Over the Border. Melbourne Festival [Preview]

Abstract

The Melbourne International Arts Festival opens this month from 9th to the 25th. This is the second year for Robyn Archer as Artistic Director and, because she learnt a great deal from her time at the Adelaide Festival, Melbourne is definitely the city to watch - and watch out for. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, for instance, who featured here in 1998 and return in the first weekend with "Cursive II" incorporating calligraphy into their ravishing stage picture. Jan Fabre performed here nearly fifteen years ago but his work is still as controversial as ever. "I am Blood" is his sanguine investigation of all that bleeds. Other international acts include Dumb Type with "Memorandum", Lepage collaborator Marie Brassard’s "Jimmy", "Johan Pada" from Dario Fo’s Teatrale Fo-Rame and from Austrian- based Barry Kosky - "The Lost Breath", a work blending the stories of Kafka with the music of Schumann.