This weekend in Adelaide, kick off the festive season with the National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant or let your hair down at Feast Festival.

Words Elisabeth Marie

Ho, ho, ho

South Australia’s much-loved symbolic start to the festive season, the National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant, begins at 9.30am on Saturday, November 4. Spreading cheer throughout the streets of the Adelaide CBD, it will finish at the Adelaide Town Hall where Father Christmas will greet the crowds. This year, three new floats join the parade – Christmas Tree, Christmas Stocking and Let the Pageant Begin 2023. With more than 3000 costumes, 270 clowns and elves, 33 dance groups, 18 bands and seven choirs, the National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant is the largest public parade in the Southern Hemisphere and the ideal family morning out to get into the festive spirit.

On the big screen

Enjoy the best of new British cinema until November 29 as Palace Nova Eastend and Prospect Cinemas present the 2023 Cunard British Film Festival. The festival features One Life, the story of Sir Nicholas Winton – played by Anthony Hopkins – who is known as the “British Schindler” after he rescued hundreds of Jewish children in Europe just prior to World War II breaking out. Other festival highlights include The Critic, a film based on Anthony Quinn’s novel Curtain Call and starring Sir Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton; the historical thriller In the Land of Saints and Sinners that is set in a remote Irish village and follows a retired assassin who finds himself in a lethal game of cat-and-mouse; and The Remains of the Day, a drama based on the deeply moving novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Feast your eyes

Adelaide’s annual LGBTQIA+ queer arts and cultural festival, Feast Festival, is returning with plenty of glitz and glamour until November 19. This year, more than 500 artists will present 80 events, including cabaret and drag, visual arts and poetry. Festival highlights include The Feast Comedy Gayla on November 10; Big Gay Bingo at Mylk Bar on November 12 and 19; and the Queer Pool Party at Nineteen Ten on November 18. There will also be queer friend speed dating, a queer film night and a queer wedding expo bolstering the festival program.

Universal wares

Presented by The David Roche Foundation until January 2024, Wedgwood: Master Potter to the Universe is a collection of English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories dating from the 1760s to 2023 loaned from public and private collections. Representing the first major survey of Wedgwood in Australia in more than 25 years, curator Timothy Roberts says the exhibition celebrates the variety of Josiah Wedgwood’s company. “We have brought together 240 works of art that speak to defining moments in Wedgwood’s history, as well as cast a spotlight on some lesserknown stories,” he says. “I think many people will find something familiar that warms their heart, but be assured this isn’t just a show of grandma’s good china. I hope every visitor encounters something they didn’t expect to see, and leaves this show having learned something interesting.”

Dark and light

A new group exhibition opens at the BMGART Gallery on Friday, November 3 featuring work by Basil Papoutsidis and Fiona Halse. Basil Papoutsidis’s series of sculptures revises sculptural traditions from the vantage point of vehicular forms. Constructed from aluminium, his formalist constructions are cut and fused using automotive finishes and engineered colours. The series Duality and Transition by Fiona Halse explores the duality of positive and negative space and the transition from dark to light using paint and mixed media collage. The exhibition will run until Saturday, November 25 and the artworks on display are available for purchase through BMGART.

Come alive

On Sunday, November 5, head to the Barossa for a family-friendly day out at ALIVE at the Chateau. Hosted in the Sunken Gardens of Chateau Tanunda, local musicians will spend the day performing live as the Bearded Cook food truck serves up tantalising creations ideal for pairing with the winery’s bold reds. With lush lawns and plenty of games, the kids are free to run wild while the adults kick back and embrace the winery’s beautiful surroundings with a glass of red.

 

For more of what’s on around South Australia this month, pick up the November issue of SALIFE, which is on sale now.