Rufus Wainwright, Berlin’s Schaubühne Theater, and the premiere of RED, starring Cate Blanchett head up the bill for artistic directors Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy‘s debut festival.
Over thirty arts events will take place over the 17 day period, running from March 3rd until March 19th. The lineup includes 16 Australian premieres, 17 Adelaide exclusives, and three world premieres.
Director Healy said: “We’re so thrilled that the wait is over and we can shout with joy about our first festival. To Adelaide with love – and there’s more to come! See you down at the Palais.”
Highlights include:
- A floating two storey festival hub, the Riverbank Palais. Purpose built, and located on the River Torrens, the Palais harkens back to the 1920s, and pays homage to a real life floating dancehall that once dominated Jazz Age Adelaide.
- The return of Barrie Kosky and his opera masterpiece, Saul.
- Performances of Sydney Theatre Company‘s The Secret River, in a brand new open air performance space, located in the Anstey Hill Quarry.
- Canada’s finest dance companies will take to the stage, with productions from choreographers Jonathon Young, of Electric Company Theatre, and Crystal Pite, of Kidd Pivot.
Speaking of the 2017 event, Armfield said: “We wanted to amplify what a major international arts festival does best: bring audiences together with the most exhilarating and original artists of our generation and present extraordinary events in new and unique creative contexts, be it in the natural cathedral of a disused quarry, a Palais floating on the riverbank, the interiors of a city hotel or a chamber music venue surrounded by the Mount Barker bushland.”
Adelaide Writers’ Week and WOMAdelaide events are also scheduled to run alongside the festival programme.
From March 3rd until March 9th, Adelaide Writers’ Week will host a free series of open air readings, located in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden. 2017 Guests include poet Sebastian Barry, journalist and war correspondent Patrick Cockburn, Booker prize nominated author Madeleine Thien, and feminist writer Lindy Hume.
The 2017 Adelaide Festival will take place in March 2017.
For more details, including the full lineup and tickets, please see the festival website.
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