ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2023.
Artistic director
Ruth Mackenzie. Associate director: Wouter Van Ransbeek. Chief Executive: Kath M Mainland. March 3-19 2023. Bookings adelaidefestival.com.au or
1300393404.
Preview by Peter Wilkins
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Ruth Mackenzie Artistic Director -= Adelaide Festival 2023
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The Adelaide Festival Board has scored a cultural coup by appointing
British Arts Supremo Ruth Mackenzie CBE as the next Artistic Director of
Adelaide’s prestigious and premier Arts Festival. Mackenzie succeeds retiring
co-Artistic Directors Neil Armfield and Rachel Healey who have steered the past
seven festivals with enormous success.
Mackenzie inherits their programme which on first glance is nothing short of
extraordinary.
Mackenzie brings to the Adelaide Festival a vast
wealth of experience as a higly respected arts administrator of arts
organizations and events as diverse as the Scottish Opera, the Chichester
Festival, the Manchester International Festival, the official cultural
programme of the 2012 London Olympicsand the Holland Festival in Amsterdam. She
was also appointed the first female artistic director of Theatre du Chatelet in
Paris. As well Mackenzie was working earlier in 2022 on the "Let's Do London"
campaign with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.. It is an impressive list of
achievements that she brings to the four festivals that she will direct.
I call Ruth Mackenzie at her rented apartment on the
esplanade at Adelaide’s fashionable Glenelg.. Mackenzie always buys a place in
whichever city she happens to be working and she is currently on the hunt for a
property overlooking the beach at the historic seaside suburb. A charming tram
ride from Glenelg will take her past many of the venues that will play host to
Adelaide’s vibrant festival of theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, opera
and music. “There is no better place to show how vital, innovative, inspiring,
collaborative and responsible the arts can be than in Adelaide” Mackenzie says.
She pays due credit and lavishes high [praise on the artistic vision and
achievements of Armfield and Healy.
It is not surprising that Mackenzie is so adamant
about the role of the arts in creating a better and fairer society. Born in the
English town of Reading, to which she has never returned, Mackenzie was taken
as a very young child to South Africa. Her parents who were both South African journalists
became involved in political protests at the time of the 1960 Sharpeville riots
and the battle against Apartheid. Her mother, much to her father’s chagrin
spent some time with other protestors in prison and when released decided that
they would leave to live in England. Nor is it surprising that in the Seventies
while at university in Paris she cut her long hair, pursued activism and
embraced the punk scene, “which was a cool thing to do.” An unspoken vision of
the kind of festival she would lead begins to emerge. “ I was brought up in a
very political household so I suppose that politics and fighting for justice
have always been a part of my life.” Mackenzie tells me. It is little wonder then that she is excited about
leading the Adelaide Festival with its stellar tradition of presenting
confronting, challenging, and inspiring works. "There’s not a festival in the
world that isn’t setting out to be inspiring. That’s the job description of a
festival I’d say. It’s in the DNA of the Adelaide Festival.” She won’t be drawn
on revealing her specific vision for the future. “This festival has all of Neil
and Rachel’s brilliant trademarks.” She undeniably shares similar tastes but
her focus is entirely on delivering the 2023 festival with all its inspiring,
relevant and innovative performance works.
When one thinks of the Adelaide Festival, it is
often the large international shows that draw the attention. In the past it is
spellbinding theatre like Peter Brook’s 1988 production of The Mahabharata or Ivo van Hove’s Kings of War from the Netherlands . For opera buffs it could be
Barrie Kosky’s production of Handel’s Saul
and for dance lovers Pina Bausch’s company from Wuppertal. But, as Mackenzie
points out, the festival experience is also about new works and world class
works from Australia.
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The Sheep Song. Photo Kurt van der Elst
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For new work that is taking Europe by storm,
Mackenzie cites Flemish theatre collective FC Bergmann’s The Sheep Song, an
evocative fable about a sheep who, wanting to rise above his peers, strikes a
Faustian bargain and encounters the inexplicable and irrational world of the
human being. “It’s a good example of rising stars who bring utter innovation
and vision to their process. They’re passionate. They’re ironic, subtle and in
your face.”
From London comes the powerful Dogs of Europe by the Belarus Theatre
Troupe. Based on the 2017 novel by political exile Alhierd Bacharevic and
performed by Belarus political exiles now living in London Dogs of Europe provides a highly personal and extraordinarily
impactful way of opening doors to the political reality that is happening right
now in that region of the world. After seeing the performance in New York, Cate
Blanchett rang Neil Armfield and said that he must include it in the programme.
“It’s a must see. As simple as that- and who can turn down Cate Blanchett?”
says Mackenzie.
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A Little Life. Photo: Jan Versweyveld
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Brilliant director, Ivo van Hove, who astounded audiences with
his previous Adelaide Festival productions of The Roman Tragedies and Kings
of War returns to Adelaide with A
Little Life, adapted from the novel by Hanya Yanahigara. The novel tracks
the lives of four men over a period of more than thirty years. Hove and his
International Theater Amsterdam present a timeless story of a man haunted by
his past. “We will be in for a real treat with A Little Life” Mackenzie says. “Audiences will see what happens
when van Hove takes on a contemporary text.”
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Dogs of Europe. Photo Linda Nyland
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Mackenzie is passionate about developing new work
and work where artists can experiment and this is reflected in Armfield and
Healy’s programme.. “We’re using our powers as a festival,” Mackenzie tells
me,” to offer opportunities for First Nation artists to work with us for South
Australian and interstate audiences but also for us to show them off to the
whole world. She is excited about Australian Dance Theatre in association with
Ilbijerri Theatre Company present Tracker,
created by ADT’s first First Nation Artistic Director, former Canberran and
Wiradjuri member of the Bangarra Dance Theatre ensemble, Daniel Riley. He has
choreographed a work about his great great-uncle who was a tracker with the NSW
police. It is a personal and political story, highlighting the discrimination
faced by his great -great uncle and his people. Riley is saying “Watch this
company. It is going in a dramatically different direction”. “We are very proud
to be in the same city as Daniel” Mackenzie adds.
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Slingsby's A River That Flows Both Ways.
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Mackenzie is quick to correct me when I inadvertently
imply that Slingsby’s A River That Flows
Both Ways about the devastating impact of Cyclone Pam on the South Pacific
and Windmill Theatre and Sandpit’s collaborative Hans and Gret by another
former Canberran Lally Katz could be regarded as emerging works .”They are
international stars who I am proud to say live and work in Adelaide.!”
Mackenzie sees part of a festival’s responsibility is to showcase the world class
work by local and national companies.
I could go on talking forever I say. “No you
can’t” she says. “I have another engagement.” As ir is we have gone well over
the allotted time. But there is still a couple of important performances to
mention. I leave it to readers to consult the brochure online at adelaidefestival.com.au/events
. Guiseppe Verdi’s Messa du Requiem,
choreographed and directed by Christian Spuck will enthrall audiences as 36
dancers from Ballet Zurich, Adelaide Singers’ 80 odd choir, who are off the
book and both sing and dance, a legacy from Barrie Kosky’s production of Handel's Saul, and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra will bring every arts tool
you can possibly imagine to Verdi’s Requiem
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Messa du Requiem. Photo: Carlos Quezada
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Choreographer Crystal Pite is changing
choreography and changing theatre with her new work Revisor. Pite works with
text and in this instance has chosen to choreograph Nikolai Gogol’s hilarious
satire The Government Inspector. . “She’s going to change everything you
ever thought about The Government Inspector and everything you ever thought
about dance.”
With so much on offer at this sumptuous
smorgasbord of artistic delights, it seems an almost impossible task to choose.
The advice is very often the same. Choose the familiar and also the new and
then choose something you thought you’d never do. McKenzie has given some
indication of the “must sees” In the first week you can catch the familiar
Writer’s Week and Sydney Theatre Company’s remarkable production of Robert
Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, adapted and directed by
Kip Williams who stunned audiences last year with his innovative production of
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
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Daniel Riley's Tracker for ADT
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In the second week there is the indigenous dance
work Jurrungu Ngan-Ga (Straight Talk) Marregeku’s work about aboriginals in
custody. Remote Theatre Project from Palestine presents writer/director Amir Nazir Zuabi’s play Grey Rock about a man in the West Bank
who decides to build a space shuttle. It’s a charming piece that will make you
think about the Palestinian dilemma. Also in the second week is the world music
festival WOMADelaide.At Adelaide’s
beautiful concert hall, UKARIA Cultural Centre, music lovers can catch Poème: Chamber
Landscape Series curated by brilliant Finnish pianist Paavali Jumppanen. On the
last weekend superb New York violinist Jennifer Koh will perform Fantastical Journeys with the Adelaide
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Finnish conductor Emilia Hovig
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Airplay Photo: Florence Montmare
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“Don’t neglect that last weekend!” Mackenzie
says. That is when audiences may also catch the unforgettable The Sheep Song and the magical visual
wonderland of Airplay.
For Mackenzie a festival is a place to have fun,
to know yourself and explore the world around you and get to see artists you
may not ordinarily have the chance to see. For her a festival experience is
like going on an African safari. You know that you are going to have a great
experience. There is always something to discover. You may see lions or you may
not. . But you will always remember the pride of elephants with the baby
giraffes around them and the sunset behind. “My job is to give you an
experience that you will always remember.”
Adelaide Festival
March 3-19 2023
Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au or 1300393404
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