Things To Do In Adelaide

There's been some furious tinkering under the hood: Part 1. After announcements of a shorter 'boutique' Fringe Festival for next year as a way of ushering in the annual event, new Director Christie Anthoney let it be known last week the 2007 Fringe Festival will take in a whole three week span, encompassing one extra week at the beginning of the event to span the WOMAD weekend. More to come...

There's been some furious tinkering under the hood: Part 2. From the Festival Centre comes news that it's full speed ahead under the new leadership of Douglas Gaultier, who has told staff the Centre is no longer a 'hall for hire'. This means they're busily sourcing artistic events and performances for themselves; a rejigging of the 'InSpace' programme seems on the cards, as does the introduction of weekend market stalls, more use of the available theatre spaces, the previously announced Guitar Festival, and an end of year blockbuster in the Festival Theatre with a rather nautical theme. Ah yes, you guessed it, but don't expect Johnny Depp to be a special guest of honour. More to come...

There might be some furious tinkering under the hood: Part 1. At the Australian Dance Theatre if Artistic Director Garry Stewart throws his considerably large hat into the ring for the job at the Sydney Dance Company. After four or five years here it seems likely that Sydney boy Stewart would go for the seat vacated by Graeme Murphy when he collected up his spandex and Gothic facepaint and resigned over the lack of funding.

On now in The Playhouse is the latest from State Theatre Company, Yasmina Reza's intriguing and funny 'Life x 3', a chaotic examination of an evening in the life of two astrophysicists and their wives at a dinner party. Just to show that all permutations and outcomes are possible, the action is replayed thrice... under the helm of Adam Cook. This is more humorous theatre from a season with a bent toward the absurd from State Theatre. Lovely.

You may well recognize the hulking shape below, especially so if you have young children. Can you believe it's been six years of Bob The Builder mania across the English speaking world? The kids can!! And they'll be packed in to the rafters when Bob The Builder brings his surprise party to a venue somewhere near you. You can expect the hits Can We Fix It? and Mambo #5 to get an airing sometime during the show, of course. From Wed 4 Oct you'll find the screaming kiddies at Norwood Concert Hall, the Starplex Gawler, the Club South Function Centre at South Adelaide, the Football Club at Noarlunga Downs, and the Henley Town Hall.

It is [very nearly] springtime as far as the weather is concerned, and that seems to be the inspiration behind the Bruce Wilson Gallery naming their latest exhibition 'Budding: Artists In Springtime'. An exhibition focused on regeneration, renewal and warmth, it will include student work from a range of disciplines at TafeSA in O'Halloran Hill and will feature artwork from the guest artists Karen Hammat and Debby Haskard-Strauss, and opens on Thurs 24 Aug.

Ex-South Australian and now London-based pianist Kristian Chong will give a recital with Recitals Australia on Sun 27 Aug, performing technically demanding works by Beethoven and Liszt and two of Australia's pre-eminent performer-composers, Michael Kieran Harvey and James Cuddeford. The performance will be at Pilgrim Church (Flinders St) starting at 2.30pm.

On Fri 4 Aug the winners of the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize 2006 were announced at the SA Museum, and that includes John Nelson who won the overall prize for his sculpture entitled Foreign Policy. As part of his winnings Nelson took home a cheque for $30,000, his share of a total prize pool of $85,000. You can buy a lot of ants with that kind of loot, eh?

Local digital artist and film maker Ashley Starkey sends a cheerful "Hi everybody" when announcing that his documentary 'Returning Figures' will screen on the ABC Arts Show on Sun 20 Aug at 3pm. The film follows Greg Johns and his mammoth Ibiza sculpture commission.

The Benaud Trio, prizewinners at the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition, will be giving their debut performance in Adelaide on Sun 27 Aug. The place to be is the Grainger Studio from 3pm for a programme of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Piazzolla.

The Settembrini Piano Trio have premiered many works by Adelaide composers and performed the Australian premiere of Ernst-Ludwig Leitner's Tempus Edax Rerum in June 2005. In this concert, on Mon 21 Aug from 8pm at Pilgrim Church, Flinders Street, the trio will perform Mozart's rarely performed Piano Trio in D minor K442. There'll also be new works by Raymond Chapman Smith, Quentin Grant and Luke Altmann.

At State Theatre Company they're cleaning off the welcome mat in honour of their new Marketing & Public Relations Manager, Rachel Cooper, who joins the company this week. Hullo, when's the coffee meeting? Cooper has been Acting General Manager with Come Out, Marketing Manager for the Adelaide Fringe (2004), and Event Manager for both Australia Major Events and the Port Adelaide Football Club.