Travel guide Brisbane

Welcome to a world where animals dance and children fly, where princes battle dragons and hope battles despair. To a world where ideas matter, and music saves the day. Welcome to a magical experience for the whole family in an enchanting new production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Julie Taymor, director of Disney's The Lion King, has taken Mozart's fairy tale and turned it into a show that, in the spirit of the original, speaks to the child in all of us. A feisty young cast brings this landmark production to Brisbane.Tamino is a noble prince on a quest. He discovers strange lands, inhabited by wondrous creatures - scary women, wise children and even a bird man - but that is not what he is looking for. Will Tamino finally discover the truth? And will he find true love?Performed in English w... Read more

Deep in the forest the fairies are stirring. As Benjamin Britten's spell bindingly beautiful score slips seductively over the audience, discover a place where Indian gods, British colonials and rustic clowns collide, collude and sometimes fall in love. A Midsummer Night's Dream is here. Before there was Romeo and Juliet, this was the production that showed the world the boundless imaginations of director Baz Luhrmann and designer Catherine Martin. Inspired by the words of Shakespeare and Britten's magical score, they dreamt up a colour-drenched realm of midsummer magic, and in doing so, created one of Opera Australia's most celebrated productions, ever.Paul Kildea will conduct a collection of outstanding singers who will guide you through the enchanted forest. Tobias Cole and Lorina Gore p... Read more

Marlene is out to celebrate her big promotion at work. And she's earned it. It's a just reward for years of dedicated service and hard work at the Top Girls Employment Agency. Nobody knows better than Marlene that today's career woman has to be tough as nails to compete in the masculine corporate world. And if she's had to make sacrifices along the way, then they've all been worth it.High flyer. Dancing through history, Caryl Churchill's timeless masterpiece Top Girls asks all the difficult questions about women, career and corporate culture. We welcome director Jenny Kemp back to the Company, with an all-female cast featuring Anita Hegh and Nikki Shiels.'a modern classic ... splendidly funny and inventive' - The Telegraph'a witty celebration of female resilience' - The Guardian. www.mtc.c... Read more

Abdicating her power, Lear holds a contest for her daughters with a portion of her empire as a prize. When one child refuses to play the game, the tragedy that ensues will lead Lear from power to powerlessness, from reason to madness and, ultimately, from blindness to insight.

The cut of the serpent's tooth. In this version of Shakespeare's darkest tragedy, Robyn Nevin plays Lear, opening a powerful perspective on a story that can still shake our humanity to its roots. Rachel McDonald dir... Read more

For Mrs Stewart, a Coronial Inquiry seems too little, too late. In 1975, her son Tony Stewart was a young sound recordist for an Australian news crew in Balibo, East Timor. His murder, with those of his colleagues, at the hands of the Indonesian military had been officially covered up, but everyone knows the truth. The truth is already out there. What's the point of an inquiry now when memories are fading?Justice denied. The fate of the Balibo Five shocked a nation in 1975 and the issues still reverberate today. This drama, commissioned by Perth's Black Swan State Theatre Company, personalises the headlines with a story of an ordinary family haunted by history. Writer Aidan Fennessy has a personal connection with this story which will enrich his direction of Julia Blake. 'Balibo is a word ... Read more

World Premiere of Music. A troubled marriage, an estranged brother, a disloyal friend - Jack has made a botch of all the important relationships in his life. It's time for him to put his affairs in order, but his strength is waning and he has neglected crucial matters for far too long. Yet, almost without realising it, those who once laughed with him and loved him - and might love him still - are tying up the loose ends of a ragged life.Farewell symphony. Barry Oakley's haunting and evocative Music reverberates with sympathy and humour without a false note of sentimentality. Jane Menelaus and Richard Piper reunite to mark Barry Oakley's return to the theatre.'Oakley has given some of the most enjoyable evenings on the Melbourne stage' - Max Gillies'Menelaus show[s] how good acting can be' ... Read more

Ace reporter Hildy Johnson has had enough of the sleaze of the Chicago newspaper game. At midnight, she's catching the train east where she'll marry her fiancé, a handsome schlub with piles of dough. And if her ex-husband and editor Walter Burns thinks she's going to change her mind, he's got another thing coming. But that's before the fattest, juiciest scoop of the year lands splat in her lap.Screwball comedy. Hecht and MacArthur's sly, cynical satire of tabloid journalism The Front Page was never better filmed than as the 1930s classic His Girl Friday. Merging the original play and the screen version, acclaimed playwright John Guare delivers the best of both wisecracking worlds. MTC stages the Australian premiere production starring Philip Quast and Pamela Rabe.'a sharp homage to a Holly... Read more

It's a scary world out there and Elling would rather have nothing to do with it. His mother used to take care of everything, until she died, leaving him middle-aged and institutionalised. Now Social Services want him to learn some life-skills. They give him a flat, an equally hopeless flatmate called Kjell, and a big push. Like two non-swimmers out of their depth, Elling and Kjell grab hold of each other in the hope of staying afloat.Sink or swim. This laugh-wrenching hit comedy from Simon Bent, based on the Oscar-nominated film, brings this odd couple to the stage with charm, humour and compassion. In this new production, Darren Gilshenan revives his acclaimed role as Elling, once again directed by Pamela Rabe.'blissfully funny and touching' - The Guardian'[an] utterly delightful theatric... Read more

This unique annual Victorian project, presented by Unity in Diversity Inc, a non-denominational community organisation, offers community education to foster inter-cultural and inter-faith understanding for the unity of fellow Australians.

The Symposium is followed by the Multicultural Folk Dance Festival of Victoria - The Multicultural Folk Dance Festival of High Country.. www.victoriansharedvalues.net.au Read more

Contemporary Australia: Women celebrates the diversity, energy and innovation in work by contemporary Australian women artists.

As the second in the Gallery's triennial series of contemporary Australian art exhibitions, featuring sculpture, painting, installation, photography, film, video and performance by more than 25 artists, the exhibition will be a celebration of multiple voices.

Presented across the entire ground floor of the Gallery of Modern Art and the Children's Art Cent... Read more