Festival
Brisbane Festival 2025 – Louise Bezzina’s last as artistic director – brings a rich array of dance to a diverse program. By Yen-Rong Wong.
Local productions shine at Brisbane Festival 2025
It’s September, which means Queensland’s capital city is again clad in hot pink for Brisbane Festival. It’s Louise Bezzina’s final festival as artistic director and this year’s program seems to be concomitantly more mature, with fewer events catering for young children and teenagers.
Dance was the main event for the opening weekend. Gems, a ballet choreographed by Benjamin Millepied and performed by L.A. Dance Project, is a reimagining of George Balanchine’s Jewels. Jewels featured three acts, each inspired by a gemstone and set to classical composers such as Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. In Millepied’s version, the three chapters are named “Reflections”, “Hearts & Arrows” and “On the Other Side”.
“Reflections”, performed to “This Was Written by Hand” / “Memory Pieces” by David Lang, played by pianist Tony (Yanfeng) Bai, is the weakest of the three, with modifications to the last two chapters forced by an injured dancer. Set against Barbara Kruger’s red and white background that proclaims, “Stay / Think of me think of you”, dancers perform in pairs or solo. The stand-out here is Shu Kinouchi’s solo, which is entirely choreographed with moves usually only performed by women.
The other two chapters are set to a variety of Philip Glass compositions, played live by Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra and Bai respectively. These involve more of the ensemble, which allows for more compelling explorations of form. “Hearts & Arrows” has interesting lighting design, while “On the Other Side” is delivered against a gorgeous backdrop by artist Mark Bradford. The chromaticism in Glass’s work and the ease with which the music slips between major and minor is reflected in the dancers’ energy. The work ultimately ends with the ensemble together, but the interrupted cadence in Glass’s piece means this togetherness is tinged with trepidation – a comment on the fragility of the ties that bind.
Bad Nature is another innovative dance work, a collaboration between Australasian Dance Collective (ADC) and the Netherlands’ Club Guy & Roni (CGR), fashion house Maison the Faux, sound and lighting designer Boris Acket and musicians from HIIT.
This unique production begins with the sun rising to the sounding of large brass gongs and ends with a woman sporting pterodactyl-like wings. The most impressive set piece is a silk canopy hung from the ceiling that, in combination with lighting, acted as clouds, wind and undulating waves. The dancers’ languid movements under the net made it seem as if they were swimming. Paired with rising waves and a scene where the dancers make exclamations of pain when they touch each other, it is clear this work is a comment on the impacts of climate change and how all parts of our ecosystem are interconnected.
Preparing Ground, a dance work conceived by First Nations choreographers Marilyn Miller (Kukuyalanji and Waanyi), Jasmin Sheppard (Tagalaka and Kurtitjar) and Katina Olsen (Wakka Wakka and Kombumerri), has a similar message. It is, however, more pointed in its critique of the damage colonisation has wrought on Country.
The set features three mobile, sail-like elements that at first seem to be boats but also become screens on which are projected imagery of traditional land burning practices, the rolling sea and drone images of sweeping industrialisation and commercialisation. Another prominent prop is a long, thick chain: here a metaphorical tether is made physical. The work explores the links between language and Country – how they have been broken apart by colonisers and how First Nations people are seeking to piece them back together.
It’s clear that this work is the result of deep reflection and despair, but it also features moments of humour. In one instance, Sheppard poses near one of the boats in an exaggerated stance with a thumbs up, a clear representation of the white man’s confidence even as he seeks to destroy tens of thousands of years of history and culture.
After the bows, the choreographers spoke of the need to return land management practices to First Nations people and encouraged the audience to contribute to real-world efforts to help revitalise Country. As Sheppard says, “Some people might call it climate change: we call it colonisation.”
Another production centred on three strong women is Congratulations, Get Rich! (恭喜发财, 人日快乐) at La Boite Theatre. Written by Merlynn Tong and directed by Courtney Stewart, this play follows in a literary tradition of exploring trauma through successive generations of women. Tong plays Mandy, who has just opened Money Money Karaoke, a bar that has no customers on its opening night until an unknown woman seems to materialise from the television. It is eventually revealed that this woman is Mandy’s grandma, or Gma (Kimie Tsukakoshi), and she is soon joined by Mandy’s mum (Seong Hui Xuan). Xavier (Zac Boulton), Mandy’s partner and Tong’s partner in real life, completes the cast of four. As the token white man, he is well-meaning and supportive, even if he can’t seem to help making bad dad jokes.
James Lew’s set is beautifully curated and designed, with plush couches surrounding a stage in the shape of an old Chinese cash coin. Accentuated by neon lighting, it gives a distinctly karaoke feel. Each woman’s clothing is paired to their personality: Xavier wears a Money Money Karaoke-themed polo shirt with Mandy’s face plastered on the back.
The show draws on Tong’s personal experiences, tackling big emotional issues head on, including abandonment, mental ill health, suicide, what it means to be a mother – especially a Chinese mother – and the cycle of intergenerational trauma. It is, nevertheless, an incredibly funny play, sharpened by the actors’ impeccable comedic timing.
In less expert hands the characters could have tipped into caricature, but the right beats are exaggerated enough to emphasise Chinese and Singaporean traits without veering into mockery. There is a healthy sprinkling of superstitions throughout, including the belief that you shouldn’t wash your hair on certain days of Chinese New Year, and the creation myth featuring Nüwa, a goddess who crafted humanity from yellow clay.
It wouldn’t be a play set in a karaoke bar without singing and dancing, and Congratulations, Get Rich! features original songs by Guy Webster that include the unforgettable line “I am the Chinese Princess Diana”. The song and dance numbers are a welcome break from the tension between the three women but are cleverly engineered so they do not diffuse it completely.
Afterglow, Brisbane Festival’s signature light installation, is pared down this year, though this is offset by a marshmallow toasting station and fire twirlers halfway through the walk. This year, too, the festival is missing some of the more accessible art installations at Southbank and the West End precinct that were a staple of Brisbane Festivals past. Colourful bubble arches, courtesy of designers Craig Redman and Karl Maier, adorn Brisbane’s walking bridges, and large-scale lighting installations are projected on riverside buildings. Though especially gorgeous at night, they lack the tactility and engagement of previous public works.
When it comes to engagement, Gatsby at the Green Light hits all the right notes. After a successful run at the Sydney Opera House, it found a home at the newly refurbished Twelfth Night Theatre. Fire eating, aerial acts – including a routine featuring a hatstand – juggling and dancing are woven through a semi-coherent storyline that loosely follows the titular source material – complete with Jay Gatsby’s ominous but silent appearances as he oversees the proceedings.
Raunchy, playful and high energy, with a touch of audience participation, it’s an interesting show to stage now as we live through our version of the 1920s, a decade that started with a global pandemic and is marked by social and economic instability. The cost-of-living crisis and negative outlook on the future is in diametric opposition to the economic prosperity, decadence and relief after World War I that was emblematic of the 1920s. As a form of escapism, this show does its job perfectly and the circus elements will appeal to a broad audience.
Much like the fireworks that graced Brisbane’s skyline for Riverfire, this year’s festival kicked off with a bang. Its cross-section of work speaks to the interesting times we are living in and gives space for reflection. Though it’s bursting with international talent, it’s the local productions that make their mark.
Brisbane Festival runs until September 27.
ARTS DIARY
VISUAL ART Enjoy ThisTrip: The Art of Music Posters
National Gallery of Australia, Ngambri/Canberra, until February 22
CULTURE Yellamundie Festival
Carriageworks, Gadigal Country/Sydney, September 25-27
EXHIBITION ENERGIES 25
Home of the Arts, Yugambeh Country/Gold Coast, until November 9
MUSICAL Cats
Her Majesty's Theatre, Kaurna Yarta/Adelaide, until October 12
PHOTOGRAPHY Ballarat International Foto Biennale
Venues throughout Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung Country/Ballarat, until October 19
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on September 13, 2025 as "Local gems".
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