Music! Theatre! Fire! Brisbane Festival Reveals 'Ambitious' 2019 Program

Brisbane Festival has today revealed its massive 2019 program stacked with music, art, theatre and more. 

Going down from 6 - 28 September, the diverse program, curated by Artistic Director David Berthold, has been arranged into three themes; Revels, Revelations and Romances. 

Across its 23 days, the festival will host over 500 performances of 84 shows, involving more than 1,000 international and local artists.

The program is huge and will include the exclusive Australian season of multi-artform production Invisible Cities by 59 Productions, fresh from its UK premiere. The production will occupy a massive Yeerongpilly warehouse in a pop-up theatre that will seat over 1,000 patrons. Berthold is calling it the festival's "most ambitious project" to date. 

“There’s no doubt that this work will be a global marker for Brisbane, and for the world,” Berthold said. 

“We felt it was time to break some boundaries... It will redefine what is possible in live performance. It’s so big, and so complex, we needed to create our own theatre for it, a 1,050-seat pop-up space in a vast warehouse.”

A reformed The Middle East, Chinese dancer Yang Liping, South African music theatre ensemble Isango, the Fire Gardens spectacle, and France’s Compagnie Carabosse also feature on the program alongside four huge concerts to celebrate the Riverstage's 30th birthday, including a closing night performance from City & Colour and a birthday bash featuring Hot Dub Time Machine, Cub Sport, Confidence Man, Last Dinosaurs and Clea.

This will be the fifth and final program from Berthold. 

“This year’s Brisbane Festival is, without doubt, the most adventurous we’ve ever undertaken," he said. 

"The festival has matured enormously in recent years, and we thought the time had come to shift the goalposts.

"Within the overarching themes of Revels, Revelations and Romances are huge productions revealing microscopic insights into the world, and small shows posing some of life’s biggest questions.

“These are the shows that guarantee you a good night out – the luminary delights of Fire Gardens; the spectacle of Sunsuper Riverfire; four Saturday night Riverstage concerts with Hot Dub Time Machine, Cub Sport, The Amity Affliction, City & Colour, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and 8,000 of your closest friends; lots of comedy; a brand-new version of Brisbane Festival’s biggest selling show to date, BLANC De BLANC; along with Briefs, Trevor Ashley and a bunch of great shows for kids.

“While great festivals are festive, they also make us marvel. So with revelling comes revelation.

“Love and light stream through the festival this year, and I invite everyone to join in the revelry and the revelation this September."

Brisbane Festival takes place from 6 – 28 September 2019. The full program is available at brisbanefestival.com.au.