Taking place over 22 days, the Festival presents an array of delights both challenging and immersive.

Now in his third year as Artistic Director, David Berthold is presenting yet another Brisbane Festival packed with daring new productions, Australian premieres, and home-grown talent. As in past years, there is a distinct political thread through 2017’s programme, with works that are thoughtful, provocative, and challenging.

“There is a great deal of new work, from large theatre and dance productions, to new music,” Berthold tells Limelight. “Contemporary popular music is very much part of Brisbane’s personality – it’s proud of its place in the history of popular music – and this Festival underlines that with a big sequence of work at The Tivoli, an iconic venue in Brisbane, as well as elsewhere. Brisbane is also proud of its place as an Asia Pacific player, and the Festival this year has a suite of work from China, Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia.”

One of the most exciting things on offer this year is Terror, a courtroom drama that asks whether it is morally acceptable to sacrifice 164 people to preserve 70,000. In this debut play by German defence lawyer and author Ferdinand von Schirach, a hijacked plane is...