Travel: George Town Festival, Penang

Now in its sixth year, the annual George Town Festival (GTF) returns for a month-long showcase of the arts, culture and heritage while celebrating the vibrant, diverse community that makes up this World Heritage Site.

This year, there are several international shows making their Asian premiere here at the festival. ‘Slow Sound of Snow’ (Aug 21-22), a piece of Iranian experimental theatre, explores the tension and conundrum of a woman going into labour during a midnight snowstorm – but she has to keep quiet else risk an avalanche. From Australia, ‘Am I’ (Aug 22-23) questions the very basic concept of human existence through dance choreography, beating drums and spoken word. Also not to be missed is Titanium (Aug 7-8), an all-male dance troupe from Spain whose original take on street performance fuses elements of flamenco, hip hop and break dance. For something local, ‘100% Penang’ (Aug 1-2) promises to be an engaging production where 100 local citizens come together to form a human pie chart, regaling the audience with stories and opinions that will combine to form a narrative of what makes Penang special.

Interestingly, GTF is expanding into Butterworth this year with several fringe events. Some of the performances scheduled for the inaugural Butterworth Fringe Festival (Aug 15-16) include an experimental piece performed inside plastic bubbles by Belgium’s t.r.a.n.s.i.t.s.c.a.p.e dance troupe; an aerial dance performance by Retouramont from France; and the award-winning ‘Welcome2Flatland’ interactive installation exploring contemporary views of multiculturalism by our own Malaysian art duo TerryandTheCuz. There’s also a month-long exhibition on Butterworth’s famous ferries, and we were told there will be a pop-up café too.