Fashion Collab | Brisbane Festival
The sense of community and joy present in Fashion Collab highlighted to me the importance of accessible creative outlets. Several participants I talked to emphasised the rarity of free and inclusive workshops.
Hide The Dog | Nathan Maynard & Jamie McCaskill
As a first generation immigrant mother endeavouring to teach her daughter to have pride in her ancestry and speak her language confidently, I cannot stress the primacy of plays such as ‘Hide the Dog’ being supported and presented on multiple platforms.
Sleep and the City | Emma-June Curik
The performance was a thought-provoking experience that left me with a whirlwind of emotions. It combined the three things that tend to lead to the best original work: raw vulnerability, education on a misunderstood topic, and catharsis. This combination seemed to result in a unique sense of community and belonging that I hadn’t expected.
Erth’s Shark Dive | Erth Visual & Physical Inc.
Erth’s Shark Dive did indeed deliver on the immersive 'cage diving' aspect, but it offered so much more than I had anticipated, leaving a surprisingly profound impact on me. The performance was informative but also deeply moving and beautiful, providing insights into the underwater world that I hadn’t expected.
Club Undercover | DIDG and Goddess Naavikaran
We went from seeing adapted traditional First Nations culture to a psychedelic journey to Club Culture using the power of dance and our ideas of what ceremony is transformed. So, it may seem like I am fangirling but it’s not just inspiration porn, its inclusion at its best and I loved it.
Betsy & I | indelabilityarts
Language is how we relate ideas to each other, and not having language for an experience can be as good as total isolation in it. Through learning the words for her experience, Ivy was able to reach out to those around her and say, “This is who I am. This life is mine, and it’s not yours to define for me”.
Tracker | Australian Dance Theatre
Wiradjuri choreographer and Australian Dance Theatre Artistic Director, Daniel Riley, has brought together a talented team of creatives and artists to create a show that focuses on Daniel Riley’s exploration of the life of his Great-Great Uncle, Alec "Tracker" Riley.
Bananaland | Kate Miller-Heidke & Keir Nuttall
It’s always wonderful to see other people’s creations, especially original ones. Drawing inspirations from the origin story of The Wiggles and real life experiences, Keir Nuttall and Kate Miller-Heidke created Bananaland during the pandemic
Party Ghost | Double Take
Party Ghost’s spooky, horror comedy was an absolute delight and had me belly laughing for a full 55 minutes.
Sheltered | Kathryn Hall
Kathryn Hall’s Sheltered is a charming, clever, cheeky, and compelling show (beautifully directed by Andi Snelling). Kathryn is disarmingly honest, speaking directly to the audience about the difficulties of leaving home, and establishing an independent life, while living with cerebral palsy.
Lightscape | Brisbane Festival
Lightscape has taken over public spaces in cities around the world, including Sydney, for more than 10 years. And it is now our turn to experience the global phenomenon during this year’s BrisFest. There’s a lot of publicity about it and many grammable moments that you’ve probably seen in your feeds which has drawn the masses for the length of the festival, but the question I keep asking myself is, is it worth the cost of admission?
Eternity | Circa
I can see why Circa’s Eternity has been the elusive golden ticket of the festival: a sold-out world premiere production by internationally renowned local superstars, promising a site-specific work that brings acrobatic excellence and contemporary spiritual music to Brisbane’s St John's Cathedral.
Underworld: An Operatic Journey to Hell and Back | Queensland Conservatorium
All-in-all while Underworld has much to answer for dramaturgically it is a night bubbling with the promise of a new generation of operatic stars.
Siva Mai Club | District41 & Oceanik Village
Siva Mai Club does not just speak to Pasifika and Indigenous people, no matter your cultural backgrounds, it is special to be a part of that communion in that 75 mins with a dash of island style humour.
West End Stories | West End Community House + Guest Artists
It was on that note of hope and healing where a group of women took their spots on the stage and sang ‘Meanjin Sunrise’ for themselves, their babies, and the betterment of their communities
The Making of Pinocchio | Rosana Cade & Ivor Macaskill
Ultimately, The Making of Pinocchio is not a grand story looking to shake up gender politics, it is an autobiographical show presented by two individuals telling their story.
Kuramanunya | Thomas E.S.Kelly
The invasion comes, the gun fires, Thomas E.S.Kelly, actor and performer and a Yugambeh/Wiradjuri/Ni-Vanuatu man speaks in language and moves from a place of gathering to anguish as the room melts into a wash of red.
Yirinda | Fred Leone & Samuel Pankhurst
Between songs Leone told us the translated stories and I was in awe of the huge amount of knowledge he had and how deeply he held it within himself.
Diverse writers attending diverse offerings at #brisfest23
They are all gathered here for you to check them out, the reviews of Brisbane Festival 2023.
Personal | Jodee Mundy Collaborations
Personal is such a heartfelt story of being a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA) and hands down deserves the awards it’s won as both excellence in theatre, and educational in terms of advocacy for the d/Deaf experience.