What’s on: Petal power, pirouettes and divine divas

The Queen’s Theatre will be adorned with thousands of blooms for the Flower Party this weekend, with other entertainment including Australian Ballet’s Swan Lake, a show by the Pointer Sisters, and a new American film fest.

May 20, 2016, updated May 30, 2016

Jimmy & the Mirrors will perform at Flower Party.

Flower Party – Queen’s Theatre

Jimmy & the Mirrors, The Bearded Gypsy Band, Jesse Davidson and Surahn are among the line-up for Saturday’s Flower Party at the historic Queen’s Theatre in Playhouse Lane. The theatre will be transformed into a tropical oasis for the party, which organiser Jimmy Meegan describes as “Burning Man festival meets botanical gardens”. It begins at 7pm and will also feature performances by blues singer Ollie English, Delia Obst and Sleepy Lizard. Details here.

Australian Ballet’s Swan Lake – Festival Theatre

Australian-Ballet---Swan-Lake

This traditional interpretation of Swan Lake was created by resident choreographer Stephen Baynes for the Australian Ballet’s 50th anniversary in 2012 and has been revived in 2016. It is being presented at the Adelaide Festival Centre‘s Festival Theatre – with music by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra – until May 31.

Things I Know to Be True – Dunstan Playhouse

This new Australian play by Andrew Bovell tells the story of a dysfunctional family driven apart by their various emotional crises. A collaboration between the State Theatre Company of SA and UK theatre company Frantic Assembly, Things I Know to Be True stars Paul Blackwell, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Nathan O’Keefe, Eugenia Fragos and Tim Walker, with music by composer Nils Frahm. It’s at the Dunstan Playhouse until June 4.

The Little Prince – Space Theatre

Adapted from the popular story by French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, this stage show follows the adventures of a prince who meets a “crash-landed pilot, a cunning snake, a wild fox, and an oddball bunch of grown-ups with some very silly ideas”. Suitable for ages four and up, The Little Prince is being presented by Spare Parts Puppet Theatre company at the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Space Theatre today and tomorrow (May 27-28).

Zep Boys & The Pointer Sisters – The Gov

After a 40-year career and three Grammy Awards, The Pointer Sisters are still busy performing their soulful music all over the world, with their Greatest Hits tour set to touch down at The Governor Hindmarsh on Sunday night. On Friday and Saturday, The Zep Boys are back with their rocking tribute to Led Zeppelin.

iTedE – Her Majesty’s Theatre

Ventriloquist comedy performer David Strassman is back with a new technology-inspired show in which his puppets Chuck Wood, Ted E Bare and others are thrust into the world of social media. iTedE – which sees Strassman operating and voicing five characters simultaneously – is at Her Maj until May 29. Read InDaily’s review here.

Essential Independents: American Cinema, Now

From ‘Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures’.

This new film festival presented by Palace Nova Cinemas seeks to showcase some of the best independents films – both past and current – from the United States. The line-up ranges from documentaries about hip-hop and 20^th-century artist Mapplethorpe, to Sofia Coppola’s 1999 debut feature The Virgin Suicides, 2015 western Jane Got a Gun and the classic 1969 film Midnight Cowboy. The festival continues until June 8. Full program here.

David Stratton’s Great Britain Retro Film Festival

Also at Palace Nova (until June 1), the Retro Film Festival features 16 classic British films from the 1940s to the 1990s. They include 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia (starring Peter O’Toole), 1955 black comedy Ladykillers (Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers), Stanley Kubrick’s 1965 Cold War satire Dr Strangelove and 1945 fantasy comedy Blithe Spirit (based on the Noel Coward play). View the full program here.

SA History Festival

A behind-the-scenes tour of Her Majesty’s Theatre (2pm, Saturday), a tour of historic Adelaide Gaol (7-9pm, Saturday) and an exhibition at the Migration Museum of costumes worn by SA showgirl and drag show host Vonni are some of the events on offer during the final weekend of the History Festival. Vonni will also be taking part in a conversation titled On Glitz and Glam at the Migration Museum on Saturday at 1.30pm. The festival continues until May 31, with the full program here.

Public Image, Private Lives – Art Gallery of SA

Subtitled Family, Friends and Self in Photography, this free exhibition features intimate portraits from the 19^th century to the present by Australian and international artists including Max Dupain and Andy Warhol. They include a heartrending series by Sydney photographer William Yang of a friend with AIDS, and candid images by Carol Jerrems capturing 1970s counterculture.

Karise Eden and Dean Ray – various venues

Karise-Eden

These two singers both came to national prominence on TV talent shows – Eden (pictured above) on The Voice, and Ray on The X Factor – and have since built successful music careers. On their national Rebellion tour, they will each perform a selection of their own material, as well as singing together. They’ve got shows at the Old Mill Inn in Hahndorf on June 3, at the Barossa Valley Arts & Community Centre on June 4, and at the Governor Hindmarsh on June 5. Tickets here.

Transitions Film Festival – Mercury Cinema

Showcasing provocative documentaries exploring issues such as climate change, the future of food, global aid and urban transport, the Transitions Film Festival is at Adelaide’s Mercury Cinema until May 29. It also includes post-screening discussions with filmmakers and “local thought leaders”. View the full program online.

National Reconciliation Week – SA Museum

SA Museum’s new Head of Anthropology John Carty will deliver a Sprigg Lecture titled Renewal and reconciliation in the modern museum (to mark National Reconciliation Week) on Tuesday, May 31. Next weekend, on June 3 and 4, Aboriginal Australian Karl Telfer and British Australian Michael Mills will lead Torchlight tours – footsteps in the shadows, described as a shared adventure among the footsteps of their respective ancestors. Bookings essential for both events.

Saltwater Country – Tandanya

Sixteen Indigenous artists from Queensland are showing work that draws on their connection to the coastline, sea and waterways in Saltwater Country at Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute until June 6. Two other new exhibitions at the institute are Pampa Mara Tjanpi (early woven Tjanpi works from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, until July 9) and Nature Calls (paintings on canvas by Trevor “Turbo” Brown, until July 9).

Nunsense – Blackwood Memorial Hall

This musical farce about the misadventures of five nuns trying to host a variety show to raise funds to bury their accidentally poisoned sisters is being presented by the Blackwood Players at the Blackwood Memorial Hall until June 4. Details here.