Adelaide Fringe has kicked off with its typical swagger, taking over the psyche of this historic small city and filling Adelaide’s streets, venues and gardens with just under a month of fun, experimentation and exceptional food.
Festival veteran Alexis Buxton-Collins lets you know how to make the most of your time at Adelaide Fringe, whether it’s your first or fourteenth time. Consider this gospel and you’ll have a great time.
With 6,000 artists putting on almost 1,500 shows that will combine to sell more than a million
tickets, the Adelaide Fringe can deliver on its claim to have something for everyone. It is the
second-largest annual arts festival in the world, but those numbers only hint at the fun to be had
when the festival takes over the entire city and transforms Adelaide into one heaving bacchanal of
creativity.
Whether you’re looking for laugh-out-loud absurdist comedy, sultry late-night burlesque or the kind of anarcho-theatrical experience that can only occur in the anything-goes environment of a Fringe
Festival, you’ll find every shade of performance imaginable. This year the party runs from February
21 to March 23, and if you’re not sure where to start, here’s what you need to do to get the most out
of this year’s festival.
Take A Punt on Something You’ve Never Heard Of
While most festival programs are put together by an artistic director, the beauty of the Fringe is that
it’s completely uncurated.
That means that anyone can have their own show, and hundreds aspiring performers decide to do exactly that every year. Want to see a wild, unhinged and dangerous philosophising vulva? Done. How about a 50-minute absurdist stand-up show in 12 parts? You’ll find one of those as well.
You can even take a city tour with a difference on the one-of- a-kind drum & bass bike ride.
See a Big Budget Spectacular
The Fringe is a vital platform for first-time performers still finding their feet, but it also plays host to some of the most accomplished comedians, cabaret acts and circus performers on the globe. For more than a decade Limbo has set the bar for this kind of breathtaking all-out extravaganza, but this year it has serious competition from La Ronde.
Featuring members of Folies Bergère and Switzerland’s exclusive Circus Ohlala, (plus the holder of the Guinness world record for the longest time hanging suspended by their hair), this jaw-dropping spectacular brings together a cast of world-class performers making their Australian debut for an evening to remember.
Dance the night away
Ask any local what they miss most about previous Fringes and they will inevitably chew your ear off reminiscing about nights spent dancing under the stars at the Fringe Club. But while that much- missed venue has been consigned to history, there are still plenty of opportunities to put your dancing shoes on.
Spend an evening dancing to house classics brought to life with the help of the Soweto Gospel Choir, lose yourself in the Godfather of Australian Techno’s euphoric disco remixes or celebrate some of rock and roll’s greatest fallen legends at Gluttony’s massive open-air Fantail arena. Then spend the rest of the week checking out some of the other venues in other hubs where you can bootscoot your way through a modern country megamix, get down to your favourite hip-hop jams or see a huge range of theatrical tribute acts.
Get a Second Chance to See One Of Last Year’s Hits
One of the joys of the Fringe is its unpredictability. Every year several shows become word-of-mouth sensations as astounded audiences share their “you won’t believe what happened” moments.
And this year, audiences can give thanks that several of last year’s big successes are back for another round.
2024 Best Comedy award-winner Mel McGlensey returns as a part woman, part boat in an adults-only journey of self-discovery packed with nautical puns and sexual innuendo, and fellow award-winners Gravity & Other Myths run it back with Ten Thousand Hours, a deceptively simple meditation on performance and perfection that pushes the limits of what the human body is capable of, as well as debuting their brand new show.
But if you’re looking for a show that has it all – breakneck wordplay, food fights and naked bodysurfing – you can’t go past Garry Starr’s see-it-to-believe-it show Classic Penguins.
Get A History Lesson
There’s no shortage of performances that let you sit back and enjoy the show, but dig a little deeper into the program and you’ll also find plenty of opportunities to learn while you laugh.
Venture into an alternate timeline in the Edinburgh smash hit 5 Mistakes That Changed History, take an irreverent trip through the history of the AFL, from the game’s inception to the planned LA Crocodiles team (really), or celebrate rebel feminist icons past and present at an immersive dance party dedicated to the Bad Girls of History.
And if you prefer to stretch your legs, you can join a range of walking tours exploring everything from the history of sex work and the courageous (mostly) women who have fought for the rights of sex workers in the city to the evolution of the Fringe festival itself.
