Five shows to sink your teeth into in the first week of the 2022 Brisbane Festival
Meanjin, you’re spoilt for choice for arty goodness this September, with the Brisbane Festival taking over the town with all sorts of live performance. Circus, cabaret, dance, musicals, visual arts, live music, theatre; whatever’s your art form of choice, it’s on display this month. And best of all, the majority of the shows are coming from independent and emerging companies from our town.
Being spoit for choice, it can be hard to figure out what to see in such a dense program. Luckily the team from NEHIB is on hand to help you choose. Each month, we release a newsletter to give you our recommendations of what you simply MUST see, and we’re giving you a sneak peak of some of recommendations each week of the Brisbane Festival this year, so you can get a taste of what to expect if you subscribe. Below are our recommendations from the first week of the festival.
The Nothing Ever Happens In Brisbane Newsletter is the Ultimate What’s On Guide. Every month on the 25th we email you a list of cool indie circus, drag, burlesque, theatre, arts festivals, impro, experimental art, visiting artists, storytelling, poetry, warehouse parties, all the interesting and unusual stuff, plus occasional comps for free tickets or discounts and other giveaways …
The list is written by the writers of Nothing Ever Happens, who are a brilliant bunch of cool weirdos who live in the arts world and know where the cool stuff is at. There is SO MUCH GOOD SHIT GOING ON. So much. And we know where to find it. Subscription costs a mere tiny $1 a month or Pay what You Feel. We use the money from your subscription to pay our writers. It’s a win-win-win. You can subscribe directly at https://www.nothingeverhappensinbrisbane.com/subscribe
Now onto the good stuff. Here’s what our team recommended from the first week of the festival.
Holding Achilles, QPAC, 29 Aug-10 Sept:
Why do I recommend this show? Three words: Dead Puppet Society. Having seen their astounding The Wider Earth, I am looking forward to what the team describe as a show ‘featuring powerful visuals, daring aerial work, exquisite puppetry and breath-taking costumes interwoven with a technically astounding set design..’. - Catherine
Sweatshop, 2-4 September. South Bank Piazza, South Bank.
Closes this Sunday.
NEVER miss an opportunity to see Briefs. High energy, skilled, hilarious, camp. Brisbane adores Briefs Factory and it's easy to see why. Great night out for a group - Darcie Rae
Meanjin institution Briefs Factory returns to the BrisFest with their latest show, Sweatshop. You should know what to expect from Briefs Factory by now: high quality circus and cabaret acts mixed with belly laughs and debauchery, with a dash of chaos and politics for good measure. Featuring world class performers from the worlds of circus, drag and cabaret, including current Drag Race Down Under front-runner, Kween Kong, Kamilaroi Cowboy, Dale Woodbridge-Brown, and local pole star, Charlie Love - Ads J
Brown Church, 3-4 September. The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley.
Closes this Sunday.
Presented by the incomparable Naavikaran Collective, Brown Church promises to be a night of community, of dance, and of revolution. With an incredible line up of pre- and post- festivities, this show screams of one not to be missed - Kian Dillon
Emerging powerhouse performance collective, The Naavikaran Collective, welcome Meanjin to practice the spiritual act of queer survial and worship at the holy gay altar of queerness. Join the call for community and pay witness to the journeys of displacement, queer liberation and the euphoria of culture through poetry, music and dance. Experience the full eperience of Brown Church and check out Naavikaran’s debut album of the same name produced by Levi and their book of poetry - Ads J
Brisbane Serenades - Blak Warehouse Party | Brisbane Festival, Friday 9th September. The Paint Factory, Yeronga.
If you've ever checked out The Paint Factory turned art space at Yeronga, you would know it's a space that feels like it's always been waiting for a warehouse party. BLAK SOCIAL is taking on the challenge and presenting a stellar First Nations line-up of DJs and music for this free event - Kian
Slow Boat 緩舟, 1-10 September. Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm.
If you see one thing at Brisfest this year make it this epic from the creative heart of Anna Yen. It blends vaudeville, musical theatre, Cantonese Opera and martial arts, and it follows the journey of Yen's father and some 580 other Chinese men when they arrived in Australia after WW2 - Nadia Jade
