The March 2014 Spiegeltent extravaganza
The 2017 Ten Days on the Island program is being launched in a state wide celebration of the arts in Tasmania with simultaneous launches occurring in Burnie, Launceston and Hobart.
Over 400 supporters of the festival will gather at 5.30pm across three unique locations to see what is in store for Tasmanian audiences during the Festival in March 2017 and to celebrate the arts in all its forms.
The 2017 Ten Days on the Island program will feature 80 events across 38 locations in 25 council areas with performers from 15 different countries. The program also gives voice to 56 Tasmanian artists and arts companies and will premiere 23 new works.
Ten Days on the Island Artistic Director, David Malacari said, “The Festival has been a catalyst for creativity and the arts in Tasmania for more than 15 years.”
“The 2017 Ten Days on the Island Festival brings the best Tasmanian artists to the world stage whilst bringing amazing artists from around the world to Tasmania.”
“It will showcase an exciting range of artists and companies that are local, national and international,” Mr Malacari said.
“We are connected to a world of exciting, intense and entertaining arts so finding theatre, dance, music, comedy and visual arts for 2017 wasn’t the problem, however choosing from a mouth-watering list of acts was. We have put together a program that will appeal to our many audiences that features international shows White Snake, FREEZE!, The God that Comes, Portraits in Motion, Martha Wainwright, Paris Combo; alongside an abundance of creativity and ambition from our talented local artists including The Season by Nathan Maynard and produced by Tasmania Performs, and You and Me and the Space Between by the acclaimed Terrapin Puppet Theatre.”
“Staged with English subtitles White Snake is a wonderful introduction to Chinese theatre for all the family that features some of Shanghai’s best performers against a backdrop of projected live illustration and traditional imagery along with a blend of Chinese and western music by composer Jeremy Bauer.” said Mr Malacari.
“In FREEZE! concentration is an art form as Nick Steur from the Netherlands masters nature. He achieves the improbable by balancing odd shaped rocks on top of one another. This is not trickery or illusion, but the culmination of one man pushing the limitations of possibility.”
“Award-winning rocker, writer and actor Hawksley Workman plays all the characters and all the instruments in a spectacle of pure talent titled The God That Comes. An extraordinary solo performance that fuses the chaotic revelry of a rock concert with the intimacy of theatre, The God That Comes tells the story of the Bacchae.”
“French indie band Paris Combo is a favourite with crowds not only in France and Europe but also in Australia and the USA. They have chalked up over twenty tours and for the first time we are excited to bring their fun-loving sound to Tasmania.”
“The flipbook is revived by travelling minstrel, Volker Gerling. Volker has walked 3,500km over 13 years and had thousands of human encounters in search of lost moments. He has compiled these intimate moments into flipbooks and will present the best of them to audiences around Tasmania in his touchingly gentle show Portraits in Motion.”
“With an undeniable voice and an arsenal of powerful songs, Martha Wainwright is a beguiling performer. Astonishingly versatile Martha’s voice soars, sighs and provokes and tells secrets in a refreshingly unique form.”
Ten Days on the Island is also delighted to confirm that the Speigeltent will be returning to Hobart and bringing a range of musicians and comedians along with their hit show Velvet.
Other highlights include:
Babel
This live performance of sound and expression will immerse you in many of the fifty or so languages spoken in Tasmania. Words and lilts and tones have been studied, combined and choreographed into a durational performance in a disused office space in central Hobart.
The Season
Written by Tasmanian playwright and performer Nathan Maynard, who has been anointed by elders as his Aboriginal community’s storyteller. The Season tells the story of Muttonbirding on Dog Island. Nathan’s voice is as sharp as a tack and as blunt as a brick, and with it he tells a disarming, funny story with a crucial point to make; We’re still here.
You and Me and the Space Between
Cartoonist Tom O’Hern will draw the story as actor Jane Longhurst narrates it and puppeteer Felicity Horsley brings it to magical life. With words by Finegan Kruckemeyer, direction by Sam Routledge and a musical score by Dean Stevenson, You and Me and the Space Between is storytelling at its creative best.
The Rite of Spring – TSO and ANAM
Hear the TSO join forces with the Australian National Academy of Music to perform Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. A work that has gone down in the annals of music history. Its pulsating rhythms, striking colours and brutal harmonies have lost none of their power.
The full program will be available from all Ten Days on the Island ticketing outlets and can be downloaded from the Ten Days on the Island website. Tickets will go on sale 6pm Friday 18 November.
To purchase tickets simply head to tendays.org.au, phone 6210 5777 or visit the Ten Days on the Island office located at 71 Murray Street, Hobart.
Festival Statistics:
• Events: 80
• Number of performances: over 230
• Nationalities of artists: 15
• Program items from Tasmanian artists and arts companies: 56
• Number of performers/artists: over 720
• Number of locations 38: including Whitemark, Milabena, Moonah, Moltema, Franklin, Deddington, Claremont, Cradle Mountain and Birchs Bay
• Number of council areas: 25
• Premiering 23 shows.
Robert Catchpole Manager Marketing and Community Engagement
