Adelaide Festival’s program is one of the biggest in the country, and we caught a few more shows in the main venues and plenty of talks in Adelaide Writers Week. There were some really inspiring speakers and wonderful shows, a lot of which are continuing on tour throughout the country and overseas.
America, America
David Remnick with Sarah Ferguson
The Drill Hall, Torrens Parade Ground, King William Road, Adelaide
David Remnick, the Editor of The New Yorker dialled in for an online conversation with 7.30’s Sarah Ferguson. A packed room gathered to listen to someone at the heart of American culture to try to gleam what on earth is going on over there. Commentators these days are often reduced to finding new ways of saying ‘everything is bad,’ or ‘this thing is really inappropriate,’ or ‘I know that this is much worse than the other thing.’
Fortunately David Remnick had some real insights to offer, particularly about the possible long term strategies and shrewdness of the current Trump and Putin governments. He also implored everyone to keep watching, even as people think they might not be able to take the news anymore, as looking away only makes ordinary people part of the problem.
My Cousin Frank
Written and told by Rhoda Roberts AO / A NORPA Production
Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, Festival Drive
A chapter of Australian history is captivatingly told in a single- hander by Rhoda Roberts AO, as she holds the stage alone to tell the audience about her cousin Frank, a Widjabul Wiabal and Githabul man who spent his entire life fighting tirelessly, both in the boxing ring, and for his family and culture. He was Australia’s first signed Indigenous Olympian, who in 1964, travelled to Japan to compete in the Tokyo Olympics and dine with Emperor Hirohito.
The narrative play uses projected images and film, and a sparse set holding hardly more than a punching bag. Directed by Kirk Page for Norpa, Roberts effortlessly keeps the whole room enthralled as the story of her family, going up against the odds, the cruelty of the Australian government towards indigenous communities, and finding greatness within, rolls off her, in a crisp white shirt and a low slung chair. A master storyteller doing her master thang.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Text by John Cameron Mitchell / Music and lyrics by Stephen Trask / Directed by Shane Anthony & Dino Dimitriadis / Starring Seann Miley Moore
The Queens Theatre, Corner of Playhouse Lane & Gilles Arcade
Glitter balls, balloons, botched gender reassignment surgery, and fabulous big jazz hands electric rock songs, belted out by fabulous big all encompassing voices can mean only one thing, that Hedwig and The Angry Inch is back. This story has been around for a while, and was first a stage musical back in 1998, before it was a hit film in 2001, picking up significant awards including at Sundance and Berlinale that year, and being nominated for Golden Globes and Independent Spirit Awards in 2002. Its been on stage since, but hitting the boards now in 2025 with such a back story means not only that the numbers are tight and polished, but that there’s room to play, and allow the new crop of talent to shine through. Seann Miley Moore is totally on top of the role, with a full bodied delivery, and an extraordinarily rich and powerful range that pumps out the songs and captivates the audience. Let down by fate and luck and love, our complex heroine gets together with Croatian Jewish drag queen Yitzhak, played by Adam Noviello, who explodes into the final scenes with their wonderful tenor voice that’s purposefully kept in the shadows until the end.
The band are consistently in the centre of the action, the actors really moving around the music, as befits a show with the tunes up front. The musicians are characters themselves, in their own down- with- denim outfits, and totally mesmerising as they crank out the bangers.
The story is really about messy love triumphing over outside and inside rules and expectations. It’s a queer drag fishnet extravaganza, and a lot of fun.
The Book Thief – 20th Anniversary
Markus Zusak
Adelaide Town Hall, 128 King William St
There are plenty of people who feel a deep emotional connection to the story that made Markus Zusak a literary star, and a packed room in Adelaide for a paid event, told us many of them are still keen to hear from the its creator. The Book Thief is 2o years old this year. It has won numerous awards, been translated into more than 63 languages, sold 17 million copies and adapted into the 2013 feature film. Zusak was perfectly charming over the anecdote filled evening, and he had an easy way of connecting with the audience. It was a fascinating window into the making of the book and how his family played into the story, what the work has meant to him over the years, and even what the alternative titles were.
A Living National Treasure: Tim Winton
Adelaide Town Hall, 128 King William St
Robert Dessaix: Music in my Life and Work
Daylight Express, Anna Goldsworthy, Robert Dessaix, and Melanie Cowmeadow
Elder Hall, The University of Adelaide
Robert Dessaix was the subject on an in-depth Irresistible interview. At this session he spoke again about his life and his new book Chameleon, but this time in conversation with Professor Anna Goldsworthy, and with on a focus on the music that has drifted into and taken centre stage of Dessaix’s later years. Goldsworthy is a concert pianist, author, and Director of the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium. Goldsworthy took to the piano in between chats for brilliant performances of some of Dessaix’s favourite works. One of Goldsworthy’s students, Melanie Cowmeadow, gave a vitalising rendition of a show tune close to Dessaix’s heart. A thoroughly revitalising sojourn from the scorching heatwave.
