Adelaide’s Mad March officially shifts into top gear this weekend, with the Adelaide Festival, Writers’ Week, Fringe and Clipsal 500 ensuring the city will be buzzing morning, noon and long into the night.

Adelaide Festival

From the six-hour Shakespearean epic Roman Tragedies at the Festival Theatre, to the controversial R18+ River of Fundament at the Capri, there’s something for all tastes in this weekend’s Adelaide Festival line-up. The Festival officially opens at tonight with a free concert at 8pm in Elder Park featuring Kid Creole and the Coconuts and soul singer Charles Bradley. Other opening weekend shows include the “genre-crossing” Kiss of the Chicken King, State Theatre Company of SA’s production of The Seagull, dance/live-music performance Am I and Belgian theatre company SKaGeN’s one-man celebration of oration Big Mouth. The two-week Festival encompasses theatre, music, dance, film and visual art, and continues until March 16.

See InDaily’s 2014 Adelaide Festival hub for all our Festival news and reviews.

Lola’s Pergola

The 2014 Adelaide Festival club, Lola’s Pergola, is located down on the Torrens Riverbank in front of the Convention Centre and is described as “a backyard picnic on the ultimate quarter-acre block”. Opening at 6pm each night (Thursday to Sunday), it offers casual dining – including the Lola’s Smokehouse and a Hills Hoist BBQ – with a line-up of DJs to get you on your feet later in the night. DJ Harvey is kicking things off tonight (Friday), with Total Eclipse on Saturday, and Slow Magic on Sunday. Entry is free until 8pm, after which it’s $5.

Patricia Piccinini’s SkyWhale. Photo: @mitzevich/Twitter

Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art

With the theme Dark Heart, the Art Gallery of SA’s 2014 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art opens this weekend and offers the chance to see cutting-edge works by 28 contemporary Australian artists and collectives. The exhibition (running until May 11) includes photography, painting, sculpture, installation and the moving image, exploring issues ranging from intercultural relationships and the environment, to gender and political power. As part of the Biennial, Patricia Piccinini’s enormous SkyWhale hot-air balloon will be in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens from 9am-12 on Saturday. There will also be talks over the weekend by artists including Piccinini, Lynette Wallworth, Warwick Thornton and Ben Quilty.

Adelaide Writers’ Week

The Adelaide Festival’s literary fest opens on Saturday in the beautifully tranquil Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens, where writers from a wide range of genres will be speaking at free sessions in a packed six-day program. Featured writers over the weekend include Margaret Drabble, Mem Fox, David Malouf, Eleanor Catton, David Vann, Elizabeth Gilbert, Richard Flanagan, Jung Chang, Philipp Meyer and Helen Dunmore (program online). There’s also a full-day ticketed event at Adelaide Festival Centre on Sunday, Comics Can Do Anything, devoted to comics, graphic novels and illustration. Writers’ Week includes a story tent and other children’s events.

Adelaide Fringe

Bamboozled by the bursting Fringe program? Here’s just a few of the shows worth considering this weekend: Glory Box (“live-art exotica, wild-child circus, jaw-dropping cabaret”, in the Paradiso Spiegeltent, Garden of Unearthly Delights); comedians Hannah Gadsby and Dave Hughes (GUD); Xavier Toby’s comedy walking tour When We Were Idiots (East End); Dumb Things – a Tribute to Paul Kelly (Howl the Moon); Gravity & Other Myths circus show A Simple Space (Royal Croquet Club); the Umbilical Brothers’ A KiDs ShoW (Not Suitable for Children) (Royalty Theatre), the Best of the Fest Late Show stand-up extravaganza (The Gov) and Sex Pistols theatre show Vicious Circles (Tuxedo Cat).

See InDaily’s 2014 Adelaide Fringe hub for all our Fringe stories and reviews.

Kimbra. Photo: Thom Kerr

Clipsal 500

They’re already away and racing, and the action continues throughout the weekend with the V8 Supercars, Dunlop Series, Porsche Carrera Cup, V8 Ute Racing, Clipsal Challenge and more. Promoted as “the race that rocks”, Clipsal also boasts an impressive live music line-up that includes Bliss n Eso (Friday), Kimbra and Empire of the Sun (Saturday), and Keith Urban, Guy Sebastian and Boom Crash Opera (Sunday). Full details on the official website.

Soundwave

The Soundwave touring music festival is back in Bonython Park on Saturday, with seven stages boasting a line-up including The Living End, Green Day, Richie Sambora, I Killed the Prom Queen, Korn and more. Last we looked, there were still tickets available.

Night Noodle Markets

The Night Noodle Markets are on tonight (Friday) on the Riverbank Promenade, with Nu Thai serving up Asian street food from 4pm-10pm. Adding to the festival atmosphere will be live musicians, market stalls selling hand-crafted items, and a licensed bar. The markets are at Blue Hive, next to the Dunstan Playhouse, and are on each Friday until March 14.

On screen

See InDaily’s reviews of the latest films screening in Adelaide:

Nebraska
Gloria
All is Lost
Endless Love
Dallas Buyers Club
Winter’s Tale
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Last Vegas
Grudge Match
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street