Adelaide Festival leans into its reputation as a truly international arts festival in 2025, with a program featuring leading Irish actor Stephen Rea performing Beckett, a contemporary Finnish opera about the aftermath of a school shooting, a music-meets-memoir tribute to the Rwandan genocide of 1994, and a streamlined celebration of the complete works of Shakespeare – performed by salt shakers, tomato sauce bottles and other mundane objects.
Artistic Director Brett Sheehy AO, who previously programmed Adelaide Festival from 2005 to 2008 (and who stepped into his current role just months ago, following the unexpected departure of Ruth Mackenzie CBE in August) says he is “thrilled to be back at the helm of our nation’s major cultural drawcard for the past 65 years, rightly deserving its moniker of ‘Australia’s International Festival’”.
