Adelaide’s Feast Festival reveals 2016 program

Amelia Ryan and Michael Griffiths, Livvie and Pete The Songs of Olivia Newton John and Peter AllenThe 2016 Feast Festival Program has arrived and it is filled with a range of International, Interstate and local Queer Art and Culture.

There was no denying the 2015 Feast Festival hosted some incredibly talented artists, including the fabulous Conchita Wurst, but Feast Festival is backing it up again with Australia’s very own icon, Dannii Minogue, who will perform at the Feast Festival Opening Night Party on Saturday 22nd October 2016.

Dannii Minogue is a fashion icon and has graced the covers of international magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle and Marie Claire. She is known globally for her success in the entertainment industry, combining work on television, fashion, literary and music. With an extraordinary list of UK #1 club hits, it just so happens that Dannii’s 1997 anthem, All I Wanna Do co-incides with Feast Festival’s inception in the same year – so who knows what classics Dannii will be serving up for us to devour.

The Festival will finish with Picnic in the Park on Sunday 6 November, that sees thousands of people attend each year. In 2016, Feast are lucky enough to have a special performance by Z-Star Delta, a UK duo that features guitar prodigy Sebastien Heintz and the electrifying award-winning front woman Zee Gachette on acoustic guitar and drums, who effortlessly deliver a fascinating cinematic road trip of sound.

Following up this performance at the Picnic After party will be UK Band Z-Star, led by one of the most exquisite and powerful rock goddesses around, dubbed “a legend in her lifetime” by Diva Magazine. So expect to rock the funk out with dirty bass lines, phat blues beats, raucous riffy rock n roll guitars and delicious soul-soaked vocals.

With a huge beginning and end planned for Feast, organisers have got even more artistic goodness threaded throughout the 15 days of Festival fun! Program highlights include:

Livvie and Pete: The Songs of Olivia Newton John and Peter Allen
Internationally acclaimed cabaret artists Amelia Ryan and Helpmann Award Winner Michael Griffiths (and Feast Ambassador) bring to life the stories and songbooks of Olivia Newton-John and Peter Allen. From their humble small-town beginnings, to world domination in sequins and jumpsuits come along and revisit all of their sing-a-long classics from Tenterfield to Grease, all the way to Xanadu and beyond! A joyous, fun filled celebration of two of Australia’s greatest icons. Saturday 5 November – Adelaide premiere.

Sous Terre
Sous Terre is a queer, neo-bohemian adventure into reimagined dance music culture conceived by Adelaide-based boutique production house Adamek Anahata Productions. This high-camp dance-theatre piece is a fusion of ballet, Philippine ethnic dance, Adelaide house-style, breaking and voguing. With the multi-award winning Felicity Arts, the work explores contemporary voyeurism through new media and live VJing. It questions love, longing and cultural identity through transformative technology as dancers interact with real-time projections and live visuals to a soundtrack by DJ Tom Cotter. Thursday 3 & Friday 4 November – Australian premiere.

Hand Grenade
Filmed in South Australia, in Port Adelaide and Semaphore, this Australian film premiere is about a family relationship drama about adults wanting to have children and children wanting to be adults. It centres on a lesbian with her younger gay brother who live in one house with their respective partners. While trying to have a baby with her brother’s partner, they have a metaphorical hand grenade thrown into their lives with the unexpected arrival of a teenager on their doorstep. Wednesday 2 November – Australian premiere.

The Vick Van Dyke Show
Last year, stand-up comedian Victoria Healy came out as queer and started to date a girl. Human sexuality is not black and white. Navigating it is tough. The ups and downs, the ins and outs. Victoria explores the new terrain with help from the bisexual’s mascot, Dick Van Dyke. Friday 28 October.

Toby or Not Toby
Toby’s a cultured, urbane, gentleman. Except when he’s a raging moron. Will you join him for an hour as he suffers the slings and arrows of his own outrageous fortune? That’s the question. Toby writes jokes for The Project and Legally Brown. Saturday 29 October.

Behind the Scenes
How do we see ourselves and how are we seen? Behind the Scenes by Robert Knapman is a fly-on-the-wall black and white photography project about everyday contemporary LGBTIQ Adelaide lives. You are invited into the worlds of drag queens in dressing rooms, lesbian love nests, being black and queer, trans suburban families, male fetish play scenes, the lovers and the loved, and holding hands in public. The images are often honest, thought-provoking or challenging, and in the seeing we see ourselves seen. Friday 21 October – Saturday 5 November.

The 2016 Feast Festival Program Guide is now available. Pick one up today or view online. The Festival starts earlier this year, running from the 21 October to 6 November. For more information, visit:www.feast.org.au for details.

Image: Amelia Ryan and Michael Griffiths in Livvie and Pete: The Songs of Olivia Newton John and Peter Allen