adelaide festival

In Jungle Book Reimagined, the celebrated choreographer Akram Khan brings Rudyard Kipling's classic and contested Jungle Book stories into a near-future world torn apart by the impacts of climate change. But with the original stories rooted in colonial perspectives, why revisit them a century later to tell a story of displacement amid environmental collapse?

Also, the role of Brünnhilde in Wagner's Ring Cycle is one of opera's most demanding. It requires a dramatic soprano voice with extraordinary power and maturity and is rarely tackled until a singer is well into their career. To learn more, we're joined by our ABC Top 5 resident, mezzo soprano Katrina Waters, who is investigating the mid-career transitions of female dramatic voices.

Sony music gave him his first record deal when he was 16. He wasn't a pop star or the lead in a boy band. He's a classical guitarist and according to some ‘The King of Strings’.   You might think he might have a big head after all that but Slava Grigoryan's new album is all about gratitude.

After several years of delays, the Ballett Zürich production of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem will feature at this year's Adelaide Festival. Brought to life by 36 dancers and over 170 singers performing with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, we meet the show's award-winning choreographer Christian Spuck.

Also, the oldest theatre on mainland Australia hosts a thoroughly modern makeover of Hansel and Gretel written by Lally Katz, and Australian Dance Theatre Artistic Director Daniel Riley pays tribute to his great-great uncle Alec Riley in Tracker, a co-production with Ilbijerri Theatre Company co-written by Ursula Yovich.

Celebrating Adelaide Writers' Week 2023: Truth Be Told 4 - 9 MAR 2023 with Author R.A. Wodecki
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Join us for a special episode as we shine a spotlight on Adelaide and celebrate the city's Writers' Week with the talented self-published author, R A Wodecki, aka Rosalie. 

Discover how she met Ben and ended up on the podcast, and hear all about her passion for writing fantasy, gothic tales that will leave you spellbound. From castles to swords to her feline companion, Franklin the possible dragon, Rosalie is a fascinating storyteller with a lot to share. 

Tune in as she dishes on her publishing journey, dispels some writer myths, and shares her thoughts on the Writers' Week controversy that has made headlines around the world. Plus, find out what Rosalie loves about Adelaide - the city that inspires her creativity and fuels her love of language. 

Don't miss this engaging conversation with one of Adelaide's most exciting literary voices.
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Links:

• https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/writers-week/
• https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/
• RA Wodecki : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63247469-the-castle-diary-of-a-lost-woman
• https://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/
• https://www.dpc.sa.gov.au/responsibilities/arts-and-culture

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Two Cousins One Chat,
Ben & Kristy

Ivo van Hove is renowned as one of the most innovative — and divisive — theatre directors working today. The Belgian's enthralling stage adaptations of classic works consistently subvert expectations. Now, van Hove's adaptation of the confronting novel A Little Life is coming to the Adelaide Festival.

Also, a married lesbian couple with two children face divorce in Blessed Union, a new comedy at Belvoir, and Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, the longest-running play on London's West End, is touring Australia. But is it a paragon of modern theatre or a tourist trap?

Darren Yap has been a part of some huge moments in Australian performing arts history, from acting in Miss Saigon to being on the directorial team for the Sydney 2000 closing ceremony. Now he's using his talents to bringing new Asian Australian work to the stage.

Also, we meet artists behind a surge of Asian Australian plays on our mainstages right now and Neil Armfield joins us to pay tribute to the English theatre director Peter Brook, famous for his reinvention of contemporary theatre.

In 1972, a lecturer at the University of Adelaide was attacked at a gay beat, thrown into the River Torrens and drowned. 50 years on, Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan shines a light into this appalling story and how his death changed Australia.

Also, voice and dialect coach Leith McPherson shares more insights into the power of voice and we attend the rehearsal of a reimagined version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland presented by the Australian Contemporary Opera Company.

Live on stage at last year's Adelaide Festival, we're joined by the Olivier Award-winning English star of the stage and screen, Juliet Stevenson. Juliet was performing in the play The Doctor, following its sell-out season at London's Almeida Theatre.

Also, with much of the country back in lockdown, we turn to musical comedian Jude Perl to lift our spirits at the piano and we enjoy a masterclass with actor, director and acting coach Larry Moss, whose coaching has led actors to Academy Award-winning glory.

Neil Armfield cut his teeth at Sydney's Nimrod Theatre Company before co-founding Belvoir, but his earliest forays into theatre-making were a way to escape some challenges at home. He shares his story with Mark Howett as one of our Legends of Australian Theatre.

Also, we visit a war-torn city and a family confronting the cost of survival in Samah Sabawi's play Them and we meet two comedians who have found the funny side of tragedy, bringing personal stories of grief and illness into their stand-up.

Robyn Nevin has been a leading talent in Australian theatre for decades, but her latest role may be one of her toughest yet — in A German Life at the Adelaide Festival, she'll become Brunhilde Pomsel, secretary to the Nazi minister for propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.

Also, how Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold, the first part of his Ring Cycle, changed the sound of opera forever and we discuss Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard with creatives from Black Swan's new adaptation and two Year 12s studying the play.

Following its acclaimed world premiere season, the Australian musical Fangirls returns. We learn how the show's writer, composer and original lead, Yve Blake, a theatre geek who can't play any instruments came to write one of the hottest musicals around.

Also, voice and dialect coach Leith McPherson shows us how to find the performer within when reading stories to children and Dr Erin Brannigan continues to share the joys of watching contemporary dance.

This is an episode to WATCH on our YouTube channel as well, as we get Jewcy with TIGHT and BRIGHT entertainer, Spandy Andy! Spandy has spent a decade dancing in the streets and performing at festivals in colourful spandex around the world to spread joy and inclusivity… for a living! If you’re familiar with Vancouver, BC’s English Bay, you may have seen him rock it out with his spandex out and oversized boombox. making crowds smile and laugh. We chat about his journey, our common Jew-ish-ness, his inspirational brother, Josh Rimer (Mr. Gay Canada 2019), his experience on So You Think You Can Dance Canada, where he’s aspiring to go in the future… and much more!

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Instagram: @spanyandy
Facebook: @spandyandyfanpage

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Missy Mazzoli says she composes opera to connect people in a profound way. She joins us ahead of the Australian premiere of her adaptation of Lars Von Trier's Breaking the Waves at the Adelaide Festival.

Also, new cast members fly into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and we delve into William Shakespeare's Hamlet for our High School Playlist series with members of the current Bell Shakespeare production and students.

We're joined live on stage at the Adelaide Festival by the Olivier Award-winning English star of the stage and screen, Juliet Stevenson.

Also, we tour Adelaide's Holden Street Theatres as part of our Small Stages series, and we talk 60 years of the Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Fringe with Rob Brookman and Samela Harris.

Black Cockatoo tells the story of Australia's first Indigenous sports star, cricketer Johnny Mullagh, we ask Australian creatives and performers to reflect on the last ten years of performing arts, Bernadette Robinson returns to Australia with Songs for Nobodies, and we share some seasonal cheer with Michael Cormick, Johanna Allen and the cast of Christmas Actually.

Brett Dean shares thoughts on his new opera Hamlet following its season at the Adelaide Festival.