Italian Film Festival – Palace Nova Eastend

More than 30 films will screen throughout the Italian Film Festival from September 13 to October 1. Highlights include the comedy Messy Christmas (by Welcome to the North director Luca Miniero), the award-winning drama Fortunata, about a young woman fighting for independence; and a sumptuous French-Italian biopic of European singer Dalida. The festival will close with the Oscar-winning 1997 film Life is Beautiful. See the full program here.

Dracula – Space Theatre

Bram Stoker’s gothic tale is given a new twist in this adaptation by theatre company shake & stir. The production sees Dracula “hosting” a young lawyer in his castle deep within the Carpathian mountains, then travelling to London on a quest for “seduction, true love and above all – blood”. Recommended for ages 15 plus, Dracula is playing at the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Space Theatre until September 16.

Slingsby 10th birthday celebration – Queen’s Theatre

Adelaide theatre company Slingsby is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a concert featuring a selection of music composed by Quincy Grant for its productions over the past decade. Songs From a Journey So Far begins at 6.30pm on Saturday night at the Queen’s Theatre, with performers including Cameron Goodall, Emma Horwood, Adam Goodburn, Johanna Allen, Clara Gilliam Grant, The Horizon Orchestra and Young Adelaide Voices.

Romeo and Juliet – Town Hall

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and State Theatre Company SA have joined forces for this show – described as “a fantasy of words and music” – inspired by Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed lovers. Conducted by Nicholas Carter and presented with a cast of actors, Romeo and Juliet includes music by Sergei Prokofiev, Hector Berlioz, Leonard Bernstein and Nino Rota. The final performance is at the Town Hall tonight (September 8).

New York State of Mind – Her Majesty’s Theatre

Singer Anthony Mara pays tribute to the recording career of Billy Joel with this concert at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday night. With a full live band, he will perform hits including  “Piano Man”, “New York State of Mind”, “Uptown Girl”, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and more. Details here.

Models & Machinations / Big Band Bash – The Gov

The ’80s bands Models (Melbourne) and Machinations (Sydney) join forces for a gig at the Governor Hindmarsh on Saturday night. On Sunday at The Gov, JazzSA will present the Big Band Bash, in memory of the late musician Mike Stewart. Doors open at midday for the all-ages show, which will feature big bands from more than 10 Adelaide schools.

Macbeth – Dunstan Playhouse

Anna Steen and Nathan O’Keefe in Macbeth. Photo: Chris Herzfeld

State Theatre Company’s adaptation of Macbeth is clever and powerful, allowing nothing to distract from the raw brutality of the Shakespearean tale of unchecked ambition, moral corruption and murder, writes InDaily reviewer Rachael Mead.  The company’s Ensemble has transported the play to a contemporary urban setting for the new production, which is at the Dunstan Playhouse until September 16.

Winter Witches / Dan Thorpe – The Jade

In response to the debate surrounding same-sex marriage and the Government’s planned postal vote on the issue, SA musicians Winter Witches and Dan Thorpe will stage A Celebration of Queer Love at The Jade in Flinders Street on Thursday, September 14. The event begins at 8pm, with the promise of a night of “down-tempo, melancholic, piano-infused and electronic music”. A dollar from each ticket sold will be donated to Q-Headspace. Details here.

ASO’s Of Knights & Legends – Town Hall

Part of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s Great Classics series and featuring pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Of Knights & Legends will begin with Beethoven’s intimate Fourth Piano Concerto and conclude with Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony. There is one performance only, on Saturday, September 16, at the Town Hall.

Re-thinking Australian Art – Art Gallery of SA

The AGSA is re-presenting its Australian collection in a series of new displays in galleries 6, 7 and 17. It says Re-thinking Australian Art “highlights the complex and radical changes that occurred in Australian art after the Second World War, including the revelation of Aboriginal art, the Feminist art movement and the rise of conceptual art and post modernism”.

FRAN Fest

Hoon Holden, This Woman is Not a Car series, Margaret Dodd, 1977.

FRAN (Feminism Renewal Art Network) is marking 40 years since the ground-breaking The Women’s Show in 1977 at the Experimental Art Foundation with a series of exhibitions of historical and contemporary women’s art, as well as film screenings and other events. There are two exhibitions showing this month at ACE Open in the Lion Arts Centre (Margaret Dodd’s This Woman is Not a Car and Kate Blackmore’s Girls), and the Art Gallery of SA will host a two-day FRAN Fest symposium on September 16 and 17. Download the full FRAN Fest program here, and read InDaily‘s interview with Margaret Dodd here.

Our Boys – Arts Theatre

The Adelaide Repertory Theatre’s latest show centres on a group of young soldiers recovering in a military hospital in 1984 from injuries received in the line of duty. Their comical daily routine is challenged by the arrival of a young officer, with friendships threatened by an act of betrayal. Final performances of Our Boys are at the Arts Theatre in Angas Street this weekend.

Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 
– SA Museum

A stunning selection of images capturing the beauty of the natural world is on display at the South Australian Museum until September 24 in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition. Justin Gilligan from New South Wales won the 2017 competition with an underwater photo capturing the moment a Maori octopus selected its prey from a crowd of spider crabs. The exhibition will continue until September 24. See the work of a selection of finalists’ work here.

On screen

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

Madame
Hampstead
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Atomic Blonde
War for the Planet of the Apes