From 28 February–16 March, Adelaide Festival will live up to its moniker of Australia’s International Festival with a lineup of world/Australian premieres and exclusives from some of the world’s best artists and companies. Brett shares his top picks:
Krapp’s Last Tape
27 Feb–8 March, Dunstan Playhouse
I’m a longtime Samuel Beckett devotee and the deeply personal Krapp’s Last Tape has glorious language, is only 55 minutes, and stars Oscar-nominated Irish actor Stephen Rea (The Crying Game). Every birthday, Krapp records a new tape of himself, reviewing the past year. On his 69th birthday, he listens to one recorded three decades before. And, exactly mirroring Beckett’s conceit, in hope of one day performing it, Stephen Rea recorded the script as a young man. That day has come – a great Irish actor performing one of history’s greatest Irish roles!
Innocence
28 Feb–5 March, Festival Theatre
Australian director Simon Stone has had an astonishing international career and Innocence is orchestrally lush, deeply moving, and impeccably staged, enjoying sellout success at London’s Royal Opera House and before its debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. I have always championed 21st century opera: works which directly address themes of our time and place. Composed by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, the international leads are joined by Adelaide Chamber Singers, State Opera Chorus and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare
8–16 March, Space Theatre
Ever found Shakespeare inaccessible or alienating? Meet ground-breaking UK theatre ensemble Forced Entertainment! They retell all 36 Shakespeare plays, over eight days, with an astonishing twist. As the actors narrate the stories, household objects represent each character. Lady Macbeth may be a tomato sauce bottle, Richard the Third a salt-shaker, Hamlet a sultana packet! With each performance just 45 to 60 minutes, this is Shakespeare as you never imagined, but maybe always hoped for! Each play is distilled to its core and clear as a bell, perfect for audiences 14+.
Cat Power Sings Dylan
10 March, Her Majesty’s Theatre
Most Bob Dylan fans know his infamous 1966 “Royal Albert Hall” bootleg album, one of music history’s defining moments! Diehard fans might also know this album was not recorded there, but at his earlier concert at Manchester Free Trade Hall. The irrepressible Cat Power’s “docu- concert” replicates Dylan’s original, with her own dazzling interpretations and inimitable style. For any Dylan or Cat Power fan and anyone interested in the history of rock, this is a must-see!
Club Amour
10–16 March, Festival Theatre
I have loved choreographer Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal company since introduced to them through the 1982 Adelaide Festival. Club Amour is three separate dance creations about love and connection. The first, Café Müller, is one of Bausch’s undoubted masterpieces – as iconic film director Wim Wenders said, “It shows me more about men and women than the whole history of cinema.” The next two works are choreographed by the current artistic director, Boris Charmatz, with the audience moving onto the Festival Theatre stage around the dancers to experience the works.
Trent Dalton’s Love Stories
12–16 March, Dunstan Playhouse
As a fellow Brisbane-born man, I love Trent Dalton’s writing, and I’m hardly alone! Love Stories was the highest- selling Adelaide Writers’ Week book in 2022, and this stage adaptation tells many of the book’s uplifting, powerful and heart-rending stories, weaving through that of Trent himself and wife Fiona. Its phenomenal premiere in Brisbane was an instant, sell-out success!
Big Name, No Blankets
14–16 March, Her Majesty’s Theatre
The truly wonderful Big Name, No Blankets, a Festival commission, tells the Warumpi Band’s story through the eyes of founding member and lead guitarist Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher. From humble 1970s beginnings, when brothers Sammy, Gordon and Brian learnt music jamming on a flour drum in Papunya, to wild nights conquering the Australian pub rock scene and touring worldwide, it’s part theatre, part rock concert and suitable for everyone aged 12 to 100!
Pictured at top is Krapp’s Last Tape. Photo: Pato Cassinoni
For tickets and more information:
adelaidefestival.com.au or call 1300 393 404 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm)
