Arts getting back to business

The Western Australian arts calendar is starting to fill up after the COVID-19 shutdown, beginning with CinefestOZ Film Festival at the end of August.

The South West-based event will be one of the first film festivals to go ahead since restrictions were enacted, with a mix of live and online programming from August 25.

The region will also be able to see Perth Symphony Orchestra perform with indigenous singer-songwriter Phil Walleystack, when the orchestra tours the South West and the Wheatbelt starting on August 29.

The orchestra has also announced Stardust: The Music of David Bowie will open on Thursday September 17 in Perth.

West Australian Ballet, one of the first WA companies to resume programming, is performing Dracula to audiences from September 11 to 26.

The company already performed Genesis in early August in a small theatre in one of its studios.  

The 2020 AWESOME Arts Festival, organised by AWESOME Arts Australia, is planned for the upcoming school holidays, and will feature the premiere of The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie presented by the West Australian Ballet’s young artists, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and Perth Symphony Orchestra.

The closing event will be a production of The Nightingale by West Australian Opera developed in partnership with Co3 Australia, Western Australian Youth Orchestra and WA Young Voices.

The festival attracted more than 162,000 people last year, according to Arts and Culture Minister David Templeman.

WA Symphony Orchestra is kickstarting its 2020 Remixed program on Friday October 2 with a performance of Carmina Burana, while a number of performances are scheduled well into next year.

Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company's new play FIFO- Fit In or F*** Off, will be starting at Subiaco Arts Centre on October 13. 

For younger audiences, Yirra Yaakin's Bilya Kaatijin will show in metropolitan and regional schools from August 24. 

This week, Platinum Entertainment announced We Will Rock You, based on the music of Queen and the book by Ben Elton, would be held at Crown Theatre at the end of October.

Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA will resume programming with Oklahoma! in November as previously planned.

The WA government has implemented phase four restrictions, with Saturday August 29 named as the tentative start date of phase five restrictions.  

Phase five involves removing the two square metre per person rule for venues and the 50 per cent capacity rule for sporting and entertainment venues.