Botanic Park will be alive with the sound of world music and the rest of the city will alive with a feast of national and international theatre, art, film, comedy, circus and more this Mad March long weekend.

WOMADelaide

The world music lover’s equivalent of Christmas is back in Botanic Park from Friday, with a packed four-day line-up that includes Nigerian Afrobeat star Femi Kuti, UK activist and singer/songwriter Billy Bragg, US hip-hop group Arrested Development, ARIA-winning Australian singer Megan Washington, Pakistani sufi singer Asif Ali Kahn, Kiwi dub/reggae/soul band Fat Freddy’s Drop, and Cuban jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca. Joining the Planet Talks series in Speakers corner will be speakers such as Peter Garrett, Tim Flannery, Paul Gilding and Annabel Crabb, while Adelaide chef Rosa Matto will host international food showcase Taste the World. The full program is online.

Fringe Street Theatre Festival

Running from Friday through till Monday, the Fringe Street Theatre Festival will feature free outdoor performances by acrobats, magicians, clowns and other circus-type acts. A mini flying trapeze rig will be set up in Rundle Mall for Melbourne-based The Little Red Trapeze Company, with other performance spaces in Rymill Park, Rundle Street, Waymouth Street and Adelaide Airport. Acts come from all over the world, and there will also be plenty of kids’ entertainment.

Bob Downe. Photo: Suzanna Shubeck

More Fringe

Looking for more Fringe-spiration? Among the shows getting rave reviews and/or Fringe weekly awards this year are cabaret performer Michael Griffiths’ In Vogue – Songs by Madonna and Dreams – Songs by Annie Lennox (Garden of Unearthly Delights); Papillon – “circus with a vaudevillian edge” (Gluttony); Blues & Burlesque (La Boheme); comedians Wil Anderson (Garden), Stephen K Amos  and Bob Downe (Arts Theatre); EastEnd Cabaret (Garden), theatre shows Mixed Doubles and Decadence (Holden Street Theatres) and Small Talk (Bakehouse), and beat-boxer Tom Thum with muso comrade Jamie MacDowell (Garden). The Waymouth Street Party is on again from 4pm today (Friday), with street food, music, roaming theatre and more. And then there’s Guru Dudu’s Silent Disco Walking Tours, which InDaily‘s reviewer reckons is the most Fringe fun she’s had in years.

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

Adelaide Festival

The two-week Adelaide Festival encompasses theatre, music, dance, film and visual art, with performances this weekend including Batsheva Dance Company’s Sadeh21; children’s show The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean; the Tectonics Adelaide program conducted by Ilan Volkov and featuring the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra; two Unsound Adelaide electronic and experimental music sessions at the Queen’s Theatre; Stone/Castro’s dance/theatre production Blackout, and Malthouse Theatre’s The Shadow King. The Festival continues until March 16.

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

Festival visual arts

With the theme Dark Heart, the Art Gallery of SA’s 2014 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 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. You can get a taste of what’s in store here. The Adelaide Festival’s visual arts program also includes Four Rooms, a “multi-sensory” exhibition featuring work by leading Aboriginal artists at Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute (until April 6), and Worlds in Collision, an exhibition at the Samstag Museum of Art featuring the work of eight international artists looking at “technological, political, psychological and psychedelic exploration” (until March 30).

Doc Week

This celebration of the documentary continues throughout the weekend, with screenings ranging from Australian director Dennis O’Rourke’s Cannibal Tours (Mercury Cinema), following eco-tourists along the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea, to the Hometown Adelaide series (Hetzel Theatre, State Library) looking at both the past and future of our city. This year’s closing night film, screening at the Mercury on Sunday night, is the 18+ From the Bottom of the Lake, a portrait of film director Jane Campion (The Piano, An Angel at My Table) which follows her as she shoots the mini-series Top of the Lake. The full Doc Week program is online.

Lola’s Pergola. Photo: Ben McPherson

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 courtesy of the Lola’s Smokehouse (complete with Hills Hoist BBQ), plenty of picnic rugs to sprawl out on, and a line-up of DJs to get you on your feet later in the night. Awesome Tapes From Africa and Dexter are playing Friday night, Osunlade on Saturday, and Moritz von Oswald and Recloose on Sunday. Entry is free until 8pm, after which it is $5.

Night Noodle Markets

The Night Noodle Markets are on tonight (Friday) on the Riverbank Promenade, 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.

Adelaide Cup

Yes, this is the reason we have a public holiday on Monday. Described by the SA Jockey Club as the premier day on Adelaide’s Racing Calendar, the Cup features not just racing but also live music and, of course, the ever-popular Fashions on the Field. Gates open at the Morphettville Racecourse at 10am, with the first of nine races scheduled for 12.20pm.

Rolling Stones exhibition

Timed to coincide with the Rolling Stones concert at Adelaide Oval later in the month, this free photographic exhibition at Rundle Place celebrates 50 years of the rock band. It comprises 76 photos taken from the archives of the UK’s Daily Mirror newspaper which were originally shown in London during the launch of the book Rolling Stones 50. The photos, accompanied by words by the band, will be on display until March 30.

On screen

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

Non-Stop
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