Perth festival highlights: 10 things to see and do

The 2014 festival opens with a dazzling program featuring Punchdrunk, Batsheva, Robert Wilson, Martin Amis, and the iPad-guided theatre.

It includes a writers’ festival as well as outdoor cinema, as well as a full program of dance, theatre, music, and circus, along with visual and performing arts. Perth Festival’s 2014 program is a little irresistible. (And there’s fringe to behold as well! ).

Beyond the global stars and local talent, there is a fascinating topic with a variety of digitally controlled projects that pose questions for audience members and performers.

If you’re a fan of games – as a lot of us from all ages right now are and are – then this event is for you. Many events at the writers ‘ festival are dedicated to games, as well as the stories and narratives that inspire the game. If the gaming industry is often considered to be similar to Hollywood by scale sco, pe, and reach, then these are the scriptwriters to watch.

It’s also a popular cultural practice that is rapidly evolving. “It’s come a long way since the bat and ball games and space invaders,” says Jonathan Holloway, Perth Festival’s artistic director. He’s found the perfect excuse to dive into Bioshock Infinite while preparing. “The complexity of these games is really strong.”

In addition to the games-led pieces, there are other digital works, including Tod Machover’s A Symphony for Perth, comprised of residents recording their city, and “I Think I’m a Good Person” and its unique avatars that let visitors join a new community.

It’s an amazing event that has plenty of joyous physical experiences like a leap from Jeremy Deller’s gigantic inflatable Stonehenge is the most fun you’ll ever have on a castle that jumps (or maybe, on an inflatable one); Punchdrunk’s performance will do nothing more than draw you into an alternate world as well as It’s You’ve Say”Yes” is a one-person theater adventure through Northbridge’s streets. Northbridge.

Martin Amis

Martin Amis’s first visit to Australia may add the element of uncertainty. If you’re a fan of Amis’s work or not, he’s an author with opinions and isn’t afraid to express his views and provide a fun and, hopefully, thought-provoking discussion. The author is in town to promote his book Lionel Asbo State of England, which examines Britain in the times of the celebrity. Please read our review here.

Not By Bread Alone

Holloway has an odd theme that runs through his shows, which is that they usually involve baking bread on the stage. (He says this is just accidental and not intentional.) The year that is coming up is not any different. Nalaga’at Deafblind, Theater Ensemble members, knead, bake, and knead bread on stage while they share their stories via diverse mediums like signing as well as touching and vibrating. There’s also a Blackout restaurant that will be open during the duration of the festival, which allows you to dine in total darkness.

Batsheva Dance Company

For the first time in Western Australia, contemporary dance company Batsheva, led by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, will bring two of their works to Perth. First, Deca Dance is an example of the best hit – a remake of the company’s repertoire from 20 years ago. Another, Sadeh 21, is an entirely new piece of work that relies on silence during the beginning of the show. “It’s a piece by one of the world’s great choreographers and changes the way you see human bodies,” Holloway says. Holloway. Another show worth watching at this year’s Perth Festival will be Beijing Dance Theatre’s Haze performance, where dancers move on a cushioned surface, which can cause them to lose balance while also assisting their movements.

Between the Desert and the Deep Blue Sea

Perth people have sent the sounds that they hear from their city, Tod Machover, who is a composer and professor at the MIT Media Lab. Machover has been attempting to transform the sounds into a symphony to Perth the city in music performed in Perth’s West Australian Symphony Orchestra. It’s an intriguing project that’s both revolutionary as well as very local. Machover has done something similar at the Edinburgh International Festival last year. You can check out our interview with Machover here. Also, there’s a talk prior to the show.

The House Where Winter Lives

If you’ve not experienced a Punkdrunk show prior to now, you’re in line for a truly amazing experience. If you’re a young person and this is your first experience in the theatre, There’s a good chance that you’ll end up a fan for the rest of your life. The brilliant British company has created stunning, immersive theater experiences. They’re welcoming children and their families to the home that is home to Mr. and Mrs. Winter, which is warming up as the temperatures drop outside. It was a wonderful – and very surreal experience to be had during Perth’s scorching summer.

Richard Bell – Embassy

Political activist and artist Richard Bell gets his first solo show on display in Western Australia. The show features a re-creation from the 1972 Aboriginal tent embassy alongside previously unseen artworks and a video piece from recent work. It’s part of an excellent visual arts program that includes the multidisciplinary work of South African artist William Kentridge Do Ho Suh’s huge Net-Work, a mesh canopy, and work by Paramodel, Ryota Kuwakubo, and Anne Ferran.

Situation Rooms

The concept is intriguing: Situation Rooms explores the lives of twenty people affected in a variety of ways by the arms industry. The audience members, together in 20 groups, are provided with headphones and iPads and then sent to different rooms to see the stories that they hold. The work is produced by Rimini Protokoll and is advertised as a multi-player piece of video. “There’s no barrier between the work and the audience – they’re using digital as it should be used,” Holloway says. Holloway.

Pond

If you were to go anywhere else, where better to go to a Pond other than Perth? The band will be performing in their hometown in a spinning Top program that includes Felicity Groom, The Silents, and DJ Lady Carla, among other local talents. It is an amazing event to celebrate Perth and the music scene, with the music program, which also features international guests like Public Enemy, DJ Shadow, and The National.

Bianco

Festivals aren’t complete without a circus, and Bianco’s style of entertainment takes place all around you. At the same time, the crowd is in motion, bouncing around, all the more to see acrobatics and trapeze performances that are performed above our heads or close to our bodies to the music of life. “It’s like you’ve run away to join the circus,” promises Holloway.

Krapp’s Last Tape

Opportunities to watch Robert Wilson perform on stage in WA do not come around very often. However, for three performances during the festival, he’ll appear in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. It’s a rare production and is about a man who records the previous year of his life in the midst of celebrating his birthday. What Wilson uses it for will be intriguing.

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