Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona Summer (Grec) Festival: The Grec Festival doesn't mean to burst your bubble, but if you're assuming Bereshit. La història més bella del cosmos is some light entertainment just because actor Pep Bou fills his stage with cool giant soap bubbles—not so fast. Bou is accompanied by scientist Jorge Wagensberg, and together they plan to tell one of the heaviest stories of all: the history of the universe. The shape of a sphere is the launching point for an inquiry into where we come from, what laws rule our world, and how intelligence has developed over the last 13.5 million years or so. Festivalgoers in an investigative frame of mind can also delve into a legendary figure of Latin American history (Bolívar: fragmentos de un sueño, a collaboration between prominent novelist Omar Porras and William Ospina of Geneva's Teatro Malandro; it will tour their shared native land, Colombia, after this festival) and the human-scale effects of the economic crisis in Japan (Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and the Farewell Speech, by Japanese company chelfitsch). The latter will be spotted at a number of European festivals this summer, including a late-August stop in Zurich within the Asia-focused program of the 31st Zürcher Theater Spektakel. (Thru Aug. 1; (34) 93-316-10-00; www.barcelonafestival.com)

Bali, Indonesia

Bali Arts Festival: Most guidebooks suggest visiting Bali in its dry season, starting in June. Those who take that advice will not only encounter the island's most temperate weather but a bright array of its cultural offerings. The Bali Arts Festival dates back to a pro-tourism push in the 1970s, when villages began to inventory the performing talent within their midst. Standouts get a shot at performing in the 6,000-spectator amphitheatre Ardha Candra, which will showcase many genres of classical dance, mask drama and traditional music, along with new dramatic choreography. (Thru July 10; (62) 361-235600; www.baliartsfestival.com)

Marrakech, Morocco

Festival National des Arts Populaires: Begun in 1959 by His Majesty King Mohammed V, the National Festival of Folk Arts is devoted to preserving Morocco's oral heritage and regional cultural diversity by passing on that knowledge and pride to the younger generation. Highlights of the program take place in the 16th-century Badi Palace. Despite an emphasis on faithful preservation of such art forms as the Tazouite ("dance of the bee, from the region known for its cultivation of roses") and the Ait Boughmaz ("this dance revolves around a leader who plays the flute and discusses the news of the tribe, like troubadours of old"), the younger generation gets to share its own take on the word "popular." Electric guitars and rap have their place in the musical lineup; stage design for the concerts and performances embraces such flourishes as lasers and smoke effects; and last year's opening parade featured young dancers performing on rollerblades alongside fire-breathers and acrobats. If you can't make it to Marrakech, visit the festival's website for a "best of" video of last year's offerings. (July 16-24; (212) 5-24-43-20-21; www.marrakechfestival.com)

São José do Rio Preto, Brazil

Festival Internacional de Teatro de São José do Rio Preto: The New York City Players have announced that Richard Maxwell's 2007 cowboy musical Ode to the Man Who Kneels will be among the six visiting international productions at FIT's 10th edition—a meaty program of 38 shows in all. Also making the trip to São José do Rio Preto is Germany's andcompany&Co., which has collaborated on FatzerBraz with São Paulo artists, looking for South American resonance in Brecht's "fragment" about soldiers who have had enough of fighting. And joining the program, loaded down with symbolic suitcases, is the Catalan collective Kamchàtka—a group of young artists that formed in a workshop organized by Spanish director Adrien Schvarzstein at Barcelona's 2006 Festival Escena Poblenou. The company's self-titled street-theatre piece explores the way newcomers to a city act when encountering language and customs they do not know, and comments on how they are treated in return. Check out the YouTube channel "KamchatkaTeatre" for video clips of the performance, which also toted its luggage this year to Singapore. (July 15-24; (17) 3215-1800; www.festivalriopreto.com.br)

Darwin, Australia

Darwin Festival: Get to know Australia's Northern Territory—home to the country's largest population of Aboriginal people—with new productions rooted in the cultures of Arnhem Land, Elcho Island and the Tiwi Islands. In Ngurrumilmarramiriyu (Wrong Skin), a group called the Chooky Dancers, which garnered enough recognition via YouTube to launch a national tour, has teamed up with theatre director Nigel Jamieson to tell Romeo and Juliet as it might play out within the strict kinship laws that exist on Elcho. Goose Lagoon is dance theatre married with traditional songs from the Djapu people of the country's northern floodplains. And festivalgoers get a sneak-peek reading of a work-in-progress: Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanuas, which Tiwi Islander Jason de Santis has been commissioned to write for the 2011 Darwin Festival. (Aug. 12-29; (61) 8-8943-4200; www.darwinfestival.org.au)

London, England

National Theatre: Watch This Space: Here comes the annual ode to summer from London's flagship venue. Without paying a penny, visitors can take in a Catalan musician (David Moreno) precariously playing a piano suspended sideways 20 feet up in the air; a dance company (Srishti) riffing on the World Cup; silent comedy from Chile; and musical bingo in the theatre's bar. Many of the performances will unfold right next to NTW in its outdoor Square2 venue—including Markeliñe's Carbón Club, a cabaret from Basque country populated with coal-miner characters; (literally) steam-powered theatre from France's Compagnie Carabosse; and Teatr Biruo Podrózy of Poland's Carmen Funebre, which uses such circus entertainments as fire and stilts to tell the all-too-serious story of Bosnian refugees. (Thru Sept. 26; (44) 20-7452-3000; www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/wts)

Hong Kong

Hong Kong International Arts Carnival: Ladies and gentlemen! Walk this way to see 50 puppets, ranging from tiny to oversized, create illusions of scale and motion! (The show is Gulliver, from Moscow State Puppet Theatre "Sergei Obraztsov," created by Yekaterina Obraztsova, the granddaughter of the theatre's namesake.) Step inside and crane your necks at the boy who never grows up! (That's Northern Ballet Theatre of England's Peter Pan. It doesn't take place in a 360-degree CGI theatre, true, like the other touring British Peter Pan now wrapping up its San Francisco run—but it does blend the tried-and-true stage magic of Flying By Foy with the incomparable grace and athleticism of ballet dancers.) Next, gather and gawk as Tomáš Kubínek, the self-proclaimed "Certified Lunatic and Master of the Impossible," balances a glass of wine on his forehead while performing a backward somersault and playing a ukulele! ...Once the kids are all riled up from those spectacles, parents will thank their lucky stars for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, a double bill of classic bedtime books enacted by the puppets of Nova Scotia's Mermaid Theatre. (July 9-Aug. 15; (852) 2370 1044; hkiac.gov.hk)