have the family back together. But this isn’t a reunion. It’s an intervention. Celebrated TV writer, Benjamin Law (The Family Law) is one of this country’s brightest literary stars. For his hysterically funny and moving stage premiere, Law employs his effortless self-deprecating wit to spark joy in the clutter and find truth in those crazy moments that bring families closer together. Torch the Place features a stellar cast including Fiona…
Find out more »The Seen and Unseen
A mesmerising convergence of contemporary Indonesian dance and physical story-telling, The Seen and Unseen is adapted by Indonesian artist Kamila Andini from her internationally acclaimed film of the same name. Tantri and Tantra are twins born under the full moon. Inseparable in life, the line between reality and the dreamworld begins to blur as one life ebbs away and the other must begin anew. Directed by the award-winning Andini, this dance and theatre production is a unique collaboration with Indonesian choreographer Ida Ayu Wayan Satyani and Australian theatremakers Adena Jacobs, Eugyeene Teh and Jenny Hector. On the Australian stage for the first time, a cast of extraordinary child performers from Bali’s Komunitas Bumi Bajra bring a captivating honesty and playful energy to profound meditations on life, grief and hope.
Find out more »Black Ties
Two families, two cultures... too much! It was love at first sight when Māori corporate hotshot Hera and Aboriginal consultancy entrepreneur Kane locked eyes at a cultural awareness session. Ambitious and career focused, Kane and Hera now have their perfect future all mapped out. There's one thing they can’t control…their families! As the biggest mob of Aunties, Uncles and cousins from both sides of the ditch get worked up for the blackest wedding ever, reality is sinking in fast. Will this international love story bring two strong cultures together? Or will it tear Hera and Kane’s world to pieces? BLACK TIES is a hilarious and heart-warming immersive theatre experience by ILBIJERRI Theatre Company (Australia) and Te Rēhia Theatre (Aotearoa/New Zealand) that reminds us of the power of love to reach across the gulfs that divide us and unite us as human beings. Following sold out seasons at Sydney Festival and Perth Festival, BLACK TIES is coming to…
Find out more »The Planet – A Lament
Experience the world premiere of a new staged song cycle from the visionary director Garin Nugroho. This stirring, provocative work merges film with live dance and a 16-voice choir to impart a moving story of creation set against the backdrop of environmental disaster. Nugroho, who stunned audiences at Asia TOPA 2017 with Satan Jawa, expands his canvas to portray a destroyed community struggling in the aftermath of a devastating tsunami. He again performs his alchemical mix of striking cinematics, haunting song, wild dance and ancient ritual to concoct a new myth that speaks to our complex times. For this extraordinary new work, Nugroho collaborates with composers, visual artists and choreographers from across the Indonesian archipelago alongside Australian theatre luminaries Michael Kantor and Anna Tregloan. The Planet – A Lament is an act of catharsis that mourns a world lost, while offering hope for another that may yet be nurtured in its…
Find out more »March 2020
The Winter’s Tale
"A sad tale's best for winter…" In a fit of wild and unfounded jealousy, Leontes, a civic leader of 1920s Hong Kong, is convinced that his wife Hermione is carrying the child of his best friend, the Australian politician Polixenes. Once born, the child is exiled and seeks refuge in a rural community in modern day Australia. Things go well for the child until she falls for the son of the bigoted politician. Leaping from Hong Kong to Australia and from the 1920s to modern day, this unique setting of Shakespeare's The Winter’s Tale sheds light on the far-reaching impacts of colonialism in both countries.
Find out more »Not Today’s Yesterday
An award-winning international collaboration between Australian choreographer Lina Limosani and UK Bharatanatyam artist Seeta Patel, Not Today’s Yesterday blurs the lines between dance and theatre with a poetic narrative and the beauty and disquiet of a dark fairytale. Winner of Best Dance at the 2018 Adelaide Fringe as well as a 2018 Peace Foundation Award, Not Today's Yesterday takes aim at the revisionist and airbrushed histories that have become a central point of tension across the globe. Britain and Australia, amongst others, have sordid histories and relationships with Indigenous and migrant communities and skewed histories fuel a distorted sense of nationalism. Opening up conversation through its clever appropriation of whitewashed historical narratives, Not Today's Yesterday aims to give a voice back to silenced communities. With striking imagery, this one-woman show challenges nostalgic views of history and interrogates our ideas of equality, culture and identity, inviting audiences to see the past anew and to hope for a…
Find out more »Virtual Intimacy
Identity. Online. Sexuality. Data. Relationships. Technology. Queer. Virtual. Intimacy. A collaboration between directors from Australia and Taiwan, Virtual Intimacy invites you to reveal information about yourself, openly and anonymously. From this, a post-digital work of participatory theatre evolves to explore both our relationships with technology and the ways in which it shapes our relationships with others. South Australia's ActNow Theatre joins with Taiwan's Very Theatre for this unique performance experiment. A bilingual piece in English and Mandarin developed from work with local queer communities, Virtual Intimacy draws on its makers' practices in film, multimedia and participatory storytelling. Expect to play a part in the live conversations happening within the performance – bring a charged smartphone as we explore our intimate, digital selves. Please note, audience members will need to use their own mobile data to participate.
Find out more »Oedipus Schmoedipus
伊狄帕斯・豬亦拍屍 A comic bloodbath about a fate that none of us can escape. Oedipus Schmoedipus is a joyful, dark, irreverent, hilarious and confronting performance about death: real death, fake death, and death as portrayed in the world’s great theatre classics. This irreverent work from provocative Australian collective post (Zoë Coombs Marr, Mish Grigor & Natalie Rose) piles up classic dramatic death scenes into an engaging spectacle of glee-ridden blood and gore. Starring Mish Grigor and Shelly Lauman, who resurrect again and again through multiple murders, suicides and accidents. For Asia TOPA 2020, productions of the work in English and Cantonese (featuring ManMan Kwok and Man Sui Hing) are performed over two weeks. For each show’s mammoth bloodbath, a cast of 25 local volunteers is invited to join in the comic lament and slaughter. Straddling live art, theatre and contemporary performance, Oedipus Schmoedipus has had audiences around the world in stitches and in tears. It’s a democratic theatrical extravaganza 2,500 years in the…
Find out more »Please note: Peril provides these details as a courtesy, but we’re not in charge of the events, so please don’t harrass us if the Facebook page is down for a particular event – unless we make that really really clear, in which case you’ll know because we’ll probably be hounding to you come along.