Perth Festival today announced its full 2025 program, with new Artistic Director Anna Reece, inviting Perth audiences and visitors to taste the salty air, feel the sand dunes beneath their feet, be challenged by truth-tellers and play with mischief-makers.
Running for 24 days from Fri 7 Feb 2025, with 104 different events, 64 of which are free, art in all its forms from Western Australia and across the globe can be experienced in a Festival that aims to surprise and delight.
The Festival, featuring over 380 artists, including 143 international artists and 173 local West Australian artists, highlights range from legendary queen of cool PJ Harvey and Irish sensations Fontaines D.C. kicking off their national tours in Perth, to first Australian performances from world class European choreographers in Marco da Silva Ferreira and Christos Papadopoulos, from Australian rock icon Peter Garrett and electronic music duo Electric Fields, to epic international centrepiece Mahabharata and Tina Satter’s extraordinary Is This A Room
The program includes seven Perth Festival commissions, five world premieres and a further six Australian premieres or Australian exclusives, as well as the transformation of two of the city’s most iconic venues, the East Perth Power Station and the Perth Town Hall into exciting new Festival sites.
Perth Festival Artistic Director Anna Reece says: ‘To deliver a festival for my home and the city I love is beyond my greatest dreams. This bold and spirited international capital city of endless opportunity and kaleidoscopic possibility, with a pulse is as vibrant as it is eclectic.
The Festival opens with the world premiere of Karla Bidi, inspired by the Noongar tradition of lighting fires to greet and guide visitors. This captivating experience will transform the Derbarl Yerrigan/Swan River into a stunning illuminated pathway, with beacons of light stretching along the river from the hills to the Indian Ocean, each serving as a symbolic campfire of welcome, warmth, and inclusivity.
Exclusive to Perth, highlights from the theatre program include Mahabharata, a stunning interpretation of an ancient Sanskrit poem by Toronto’s Why Not Theatre (seen as two separate shows or, for the ultimate marathon experience, one complete event with an optional traditional Indian feast and storytelling session) running from midday to midnight; 12 Last Songs is a one-off part live exhibition and part epic performance, inviting audiences to meet people they never get the chance to meet in everyday life; Is This A Room, the unnerving true story and interrogation of whistleblower Reality Winner; and by Western Australia’s The Last Great Hunt, the world premiere of Night Night, the tale of Pip, an Antarctic artist on a quest to discover the origin of life.
The world premiere of LEGENDS (of the Golden Arches) by Jo Lui and Merlynn Tong will take audiences on an explosive wild ride into the depths of the Chinese afterlife, unravelling the bonds of friendship, culture, and redemption; and August: Osage County by Black Swan Theatre Company & Belvoir St Theatre presents Tracy Letts’ Broadway smash — a caustic and darkly funny exploration of a family in meltdown.
Film, traditional Balinese music and EDM collide in Samsara: A Cine-Concert. Featuring traditional dance, masks and wayang kulit (Indonesian shadow puppetry), this stunning experience, with a soaring live score, created by acclaimed Indonesian director Garin Nugroho, asks what price you would pay to fulfill your heart’s desire
February 7 – March 2
More information at perthfestival.com.au
