The 7 Best Things To Do In Brisbane This May
It’s a month to expect the unexpected in Brisbane. Theatre and comedy might suddenly appear in your own backyard, gourmet food carts pop up all over the place, Darth Vader has the CBD in his sights, and an underdog market returns from the dead.
#1 Star Wars: The Forks Awaken
Perhaps the most surprising addition to Queen Street since Brisbane’s much-missed Dragon Coaster, the Death Star Canteen launches for intergalactic lunches this month. The brainchild of Glen of Glen’s Espresso — the famed CBD coffee cart with an honesty box payment system — this Star Wars-themed café already has fans ready to queue like it’s 1983 and Luke doesn’t yet know who his daddy is. While the original May the Fourth opening date has been pushed back, you’ll soon be able to find Brisbane’s most convenient hive of yum and caffeinery. Watch this (outer-) space.
#2 Where the bloody hell are ya?
Anywhere Theatre Festival infests Brisbane’s backyards, shopfronts, abandoned spaces, barbers and bars with theatre during this annual extravaganza of pop-up performance. Think of ATF like Jumanji, except instead of man-eating creatures bursting out of a board game into Robin Williams’ house, performing artists will pour out all over the city to experiment with theatre and invigorate tired spaces.
Don’t miss classic sci-fi brought to life in B-Movie; Big Fork Theatre’s comedic walking tour, West End of Future Past; slapstick mischief-makers The Gremlins exploding Red Hill’s infamous defunct skate arena; and the Foxy Moron’s autobiographical Aussie cabaret, I ♥ a Sunburnt C*ntry. Anywhere Theatre Festival runs, well, all over the place from May 5 to 21.
#3 Fishing for compliments
Fish Lane Festival celebrates the diversity of South Brisbane eat with a free, all-ages laneway feast. Local residents such as The Gunshop Café, Julius Pizzeria, Fish Lane Bistro, Madame Wu and Saccharomyces Beer Café serve up a full day’s degustation of deliciousness. If you get thirsty, there’ll be plenty of craft beer and wine to match, and live music to dance it off to. Fish Lane Festival runs from midday ’til late on May 7.
#4 Go grease lightning
Polish your chrome and primp your pompadour for the third annual Rods and Rockabilly Festival at the Hamilton Hotel. Rockers on foot will have it made in the shade with market stalls, live music, a pin-up pageant, and burlesque from midday well into the night on May 7. Burn rubber if you plan to show off your hot-rod as registration closes early.
#5 Markets march on
New high-rise developments in Brisbane’s inner-city almost spelled the end for the Boundary Street Markets in April. But the people of West End aren’t the sort to let The Man win – local movers and shakers quickly rallied together to relocate the markets just up the road, into the welcoming arms (and car parks) of The Boundary Hotel and Rumpus Room. Show your support for the venues that have saved West End’s iconic Boundary Street Markets by heading over any Friday or Saturday evening for live music, a bite to eat, and local crafts and fashion.
#6 Intersectional art
Drawing together the work of 12 Brisbane-based women and transgender artists, crosseXions rejects the idea of a gallery as a mausoleum and artworks as cadavers. Here, Metro Arts incubates artworks that live, evolve, entangle, and actively interrogate the power structures that claim the world as conquered and finished. crosseXions runs until May 14 at Metro Arts.
#7 Essential viewing
Palace Cinemas present a brand new festival to feast your eyes on. Essential Independents: American Cinema, Now showcases the past, present and future of independent cinema from the U.S.. The festival opens with Time Out of Mind (directed by Oren Moverman), starring Richard Gere in a nuanced role haunting the streets of New York City. Featuring films and documentaries from the likes of Sofia Coppola, John Cassavetes, Martin Scorsese, Penelope Spheeris, and many more, Essential Independents runs from May 19 to June 1 at Palace Centro Cinema.
(Lead image: Fish Lane Festival/Facebook)
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