Five Shows You Need to See at Brisbane Powerhouse's 2019 MELT Festival
See a showcase of queer comedy, hear queens take on Queen hits and spend an afternoon 'gayming'.
Five Shows You Need to See at Brisbane Powerhouse's 2019 MELT Festival
See a showcase of queer comedy, hear queens take on Queen hits and spend an afternoon 'gayming'.
It's festival time at Brisbane Powerhouse once again, all thanks to the return of the venue's MELT: Festival of Queer Arts and Culture. Every year since 2015, the New Farm spot has celebrated the city's LGBTIQ+ community, as well as queer creativity in general — and in 2019, that means nearly 35 productions over ten days between Friday, June 28 and Sunday, July 7.
Guest directed by producer and director Emily Gilmore (Spring Awakening, The Last Five Years), this year's MELT is jam-packed with music, cabaret, comedy, theatre, talks, panels and creativity — which means there's plenty to do, see, hear and dance to. From paying tribute to queer rock royalty to brightening up the place with important art, here's our five must-attend picks.
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Fantastic shows and performances are one part of MELT. Vibrant, diverse art is another. Simply take a look at the Brisbane Powerhouse’s walls, and you’ll understand, with the venue decking out its foyers with a host of MELT creativity.
No fewer than six works and exhibitions are on display until Sunday, July 7. As you’d expect, it’s an inclusive and lively bunch. You’ll spot the first, Tim Glorious’ Tethered Together, as you approach the venue, because you can’t miss this multi-coloured projection — and that’s just the starting point. From there, the annual MELT Portrait Prize celebrates LGBTIQ+ heroes, Dr Heather Faulkner’s A Matter of Time looks into the lesbian experience during Queensland’s more conservative days, and Matthew Taylor Thomas’ Stygian Stones examines intolerance by taking inspiration from Greek mythology. There’s also Talking Can Make Things Better, which focuses on conversations to reduce self-harm and suicide, plus Sophie Reid-Singer’s Brood, which uses video, satire and cats to comment on the way society treats people with disabilities.
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MELT doesn’t just celebrate diversity on the stage or on its walls — it also showcases all things queer in the gaming space, too. Welcome to Gayming, where inclusivity isn’t literally the name of any of the titles on offer, but it’s definitely the celebratory event’s underlying motto.
For five hours from 2pm on Saturday, June 29, attendees will play games made by queer developers, talk to them about their work and trial in-progress games, all across both tabletop and digital platforms. It’s the biggest get-together of its kind in the country, and will feature chats, panels, interactivity and plenty of mashing buttons, rolling dice, roleplaying and even designing your own characters.
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Discovering Brisbane’s queer history is easy at this year’s MELT. Just head downstairs to Brisbane Powerhouse’s Turbine Studio, walk through the red velvet curtains, enter the cabaret club setup and get ready for an immersive theatre show. Not only pondering the past, but the present and future also, La Silhouette brings the city’s LGBTIQ+ scene to the stage by focusing on eight stories of people who’ve been forced to suffer in years gone by.
Running from Thursday, June 27 to Sunday, June 30, The Sui Ensemble’s production spends time in a drag queen’s dressing room, hearing her secrets; chatting to the police, trying to help an unwell doorman; and in VIP spaces where drinks and games fly freely. The list goes on, in a show that’s equally important, eye-opening and entertaining.
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Don’t stop MELT now — it’s having a good time celebrating late great Queen frontman and queer icon Freddie Mercury. Across one crazy little show, Killer Queens will task five fantastic female performers to step into the singer’s shoes (and shorts, leather jackets and leotards) to give his legendary music a new interpretation.
Sure, you’ve been rocked by ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Somebody to Love’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ before, but you haven’t heard them sung like this. Playing for one night only, on Friday, July 5, the production combines prog rock, heavy metal, vaudeville, astonishing vocals and camp theatrics — and throws in a few tracks by other glam rock stars, like Prince and David Bowie, too.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
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Brisbane Comedy Festival has been and gone for 2019, but Brisbane Powerhouse still wants to tickle your funny bone. As part of MELT, you’ll laugh, giggle and guffaw at the country’s best queer comic talent. It’s the first time that the festival, and the venue, has put together a showcase of this type — so the comedy gala will make history and shower you with humour, all at once.
Spanning familiar names and faces, plus bona fide up-and-comers, the event boasts a stacked lineup, starting with Rhys Nicholson on MC duties. From there, you’ll split your sides watching Tom Ballard, Demi Lardner, Jude Perl, Alex Ward, Sam Bowden and Cassie Workman, with the cackles echoing from 7.30pm on Sunday, June 30.
