The Kingdom of Desire is one of the many dazzling performances on stage at this year's Brisbane Festival.

The Brisbane Festival is back and better than ever, with a scintillating 2008 program – the most extensive to date – incorporating 300 performances over 17 exciting days and nights.

Premier Anna Bligh announced the launch of Brisbane Festival 2008, which kicks off on 18 July and runs through to 3 August, on 17 April.

Many of this year's events are free to the public.

The festival revisits some of the more popular elements from 2006, in particular BF08 Under the Radar (formerly the Brisbane Festival Theatre Fringe), Origins Across Brisbane and Brisbane Backyards.

BF08 Under the Radar now spans the entire festival program, Origins Across Brisbane once again delivers dynamic music, dance and theatre productions to 10 of the city's suburbs, and Brisbane Backyards offers residents the chance to host their own backyard festival complete with live music.

A number of performances exclusive to the Brisbane Festival will make their Australian debut, including the Contemporary Legend Theatre of Taiwan's extraordinary production of The Kingdom of Desire, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth; and the Australian premiere of Declan Donnellan's production of Anton Chekhov's saga, Three Sisters.

There will also be electrifying performances from an array of talented international and local artists, including the Black Arm Band, Barrie Kosky, Marie Chouinard and the Queensland Theatre Company.

One of the must-see events in this year's program is the world premiere of BIG SQUARE EYE, a massive multimedia artwork which delves into the mind of young people from the suburbs of Brisbane and regional Queensland.

The 15 featured artists have been selected from more than 150 young Queenslanders, each receiving intensive mentoring support from one of five media artists working on the project.

The Queensland Government and the Brisbane City Council are major sponsors of the 2008 Brisbane Festival.

See Brisbane Festival for program details.

What: Brisbane Festival 2008
Where: Various locations across Brisbane
When: 18 July – 3 August, 2008
COST: Varies

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