Witches, robots and sweet fifteenths – announcing our bumper 2019 season
Following a remarkable period of success and growth in recent months, today we’ve launched our 2019 live theatre season for toddlers to teenagers, young adults and families.
After a sell-out season at the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival earlier this year, Baba Yaga will make its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Festival in February. A unique international collaboration between Windmill and Imaginate in Scotland, this critically acclaimed show for ages seven and up is a new take on an old Russian folktale with a modern twist. The enigmatic Christine Johnston of The Kransky Sisters stars as Baba Yaga, and co-created the work with Windmill director Rosemary Myers (Girl Asleep, Rumpelstiltskin) and Scottish children’s theatre maker Shona Reppe (The Curious Case of Josephine Bean). The work will also embark on a four-week run in China in July, with an Ireland and UK tour in the works for later in the year.
After premiering in Adelaide in 2017, Beep returns in 2019 as part of the dreamBIG Children’s Festival. From the same creative team as Grug and Grug and the Rainbow, and created for our youngest audience members, Beep is a slightly sideways tale of unexpected friendship, finding where you fit and learning to mix it up a little. Beep will also take to the road across Australia, hitting the stage at the Sydney Opera House in July, before heading to Western Australia later in the year.
In September Girl Asleep returns to Adelaide, giving local audiences a chance to see the live theatre work that went on to become an award-winning film. Originally premiering in Adelaide within the 2014 Adelaide Festival, Girl Asleep was later adapted into a feature film that premiered at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival before going on to screen in 114 cities across 21 countries, winning a swag of national and international awards.
Artistic Director Rosemary Myers said, “We have a cracker 2019 planned for our audiences with three shows in Adelaide and a packed schedule of national and international tours.
“We can’t wait to finally present Baba Yaga to Australian audiences, and we’re thrilled to do it in partnership with Adelaide Festival. We’re going to have a lot of fun presenting this seriously kooky show in the slightly spooky Queen’s Theatre.”
The season launch follows a hugely successful 12 months for the company, which saw Windmill deliver 236 live theatre performances across 34 cities, two world premieres, an international collaboration, a sell-out season of Grug and the Rainbow in Adelaide – representing the largest ever single presentation of a Grug work worldwide, the launch of a new subsidiary Windmill Pictures, and international tours to China, Scotland and New Zealand.
The final four months of 2018 represents one of the most active periods for touring in the company’s history. Beep is currently on a nine-week, five-city tour of mainland China, Big Bad Wolf last week kicked off an eight-week national tour through Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia, and in December, Windmill’s family musical co-production with State Theatre Company, Rumpelstiltskin, commences its high profile four-week residency at Europe’s largest centre for the arts, London’s Southbank Centre.
Tickets for the 2019 Adelaide season are on sale now through BASS.
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