Adelaide Festival 2027: Dates, Tickets and How to Get There

The Adelaide Festival runs from Friday 26 February to Sunday 14 March 2027, a 17-day season of 54 events in Adelaide, South Australia ¹. The organiser lists 7 world premieres, 12 Australian premieres and 10 exclusives, with more than 700 artists taking part ¹. This is the 42nd festival and the second programmed by Artistic Director Matthew Lutton ¹.

The festival sits in a fixed slot at the end of the Australian summer, so the dates move only by a day or two from year to year rather than following a lunar calendar. It began in March 1960 as a biennial event and has been held every year since 2012 ¹⁵. The 2026 edition also ran for 17 days and drew an estimated 188,236 attendances, including WOMADelaide ¹⁰.

Several programmes run inside the main festival, each with its own dates:

• Bluebeard's Castle opening run: 26 February to 2 March 2027 at the Festival Theatre ²

• Artists' Week: 26 February to 5 March 2027, free talks and exhibition openings across the city ¹

• Adelaide Writers' Week: 27 February to 4 March 2027 at the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden ¹

• WOMADelaide: 5 to 8 March 2027 in Botanic Park ¹

• Oedipus closing run: 10 to 14 March 2027 at the Festival Theatre ³

Writers' Week returns after the 2026 edition was cancelled in January 2026, when the withdrawal of an invitation to author Randa Abdel-Fattah triggered a boycott by more than 180 speakers and the resignation of the festival board ¹². Rosemarie Milsom, founding director of the Newcastle Writers Festival, now leads it for the 2027 to 2029 editions ¹¹. Abdel-Fattah appears on the 2027 programme alongside Leïla Slimani ¹.

Do not confuse the festival with the Adelaide Fringe, a separate open-access event that runs from 19 February to 21 March 2027 and overlaps the whole season ¹⁹. The two started together in 1960 but are run by different organisations today ¹⁵.

Tip: If you can only come for one week, choose 26 February to 4 March 2027, when the opening opera, Artists' Week and Writers' Week all overlap ^{1 2}.

There is no single pass for the Adelaide Festival: every show is booked on its own, and the festival uses different ticketing agencies depending on the venue, so the Buy Tickets link on each event page takes you to the right seller ⁶. Transaction fees are added on top of the listed prices ².

Adult prices for the three biggest productions of the 2027 Adelaide Festival in Adelaide show the range:

• Bluebeard's Castle, Festival Theatre: Premium 289 AUD, A Reserve 249 AUD, B Reserve 209 AUD, C Reserve 189 AUD ²

• K., Her Majesty's Theatre: Premium 259 AUD, A Reserve 229 AUD, B Reserve 199 AUD ⁴

• Oedipus, Festival Theatre: Premium 189 AUD, A Reserve 169 AUD, B Reserve 149 AUD, C Reserve 119 AUD ³

Discounts are generous if you qualify. Under 40 seats cost 40 AUD for most ticketed performances, in limited numbers and with ID checked ^{1 6}. Full-time students pay 95 to 125 AUD for Bluebeard's Castle and 60 to 85 AUD for Oedipus ^{2 3}. Oedipus also offers 20 AUD MOBTIX seats in limited numbers ³. Groups of 6 or more save 15% per ticket, and Festival Friends members get 15% off adult prices on select shows, limited to two discounted tickets per event ⁶. Concession prices cover pensioners, Health Care Card holders and MEAA members, but Commonwealth Senior Health Cards and Seniors Cards are not accepted ⁶.

Two schemes reach people on low incomes. Tix for Next to Nix offers 5 AUD tickets to concession and full-time student card holders who register online ⁷. Pay What You Can tickets are sold at the venue box office one hour before selected performances, with the eligible list posted in late January ⁷.

Plenty costs nothing. CODA on Festival Plaza is free to enter, AF Talks are free throughout the festival, Artists' Week is free, and Writers' Week has free sessions with authors such as Trent Dalton, Li Cunxin and Meg Mason ^{1 5}.

Tip: The Under 40 allocation is small. If the 40 AUD price no longer shows on an event page, that allocation has sold out ³.

The Festival Theatre sits inside the Adelaide Festival Centre on King William Road, a short walk from Adelaide Railway Station on North Terrace, with the Festival Plaza tram stop and the Z2 and A2 buses close by ⁸. The same building holds the Dunstan Playhouse and the Space Theatre, so many evenings start and end on Festival Plaza ⁸.

From Adelaide Airport, about six kilometres from the city centre, the J1 and J2 buses run every 15 to 30 minutes from about 5am to 11:30pm and take around 25 to 30 minutes ¹⁷. Fares were 4.25 AUD peak and 2.40 AUD off-peak with a metroCARD or a tapped bank card when last checked in June 2024, and cash is not used on board ¹⁷. A taxi took just under 15 minutes for about 25 AUD at that time ¹⁷.

Inside the city, the free tram stretch covers the South Terrace, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Festival Plaza and Botanic Gardens stops ¹⁸. The free City Connector buses add two loops: 99A and 99C around the city centre on weekdays, and 98A and 98C, which also reach North Adelaide, every day ¹⁸.

Reaching the other main venues:

• Her Majesty's Theatre, 58 Grote Street: Victoria Square tram stop or the free 98A and 98C buses ⁸

• Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden, corner of King William Road and Victoria Drive: a short walk from the railway station or the Festival Plaza tram stop ⁸

• Adelaide Town Hall, 128 King William Street: Pirie Street tram stop ⁸

• Elder Hall, North Terrace: about 10 minutes' walk from the railway station ⁸

• UKARIA Cultural Centre, Mt Barker Summit: about 40 minutes' drive, with festival bus services ⁸

For WOMADelaide in Botanic Park, note that parking on Plane Tree Drive is closed from 2 to 13 March ⁸.

Access needs are handled at booking. Wheelchair seats, Companion Card prices, audio-described and Auslan-interpreted performances are booked online with an access code or by phone, and audio description headsets can be collected in venue foyers one hour before the show ⁹. Relaxed performances are marked in the programme, which helps when you bring young children or an older relative ⁹.

Tip: Elder Park carries the Kaurna name Tarntanya Wama, and you will see both names on signs between the Festival Centre and the river ⁸.

The Adelaide Festival opens on Friday 26 February 2027 at 8pm with Bluebeard's Castle at the Festival Theatre in Adelaide, sung in Hungarian with English surtitles and recommended for ages 15 and over ². Romeo Castellucci's staging of Bartók's opera fills the stage with water and fire, and the singers never leave the stage ¹⁴. It is his third Adelaide Festival appearance ¹⁴.

The programme then builds week by week:

• Week one: Bluebeard's Castle plays 26 February to 2 March, Writers' Week opens on 27 February, and Artists' Week runs to 5 March ^{1 2}

• Week two: Barrie Kosky's K., a reworking of Kafka's The Trial with Berliner Ensemble actors and a live band, plays Her Majesty's Theatre from 4 to 7 March ^{4 14}

• Long weekend: WOMADelaide celebrates 35 years in Botanic Park from 5 to 8 March ¹

• Final week: Oedipus plays the Festival Theatre from 10 to 14 March with Richard Roxburgh and Heather Mitchell, co-produced with Sydney Theatre Company ¹³

K. runs 3 hours 5 minutes including an interval and is performed in German, Yiddish and Hebrew with English surtitles ⁴. Kosky last brought a theatre work to Australia with The Tell-Tale Heart in 2010 ¹⁴. Robert Icke's Oedipus is set on an election night, runs 2 hours without an interval and is recommended for ages 16 and over ^{1 3}.

Music is spread across heritage halls. Italian baroque ensemble il Pomo d'Oro gives two concerts at Adelaide Town Hall, Latvian Voices sing at St Peter's Cathedral with the Adelaide Chamber Singers, and Giovanni Sollima plays solo at Elder Hall ¹. Ten pianists perform The Complete Philip Glass Piano Etudes in the composer's 90th birthday year, and Ólafur Arnalds makes his festival debut ¹.

The closing weekend brings the Australian premiere of It's All Going Very Well…, Tilda Cobham-Hervey's first film as a director, at the Capri Theatre ¹.

Tip: Writers' Week finishes on Thursday 4 March 2027, the same night K. opens, so a book lover can hear an afternoon session in the garden and walk to Grote Street for the curtain ^{1 4}.

Late February and March in Adelaide are dry and warm, with long-term Bureau of Meteorology averages at Kent Town of 29.7 °C by day and 17.5 °C at night in February, easing to 26.6 °C and 15.3 °C in March ¹⁶. Rain is rare: about 20.0 mm falls over 3.7 days in February and 24.9 mm over 5.9 days in March on average ¹⁶.

Averages hide the heat spikes. Adelaide reached 44.7 °C on 2 February 2014, and in March 2008 the city logged 15 consecutive days at 35 °C or above ¹⁶. In March 2016, 15 of the first 17 days passed 30 °C ¹⁶. A heatwave during the Adelaide Festival is a real possibility, which matters for daytime Writers' Week sessions under the trees at the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden.

What the weather means for timing:

• Daytime talks: bring water, a hat and sunscreen to garden sessions, where you sit outdoors for an hour

• Evening shows: the Festival Theatre and Her Majesty's Theatre are indoors, so evenings are the comfortable part of the day

• After the show: nights cool toward the average minimums above, so a light layer is enough for CODA on Festival Plaza ^{5 16}

Crowds peak on the overlap between the festival and other events. The Adelaide Fringe runs for the whole period, from 19 February to 21 March 2027, and WOMADelaide takes over Botanic Park from 5 to 8 March 2027 ^{1 19}. Those dates are when trams and city restaurants feel fullest. The opening weekend of 26 to 28 February 2027 is also busy because Bluebeard's Castle, Writers' Week and Artists' Week begin together ^{1 2}.

Tip: Latecomers are not admitted to Bluebeard's Castle or the 2-hour Oedipus without an interval, so aim to reach the Festival Theatre foyer 30 minutes before the curtain ^{2 3}.

North Adelaide is the quietest good base for the Adelaide Festival: it sits across the River Torrens from the Festival Theatre, St Peter's Cathedral is one of the festival's concert venues, and the free 98A and 98C City Connector buses link it to the city centre every day ^{1 8 18}. You can walk back over the river after a show, or ride the loop during the day.

The city centre itself suits visitors who want to walk everywhere. The North Terrace end puts the Festival Centre, Elder Hall, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the railway station within a few blocks of each other ⁸. Hindley Street and Light Square, on the western side, are close to Immersive Light and Art and the Hindley Street Music Hall but are livelier late at night ⁸. Rooms around Grote Street and Victoria Square put you near Her Majesty's Theatre and the Victoria Square tram stop ⁸.

Other options:

• Norwood or Kent Town: east of the parklands, near The Odeon theatre on Queen Street, and handy for the Adelaide Fringe hubs as well ⁸

• Glenelg: a beach base on the tram line, but you pay a fare once the tram passes South Terrace ¹⁸

• Adelaide Hills: only if you have a car and plan concerts at UKARIA on Mt Barker Summit ⁸

Book early. The 2026 Adelaide Festival generated more than 60,000 bed nights, and 33% of its ticket sales went to interstate or overseas buyers ¹⁰. With the Adelaide Fringe running 19 February to 21 March 2027 and WOMADelaide on 5 to 8 March 2027, rooms in Adelaide face pressure from three events at once ^{1 19}. Interstate and overseas visitors spent an average of 5,198 AUD each in 2026, which gives a sense of the trip budget many people plan around ¹⁰.

Tip: Lock in accommodation as soon as you have bought your main show tickets, then add free Writers' Week sessions around them.

The phone is the busiest tool on an Adelaide Festival night, and it is hit hardest at the moment the Festival Theatre empties onto Festival Plaza and the riverbank. Hundreds of people open the same ride-booking apps, tram maps and messages within a few minutes, and the Adelaide Fringe crowds from the East End add to the load on the same nights ¹⁹.

How people actually use data during the 2027 Adelaide Festival in Adelaide:

• Tickets: pulling up order confirmations from two or three ticketing agencies, since sellers differ by venue ⁶

• Getting around: checking whether a tram ride stays inside the free zone, or when the next J1 or J2 bus leaves for the airport ^{17 18}

• Surtitled shows: reading up on Bluebeard's Castle or K. before the curtain, since both are sung or spoken in other languages with English surtitles ^{2 4}

• Meeting up: messaging friends at CODA, which is closed on Sunday 7 and Monday 8 March 2027 ⁵

• Hills concerts: checking the festival coach time back from UKARIA ⁸

None of this is heavy streaming. It is a steady trickle of maps, messages and email across long days that start at a garden talk and end after a late show. The part that hurts is the gap: landing at Adelaide Airport with no local data, or losing connection in a crowd just as you need a ride. Installing a plan before you fly removes that gap, and our Australia eSIM guide explains the options.

Public Wi-Fi is not a reliable fallback when a full theatre empties at once. Keep the battery charged, download the venue list for offline use, and save the address of each venue.

Note: In an emergency, call Triple Zero (000) for police, fire or ambulance; 112 from a mobile is redirected to 000, and 106 is the text-phone service ²⁰.