It’s show time | Metro Arts x BrisFest

It’s show time – September is synonymous with Brisbane Festival and Metro Arts is staging four thought-provoking works that showcase varied Australian voices from First Nations to living with dis/ability, queer to quirky, spanning cabaret, theatre, circus and dance, alongside a newly commissioned exhibition as part of this year’s stellar program.

 

Metro Arts CEO and Artistic Director Jo Thomas :

The Metro Arts x Brisbane Festival 2023 Program embodies its mission to sustain and showcase Australian contemporary arts.

This year’s performances shine the spotlight on a host of inclusive artists and accessible art, including a world-premiere solo dance theatre piece by Minjunbal-Yugambeh, Wiradjuri and Ni-Vanuatu multi-hyphenate Thomas E.S. Kelly.

Karul Projects’ Kuramanunya is a brand-new commissioned work that honours and plays homage to First Nations’ lives lost during colonisation, a ceremony bridging physical and spiritual worlds through storytelling and songlines.

Thomas E.S. Kelly:

This work, this ceremony, has already been one of the most emotionally rich stories I have told. Holding the space for my ancestors and offering them the ceremony they never received is one of the most special moments in my career.

In her solo show, Personal, writer and performer Jodee Mundy also explores the duality of existing in two worlds through her intimate coda experience as the only hearing person in a deaf family, inviting deaf and hearing audiences to challenge their perceptions.

Ripping into patriarchal perspectives and the battle for body sovereignty, ON HEAT by performance artist Leah Shelton (Polytoxic) takes razor-sharp aim at sexual politics through absurdist lip-sync and subversive entertainment with devastating effect.

Ms Thomas:

The brilliant psycho siren Leah Shelton is back at Metro Arts with ON HEAT after her sold- out BATSHIT show at last year’s Brisbane Festival.

And we finish the Festival with the best party piece ever: Party Ghost. This is the first time this boutique cirque work has been presented in Queensland and it is the epitome of silly, clever and fun.

Melding circus, theatre, death and drag in a macabre production of high-level physical feats and dismembered dark comedy, Party Ghost is spooky and kooky and utterly original.

Ms Thomas added:

If you haven’t seen Olivia Porter perform before, you’re in for a real treat. She’s a brilliant dark clown, object manipulator and juggler and alongside Jarred Dewey, I promise you’ll laugh and have a great time with a ghost – or two or three.

Running throughout Brisbane Festival from 1 to 23 September 2023, Metro Arts will also present Patterns for Future Living, an immersive installation of rhythmic colour, movement and sound inspired by the modernist works of Sonia Delaunay-Terk.

The exhibition and free creative workshops with artist Rae Haynes prompt a dynamic DIY ethos for collective action and care to promote long-term environmental and social change.

Ms Thomas:

Metro Arts is proud to be partnering with Brisbane Festival again and continue to champion challenging, experiential and inclusive artists and art-making.

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Season Details

Venue: Brisbane Festival
Date: 01 to 23 Sept 2023

For more information click Here