The Garden of Unearthly Delights remains unrivalled as Australia’s most vibrant and dynamic outdoor festival precincts that creates a unique festival playground including multiple performance venues, bars, carnival rides, an array of world foods, market stalls, and the most unexpected sideshow surprises.
In 2000, The Garden of Unearthly Delights began with just one Spiegeltent. Over the past thirteen years it has evolved into one of the greatest arts event in the heart of Adelaide with more than 800,000 people attending in 2013.
Over four weeks, the ‘Gardens’ will play host to hundreds of artists in a variety of venues including the Paradiso Spiegeltent, La Cascadeur, The Vagabond and Umbrella Revolution. Arts Review takes a look at ten shows you should consider checking out!
A Storm in a D Cup
Dysfunction follows Amelia Ryan around like the broken heel on her tatty old stiletto. But the success of this smash hit show proves that a life full of calamity makes for a damn-entertaining story! When you’ve been blessed with a gay Father and a transgender Step-Mother, can add ‘exotic dancer’ to you resume and caused the spectacular demise of 4 automobiles, what else is a girl to do but sing for her supper? No stone is left unturned in this candid, yet hysterically delivered show, where Sex in the City meets Cabaret.
Carousel & Clothesline
Direct from Montreal and created by two of Canada’s foremost circus artists Vague de Cirque make their Australian debut! Balancing an insatiable quest for grandeur and glitz with the daily grind of life, eight acclaimed acrobats form an extraordinary ensemble in this year’s must-see-performance.
Chris Taylor & Andrew Hansen – One Man Show
The Chaser’s War On Everything made Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor household names, in half a dozen houses belonging to people who already knew them beforehand. Everyone else knows them as ‘those Chaser guys’, or simply ‘those pricks’. Now Chris and Andrew present a live showcase of brand new sketches and songs, tipped to feature daring, never-before-seen concepts such as a Game of Thrones parody and a Kevin Rudd impression. Fun for all ages! But with a particular focus on the 43 to 43-and-a-half year old market.
Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo
From cute baby dinos to teeth-gnashing giants, all brought to life by sophisticated puppet design and electronics. This experiential theatre production takes audiences on a prehistoric journey into a new dimension where they get to meet a menagerie of insects, mammals and dinosaurs that once roamed the planet millions of years ago. Featuring a large-scale cast of dinosaur puppets, these life-like dinosaur recreations connect children to paleontology in a fun and informative setting. This monster production will feature up to nine dinosaurs on stage which children can interact with in this live, educational and unique performance.
Glory Box!
The legendary, genre-busting, globally-acclaimed seductive and subversive cult-hit storms into Adelaide from Paris, London and Buenos Aires! Queen Provocateur Moira Finucane has been hailed a National Treasure in Australia, a La Gloriosa! in Latin America, and Sumptuously Demented! in France – watch her and her addictive divas go off like a box of banned firecrackers with much balloon-popping, show-stopping, pearl-swinging, trapeze-flying, and plenty of disco fever in the Paradiso Spiegeltent.
Hans: Like a German
The sell-out show of the Cabaret Festival hits the beautiful Paradiso Spiegeltent. Join Hans, his band The Ungrateful Bastards and dancers The Lucky Bitches for an evening of hotpants, feathers and accordions. With more eyeliner than Cleopatra and more drama than an episode of the Real Housewives, Hans will make you feel Like A German as well with his unique brand of in your face cabaret. Hold on to your boyfriend and sit in the front row… he dares you!
In Vogue – Songs by Madonna / Sweet Dreams – Songs by Annie Lennox
Alternating nightly, Jersey Boys star and Adelaide Cabaret Festival sensation Michael Griffiths IS Madonna and Annie Lennox as you’ve never heard or seen before. Two acclaimed shows, one man and a piano explore some of the most enduring pop songs of our time, all put under the microscope to discover the real truths and surprising stories behind them.
Katie Noonan & CIRCA: Love-Song-Circus
Internationally renowned Brisbane-based company Circa joins forces with four-time Aria Award winning and seven-time platinum selling artist Katie Noonan to create a spellbinding performance based on the stories and letters of Australia’s first convict women. Love-Song-Circus is a powerful ode to the strength and endurance of the first female convicts in Australia. With performances that are searing and flawless, this is one show not to be missed.
The Boy with Tape on his Face: MORE TAPE
In 2011 ‘More Tape’ premiered at the Adelaide fringe to sold out audiences. Funny, magical, innovative, spectacular and inspiring. The Boy with Tape On his Face has won the hearts and minds of the critics and public alike. This is stand up with no talking, drama with no acting and punch lines with no words. Come and see the silent sensation that’s making so much noise.
The Wau Wau Sisters – Death Threats ( and other forms of flattery)
Everyone knows well-behaved women don’t make history. The Wau Wau Sisters’ career-long celebration of the flesh, sex, booze, chaos, freedom and love for all has garnered them adoring audiences and awards all over this beautiful world! So exultant, inclusive and deliciously profane are their shows that they have even brought the crazies and religious protestors out of their hovels to issue that one form of flattery even more powerful than an award…a DEATH THREAT!
The Garden of Unearthly Delights runs from 13 February to 16 March 2014. For more information, visit: www.gardenofunearthlydelights.com.au for details.
Image: courtesy of The Garden of Unearthly Delights