Snap up bite sized theatre and cabaret at the 2016 Short+Sweet Festival as it returns to Brisbane from the 14th to 23rd of July and the Gold Coast from the 4th to the 13th of August.
In its eighth year of entertaining Queensland audiences, Short+Sweet Festival will be serving up a banquet of theatre and cabaret to hungry crowds in 2016. With over 65 performances programmed across Brisbane Powerhouse and The Arts Centre Gold Coast there is sure to be something for every taste.
Like a sushi train of the performance world, the 2016 festival offers titillating burlesque, daring drama, laugh-out-loud comedy, charismatic cabaret and indescribable contemporary performance all packed into ten minute slots.
“We’ve programmed a huge selection of unique work, each one packing a punch. The festival is a great opportunity for audiences to sample different genres and see work by artists both emerging and established in the local industry.”
-Nathan Sibthorpe, Festival Director
After a national tour with the award winning cabaret Rumour Has It, Adam Brunes will be presenting a new cabaret work with Samantha Turk at the 2016 Brisbane festival. Between a Frock and a Hard Place follows the story of a modern day Tinderella, grappling with the digital dating scene following a haunting history of queer dates.
Audience will collectively choose their own adventure in Jeremy Gordon’s latest work So, What Are Your Demands. Part of the Brisbane strand, So, What Are Your Demands places a daring bank heist in the hands of the audience. This performance empowers the audience to pull off the greatest (or worst) bank robbery of all time, through the power of audience interaction.
Underground Productions will give audiences a lot to talk about as they present four works in the Gold Coast strand and one in the Brisbane strand. The resident student theatre society from the University of Queensland, Underground Productions are a regular contender of the festival and this year flex their theatre muscles with the performance Take Care of Him at Brisbane Powerhouse before four of their shows go onto The Arts Centre Gold Coast stage.
True stories hit the Gold Coast stage in Tammy Linde’s comedic cabaret I Dated Batman. Fresh from winning an inaugural Anywhere Festival Award, I Dated Batman is a one woman show packed with original songs and hilarious dating disasters. “The performer’s relatable nostalgic fables had me in stitches with incredible laughter lock jaw. And had me reliving my own disastrous experiences.” – 2016 review of the Anywhere Festival performance season.
Short+Sweet Festival can be found in over 20 locations, stretching across the globe from Los Angeles to the Philippines, New Zealand, India and Zimbabwe.
“The lineup represents a real melting pot of talent, from seasoned professionals to recreational artists – and with a diverse range of tastes and skills!”
– Nathan Sibthorpe, Festival Director
The festival provides Queensland writers, directors, actors, independent theatre companies and cabaret artists with a free professional platform to share their work with audiences and industry leaders. At a time when the creative industry is grappling with recent funding cuts, Short+Sweet Festival proves itself as an indispensable opportunity for the independent sector.
In a first for the festival, this year’s recipients of the Best Overall Production Award will be offered a creative development with Brisbane Powerhouse and Short+Sweet Queensland. The chosen artists will receive up to five weeks’ worth of rehearsal space at Brisbane Powerhouse and producing support from the festival to further develop their current work, or breathe life into a new project.
“There has been an encouraging pattern over the past few years of our top shows going on to have other lives as full-length works. This creative development represents an exciting opportunity for us to further support local artists in that process. In a sector that is known for DIY-everything, we’re really thrilled to be working with Brisbane Powerhouse to make sure that our brightest work has somewhere to grow!”
-Nathan Sibthorpe, Festival Director
The full festival program can be found on the Brisbane Powerhouse and The Arts Centre Gold Coast websites. Tickets for both strands are on sale now!
Short+Sweet Festival Brisbane and the Gold Coast
Brisbane Powerhouse
14 – 23 July 2016
Tickets: http://brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/2016/07/14/shortsweet-festival-2016/
Program: https://issuu.com/shortsweetqld/docs/program2016
Presented by Short+Sweet Queensland and Brisbane Powerhouse
The Arts Centre Gold Coast
4 – 13 August 2016
Tickets: https://theartscentregc.com.au/?s=short%2Bsweet&date=#!shortsweet-theatre and https://theartscentregc.com.au/?s=short%2Bsweet&date=#!shortsweet-cabaret
Program: https://issuu.com/shortsweetqld/docs/program2016
Presented by Short+Sweet Queensland and Arts Centre Gold Coast
Gala Finals at Brisbane Powerhouse
26 August 2016
Tickets on sale soon
Presented by Short+Sweet Queensland and Brisbane Powerhouse
Photograph by Alex Jamieson
