A O Lang Pho
The Perth International Arts Festival, to be held from February 10 to March 5, 2017, will be featuring themes surrounding migration, reconciliation, accessibility and empathy.
During the annual festival, Perth city will play host to more than 700 artists from around the globe performing in some 180 events – which include 11 Australian exclusives and five world premieres. Performances will take place in venues and spaces around the city, such as Elizabeth Quay and Kings Park.
A highlight of the festival’s theatre programme is the Tony Award-winning playwright and director Richard Nelson’s human trilogy, The Public Theater’s The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family, where guests experience three plays as one eight-hour marathon event.
In another Australian exclusive, Nouveau Cirque du Vietnam make their Australian debut with A O Lang Pho, a breathtaking production of contemporary circus and live music by a cast of 15 acrobats and five musicians who celebrate the culture of Vietnam
Meanwhile, the dance programme will feature the likes of South African choreographer and dancer Gregory Maqoma in Exit/Exist, where he pays homage to his ancestor, a revered Xhosa warrior chief who lost everything to the British and died imprisoned.
The West Australian Ballet (WAB) also returns with its Ballet At The Quarry summer season under the stars, presenting a programme of Australian and world premieres from three choreographers: Colombian-Belgian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Canadian-born Eric Gauthier and WAB’s very own Christopher Hill.
Forming part of the festival is the 2017 Perth Writers Festival (February 23-26), literary attendees include Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley, poet Omar Musa, and Syrian architect Marwa al-Sabouni.
Younglings can also hobnob with their literary heroes with at the Perth Writers Festival Family Day, a free day of storytelling, workshops, performances and festivities. It will feature the author of Inkheart trilogy Cornelia Funke and young-adult fantasy author Garth Nix.
In the visual arts programme, British artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah will present two film installations: Vertigo Sea, a meditation on our relationship with the sea, and Auto Da Fé, a fictional narrative that explores migration over four centuries.
Lastly, the festival classical music programme will include Los Angeles-based Calder Quartet that will present Beethoven and Beyond, combining Beethoven’s iconic repertoire with contemporary works over three concerts, and the vocals of the Vuyani Ensemble who will evoke the sounds and spirit of South Africa as they perform an eclectic mix of compositions.
