Perth Festival 2023 commences its star-themed events

The star - themed Perth Festival 2023 commenced last Friday night with a dazzling free opening event in Joondalup and a host of sensational shows under way at venues across the city.

Major stage shows, concerts, outdoor films and exhibitions lit up Perth over the weekend, welcoming audiences to the first of 130-plus events presented by more than 750 international, national and local artists over the next three weeks.

Artistic Director Iain Grandage enthused “we are over the moon to be able to welcome artists and audiences from afar to join us here in Perth again for our 2023 star-themed Festival.

“'Here in our beautiful City of Light, it is an immense pleasure to celebrate the stories and songs of this place, Noongar Boodjar, alongside those being shared with us from people from around the nation and around the world. Within the program, stars abound – on stage and beyond, so please come join us and be transfixed by their wonder.”

Celebrating the 2023 Festival theme of Djinda (stars), the splendour of the cosmos is linked to the natural beauty of lakeside Doondalup /Joondalup in the free sound-and-light spectacle Djoondal. This stunning synthesis of lights, lasers, music and choreographed drones tells the Noongar story of the creation of the Milky Way over three nights until Sunday at Pinar’s Tree, Lake Joondalup.

To close the Festival in sparkling style, art-pop queen Björk presents her sumptuous stage extravaganza Cornucopia in a Perth Festival exclusive Australian residency over four nights (3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th March) in a 5000-seat pavilion in Langley Park. The first night is sold out and tickets are selling fast for the remaining shows.

Opening weekend audiences will be wowed by Edinburgh and Sydney Festival hit rom-com Happy Meal, the euphoric energy of Stephanie Lake Company’s dance-drum sensation Manifesto (below), Sydney Theatre Company’s thrilling cine-theatre Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the pan-African dance futurism of Bikutsi 3000 and the extraordinary voices of Emma Donovan and Samantha Clarke alongside a choir of angels and demons in Music of the Spheres with West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Summer nights await outdoors as the young performers of WA Youth Theatre Company tell star stories under night skies in Seven Sisters. Beneath the towering pines of UWA Somerville, the documentary The Giants paints a poetic portrait of trees and humanity through the activism of Bob Brown at Lotterywest Films; while Ballet at the Quarry lights up the bushland setting of Quarry Amphitheatre in City Beach.

The night sky also beckons potential extra-terrestrial audiences, with artist Michaela Gleave calling for people to submit messages to be beamed in morse-code from the Art Gallery of Western Australia rooftop in her epic light installation Between us. People can see the light show over four nights from 3rd to 6th March but submissions close soon.

A free Visual Arts program opens at venues across Perth, including Black Sky at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, including works by Tracey Moffatt, Julie Dowling and the Tennant Creek Brio. John Curtin Gallery celebrates its 25-year Perth Festival partnership by featuring Aziz Hazara, Lisa Reihana and the proppaNOW Aboriginal artist collective, and Fremantle Arts Centre presents works by First Nations and women of colour in Other Horizons. Other drawcards include Italian artist Rosa Barba’s first Australian solo show and the kinetic artworks of Robert Andrew at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.

The 70th anniversary Festival welcomes international contemporary music acts Bon Iver, Angel Olsen and Bikini Kill, the legendary Kronos Quartet plus national guests in Australian Dance Theatre’s Tracker and Melbourne Theatre Company’s gender-flipped rom-com Cyrano, presented by Black Swan State Theatre Company.

Dance maker Laura Boynes showcases a stellar cast of dancers in her Equations of a Falling Body, while exciting new works for families include trans-Tasman tiger tale Hide the Dog and Wonderbox, internationally lauded Perth company Sensorium’s new work for children with disability and their friends. In another world premiere, French pianist Cédric Tiberghien performs John Cage’s masterpieces beneath sound artist Matthias Schack-Arnott's percussive mobile, and Perth’s 2023 Grammy-winning bassist and vocalist Linda May Han Oh performs her beautiful new commission Ephemeral Echoes at Perth Concert Hall. Over at the WACA, 150 musicians and singers take over the hallowed turf for WA Opera's arena spectacle of Carmen.

The Rechabite in Northbridge is the Festival’s 2023 music hotspot where acts from across the globe include Peaches (Canada), Kae Tempest (UK), Mdou Moctar (Niger), Future Islands (US), Mykki Blanco (USA), Soccer Mommy (US) and South African sensation Nakhane alongside an incredible array of Australian artists in shows such as Flewnt’s Boorloo Block Party.

There are also literary luminaries – Amy Bloom, Damon Galgut, Sequoia Nagamatsu, Ben Macintyre, Jane Harper, Jennifer Down, Larissa Behrendt and Holly Ringland to name a few – across the ever-popular Writers Weekend (25th – 26th Feb) at the beautiful Fremantle Arts Centre.

For inspiration for the Writers Weekend, visit Subiaco Arts Centre for A Day of Ideas (18th Feb) to hear scientists, artists and community and industry leaders explore djinda’s enduring effect on scientific and creative processes.

The Lotterywest Films season continues until 9th April with gems including the sweet comedy 7 Days, the acclaimed Godland, and 2023 Oscar nominee All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. .

The Perth Festival also hits the road again in 2023, with the Touring WA program of theatre, music, films, literature and ideas being shared with audiences from the Great Southern to the Pilbara. More details on the Touring WA page. https://www.perthfestival.com.au/categories/touring-wa

Also connecting Western Australians in new and exciting ways will be our Festival Connect program of arts sector support, creative learning and community engagement opportunities. 

Perth Festival runs 10th February – 5th March.

Lotterywest Films run through to 9th April.

Image top: Perth Festival’s free sound-and-light spectacle Djoondal. Credit: Trevor Dobson, Louise Coghill, Jade Foo; image above: Perth Festival’s Manifesto. Credit: Roy Van Der Vegt