What’s on: A night in Vienna, Scandi films and watching the detectives
Theatre comes to Dazzleland, a feast of music from the symphony to guitars in bars, Winterfest, visual art and the Scandinavian Film Festival gets moving.
Slingsby presents Emil and the Detectives in the old Dazzleland site.
Emil and the Detectives – Myer Centre
Slingsby theatre company’s latest show is an adaptation by SA playwright Nicki Bloom of German author Erich Kästner’s 1929 novella Emil and the Detectives. Described by Slingsby artistic director Andy Packer as “a really beautiful story about growing up”, it follows a child who is robbed during a train trip and ends up banding together with a group of young “detectives” to bring the thief to justice. The play is being presented at the old Dazzeland site, on level five of the Myer Centre, until August 5.
ASO’s A Night in Vienna – Festival Theatre
The Adelaide Symphony will capture the essence of Viennese classical music with this concert showcasing works from the repertoire of the family of Johann Strauss, including his popular On the Beautiful Blue Danube. Conducted by Nicholas Carter and featuring soprano Jacqueline Porter, there will be two performances at the Festival Theatre on July 21 and 22. Details here. Next Saturday, July 29, the ASO will present the second concert in this year’s Great Classics series, Puppets & Pranksters, at the Adelaide Town Hall.
Kokoda – Star Theatres
This new World War II drama by Adelaide writer Peter Maddern tells the story of a street-wise larrikin, Private Morris Powell (played by Todd Gray), and his mates who “helped do the impossible – stop the Japanese advancing in New Guinea and then send them packing”. Kokoda opens at Star Theatres, Sir Donald Bradman Drive, on July 19, with performances continuing until August 5. Details here.
Guitars in Bars
The Adelaide Festival Centre’s Guitars in Bars is a series of free and ticketed gigs in pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants and exhibition spaces in the city, suburbs and hills. Running until July 30, it promises “an eclectic range of blues, country, jazz, pop, rock, soul, folk, swing, rockabilly, contemporary, covers and original tunes”. See the full list of events here.
Umbrella: Winter City Sounds
The two-week Umbrella: Winter City Sounds music festival encompasses more than 300 live music events across more than 100 different venues throughout Adelaide. Genres range from jazz and folk to hip-hop, rap and psychedelic-rock. Umbrella continues until July 30.
An event at last year’s Umbrella: Winter City Sounds. Photo: Daniel Marks
A Doll’s House – Dunstan Playhouse
The State Theatre Company of SA’s new production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is based on an adaptation by local playwright Elena Carapetis, who has moved the 19th-century Norwegian drama about a fraught relationship to modern-day Australia. The multi-layered result, writes InDaily reviewer Alison Flett, is beautifully complex and endlessly mesmerising. Performances continue at the Dunstan Playhouse until July 22.
Winterfest – Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide’s Winterfest, at the historic Harts Mill, is warming up winter with a waterfront ice rink, live music, circus acts, markets, children’s activities, cocktail-making workshops, food and drink (details here). It continues at the Port until July 23.
Ramsay Art Prize – Art Gallery of SA
The work of the 21 national finalists in the inaugural Ramsay Art Prize is on show until August 27. The $100,000 prize, which is supported by philanthropist organisation the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation, is open to Australian artists under 40 working in any material or process, with finalists’ work including paintings, installations, ceramics, video and mixed media. It was won by Sydney-based artist Sarah Contos with a “colossal 20th-century quilt” (read more here).
Ramsay Art Prize winner Sarah Contos with her work. Photo: Nat Rogers
Saturday Night Fever – Arts Theatre
Matt Byrne Media is presenting this production of Saturday Night Fever, with producer Byrne promising that Bee Gees songs such as “Stayin’ Alive”, “Night Fever” and “You Should Be Dancing” will have the audience on their feet. Featuring an LED dance floor, the musical is at Elizabeth’s Shedley Theatre from July 20-29. Details here.
The Golden Dragon – Bakehouse Theatre
Set in and around a busy Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai restaurant at street level of an apartment block, The Golden Dragon tells a number of different stories that gradually intersect and overlap. Directed by Joh Hartog, the production is playing at the Bakehouse Theatre until July 22.
The Summation of Force & a e i o u – Samstag Museum
SA photographers Trent Parke and Narelle Autio’s multi-channel video project The Summation of Force explores the world of cricket and was filmed almost entirely in the couple’s backyard with their two young sons. Also currently showing is Michelle Nikou: a e i o u, a survey of the work of the SA contemporary artist and Samstag Scholar. Both exhibitions run until September 1. Read InDaily‘s interview with Parke and Autio here.
On screen
The Scandinavian Film Festival opened at Palace Nova on Wednesday and will continue until July 30. Details here.
See InDaily’s reviews of the latest films screening in Adelaide:
The Beguiled
Baby Driver
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Lady Macbeth
