Perth Festival begins, with 140 events over four weeks

15 Feb, 2021

Cate Tweedie

Perth Festival is back for another year with 140 events to choose from, including 18 world premieres and 44 festival commissions. This year’s program celebrates local WA stories and artistic talent, through stunning productions that will have universal appeal.

The festival runs for four weeks from Feb 15 – Mar 14, occupying and activating spaces across Perth and featuring a diverse range of theatre, dance, music, literature, visual arts and film.

This week, catch the world-premieres of four different shows, including Barking Gecko‘s family show HOUSE, Co3 Contemporary Dance’s Archives of Humanity, Jay Emmanuel’s Children of the Sea, and Whale Fall at PICA.

Barking Gecko Theatre’s HOUSE

Starting this Tuesday night, Perth Cultural Centre comes to life at City of Lights, where families can roam through a series of free projections and explore the precinct’s venues and nightspots. The Cultural Centre is transformed into an immersive 360-degree cinematic thoroughfare, with its iconic buildings flooded with vivid colours and powerful stories. Seven projected works, including the Bilya Beneath tribute to the waterways of Perth, will run in a continuous loop from 7.30pm to midnight, Tuesday to Sunday nights right through to 14 March.

Projections in the City of Lights

Keep an eye out this weekend for a range of highlights, including the world premiere of Fist of Fury Noongar Daa, the first presentations of the Noongar-led walking performance Galup at Lake Monger and Witness Stand at key locations along the river.

Literature Weekend in the City kicks off at His Majesty’s Theatre, whilst Tim Minchin performs with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in King’s Park and RTRFM brings the tunes for WA Mixtape, a special chilled-out evening of musical reinvention of classic WA covers and originals.

Witness Stand

‘These works would be celebrated on stages anywhere in the world but the stories could not be made anywhere else but here,’ says Festival Artistic Director Iain Grandage. ‘The world may not be making its way to Perth at Festival time – but in so many ways it is already here as we celebrate the rich diversity of our community.’

‘Our Festival is a meeting place for people to get together and celebrate our shared humanity. We are thrilled to play a role in bringing many exciting new Western Australian voices to audiences here on Noongar Boodjar – and hopefully one day from here to the rest of the world.’