Ten Next-Level Shows to Hunt Down at Anywhere Theatre Festival 2016
See a theatre show in gaols, reservoirs, rural railway stations, old skate rinks, pubs, and people's homes.
Ten Next-Level Shows to Hunt Down at Anywhere Theatre Festival 2016
See a theatre show in gaols, reservoirs, rural railway stations, old skate rinks, pubs, and people's homes.
If you live in Brisbane and you're into theatre, you've probably heard about the city's venue problem. During busy times when all the usual locations are already booked, some shows can't tread our boards because there's nowhere for them to perform.
That's where Anywhere Theatre Festival comes in, transforming unlikely places into lively performance spaces since 2011. If any event proves that anywhere and everywhere can host theatre, comedy, dance, music, magic and poetry, it's this.
In 2016, 63 productions and 420 performances will grace gaols, reservoirs, rural railway stations, old skate rinks, pubs, people's homes and more — including these ten shows, our pick of the bunch.
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If a film has the title Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, you could safely assume an alien is going to yell “It’s alive!” at some point. All you need to do is watch to find out. In fact, as this flick unfolds, you can witness the action live in front of you.
Making cheesy movie magic without an actual camera is what B-Movies Live! is all about, after all. Cult movie guru Kristian Fletcher gets a cast of actors to do their best with props, costumes, sound effects and music as they recreate a real-life feature. And you thought it sounded too glorious to be true, didn’t you?
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A theatre show that encourages smartphone use? Yes, you read that correctly. Delving into our internet-obsessed environment — think Facebook, Tinder and catfishing — Click Cafe doesn’t just approve of your device addiction; it works it into the performance.
Keep your mobile on and your eyes glued to the screen as you create an avatar, explore your online identity, and experience an interactive performance that unravels one-on-one. And that’s as much as we can tell you, because everything else about the production is a highly guarded secret, including the actual, offline location of the show.
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8
Knocking back a few gins at someone’s home might be something you can do any night of the week; however we’re betting your martini-fuelled house parties aren’t usually like this. They probably don’t boast a couple of chanteuses and a pianist, for starters. And we’re guessing said performers don’t turn a stranger’s place into a Manhattan-style salon, either.
Leave all that to Miss Laine and Alicia Cush as they transform a Carina residence into the ultimate suburban speakeasy. They’ll take care of the mood and music; you just need to bring your fun-loving self wearing your best jazzy outfit.
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7
Big Fork Theatre’s addition to Anywhere Theatre Festival 2016 isn’t about the destination — it’s about the journey (don’t hurt us, HSC-survivors). Come on, given that their show is actually a comedy walking tour of West End, that’s a completely understandable reference.
In character as Bevan, Beryl, Bob, Barb and Benjamin of the Edenglassie Historical Society, the group will enlighten interested parties about the past, present and future history of the inner-city area over a leisurely stroll. Whether you’re a newcomer or a local, you’re certain to learn something — or to laugh at a feast of sketches and improv. Or both.
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6
If one place has proven the cornerstone of Aussie society, it’s the humble local pub. A space of solace for anyone in need of a refreshing beverage and a tasty dinner, it’s our modern-day meeting ground, and it attracts all sorts.
Perhaps that’s why The Foxy Morons decided to stage their latest show at Hotel LA — and why they’re satirising everything that makes the nation great while they’re there. Come for anthem-filled, skit-heavy autobiographical cabaret, stay for the Sia and Nicki Webster jokes, and even enjoy a pub meal as part of the ticket price.
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5
Ever seen a play performed around a live steam train? No, we didn’t think so. After staging 2015’s The Mayne Effect in a heritage-listed building, the female-led Flowers Theatre Company has scaled things up to a beloved form of transport.
Taking place at Swanbank railway station, their new large-scale production tells the kind of tales women have shared over hot cuppas and passed down over generations — i.e. accounts of wartime living, surviving during periods of combat, and helping the battle from home. Yep, you won’t just be watching site-specific theatre; you’ll be indulging in a slice of local feminist history as well.
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4
Step back in time to 1965, and attend the Delamere family’s annual dinner party. Two years earlier, the event was terrorised by an antiquities salesman experimenting with a set of dolls — and, as an urban legend tells, no one was ever the same again.
If you have your wits about you, you can join twelve others to recreate the fateful evening; however, a word of warning: this isn’t an experience for those easily spooked. Take your cues from the interactive show’s setting, because there’s no better space to see a ghost story take place than West End’s Ecclectica: Esoteric Books & Curiosities.
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Think you’ve seen every version of Peter Pan? Think again. In Straight On Till Morning, the boy who never grows up also never ventures out — because he’s nestled inside a mental asylum with Wendy and Tink, and receiving treatment from Dr Hook.
If it sounds like quite a different take on J. M. Barrie’s classic tale, that’s because it is. Interwoven with mental health stories from Queensland’s past, the immersive theatre show follows the titular character through the hidden rooms and forgotten corridors of The Foundry, while drawing upon talented local spoken word artists, dancers, actors and physical theatre performers.
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2
If aliens ever crashed into Brisbane, of course they’d land at an abandoned skate arena. That part makes sense, or makes more sense than their first task, at least. Yep, these intergalactic critters are going to set up their own airline.
Meet The Gremlins, a dysfunctional family of flight-obsessed extra-terrestrials who might lack in earthly experience, but aren’t going to let that stop them soaring around the planet. After wowing this year’s Adelaide Fringe Fest, they’re setting their comedic sights on Brisbane — and letting audiences say goodbye to a burnt-out Red Hill institution before it’s torn down and redeveloped.
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For decades, television screens have been filled with renovation shows. Every type of house has been transformed. However, no one on TV has ever tried to transform an East Brisbane basement into a work of art, without being able to paint anything, for only $500, and while making a political statement against Queensland’s Homosexual Advance Defense at the same time.
No, of course they haven’t, but Ashgrove designer Kaylee Gannaway is going to try. At The Boy with the Rainbow Umbrella, expect astroturf, milk crates and a show that speaks out against injustice. Now that’s a combination you don’t see every day.
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