Get ready to party: Midsumma Festival set to take over Melbourne

The 2012 Midsumma Festival, the annual festival celebrating queer arts and culture, will light up Melbourne from January 15, 2012.  

 The 2012 Midsumma Festival, the annual festival celebrating queer arts and culture, will light up Melbourne from January 15, 2012.   The festival is a federation of arts and cultural events which takes place in over 70 different venues throughout Melbourne, presented over three weeks. Having been held annually since 1988, Midsumma is now very a very significant attraction on the Melbourne festival calendar. From Sunday January 15 to Sunday February 5, next year’s festival will continue to build on its standing as a progressive, engaging, inclusive and exciting festival including over 30 Premier Events that encompass live performance, visual arts and film along with sporting, social and community events.  Performing arts feature prominently in the program for Midsumma for 2012 with venues like Chapel Off Chapel, La Mama, Gasworks Arts Park, Theatreworks and ACMI all showing their support. A host of wonderful events will be on show at each and every one with thes

Chapel Off Chapel’s  highlights include the critically-acclaimed Britney Spears: The Cabaret starring Christie Whelan and MIDSUMMA’S PLAYING-IN-THE-RAW @ THE CHAPEL, an in-your-face, mouth-watering series of provocative plays and playreadings by some of the best exponents of global queer writing for the theatre. 
Gasworks Arts Park’s performance works include SPONTANEOUS BROADWAY, a comic musical improvisation experience in which the audience assists the cast to create a world premiere musical on the spot, complete with costume and character changes, dance sequences and much musical theatre mayhem and hilarity. 
The iconic La Mama Theatre will host Midsumma at La Mama, a season which comprises works including Metamorphosis, inspired by Japanese Butoh Dance Theatre, Landscape Dreaming, a fresh original Australian farce filled with sharp, witty dialogue, physical comedy, and outrageous costumes and The Pineapple Sorrows, An absurd tragi-comic new work from Melbourne theatre company.
Theatre Works Premier Events offer something for everyone with UNANSWERED!, Paul Malek’s acclaimed dance work, The Year of Magical Wanking, a brave and heartbreaking exploration of porn addiction, destructive sexual behaviour, Catholic guilt and family heartbreak, written and performed by Irish performer, Neil Watkins. Theatre Works will also have an angry homosexualist in residence, Ash Flanders, who suggests that If you’re not angry you’re either heavily medicated or not paying attention in Negative Energy Inc. 
Other Midsumma 2012 Premier Event “must sees” include: Girls Do Gertrude, a celebration of queer icon, Gertrude SteinIn Vogue: Songs By Madonna with Michael Griffiths as ‘Madge’ expressing herself and recounting her life’s journeyThe 10th anniversary production of the queer coming-of-age comedy Love in a CubicleCatherine Alcorn’s bawdy, brash and fabulous cabaret, The Divine Miss Bette.  “There’s a growing sense of excitement building within the community about Midsumma,” said Midsumma Chair, Lisa Watts. “It’s a chance for us to celebrate living in one of the greatest cities in the world. Midsumma and the way it celebrates diversity makes our society stronger.” 
With many more performance, visual arts, community events and the always anticipated parties within the Midsumma Festival, 2012 is set to celebrate all things queer in the most exciting program to date, which culminates in the annual Pride March on February 5.