Adelaide Fringe
In a politically-charged new show, audiences follow the life of Reuben Kaye’s one-of-a-kind uncle and learn how to live lavishly at the end of the world. ★★★★½
Adelaide Fringe
This sharp new play from a team of young Adelaide theatre-makers is a guide to the grease, grime, and glory of making a living in restaurant work. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
In classic spy thrillers, the Double-O agent swoops in to save the day. But what if the future of the planet is in the hands of three public servants? ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Singer-songwriter Jamie MacDowell and beatboxer Tom Thum return to the Adelaide Fringe with new songs and the same masterful talent. ★★★★
When a high-flying chef swoops in to buy their restaurant, the staff have to work hard to prove that they should stay part of the team in Deus Ex Femina’s Adelaide Fringe play Dirty Energy.
With more than the usual sleight of hand, this storytelling magician brings you on a journey you didn’t expect to undertake at a magic show. ★★★★★
Don’t let the title fool you: Anna Piper Scott delivers all queer stuff, with some neurodiverse bits thrown into her concoction of joy. ★★★★
Multi-disciplinary artist Matcho Makata communicates the essential conflicts of diaspora life in this layered and affecting exhibition. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
This is comedic duo Mel & Sam’s third year at Adelaide Fringe. It is also their most chaotic, absurd and utterly hilarious show so far. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Unsuitable bachelors, mysterious illnesses, longing for love – Swoon is an effervescent hour of comedy cabaret for modern women with Austen-era problems. ★★★½
Adelaide Fringe
Feminist history lecture slash stand-up comedy, Whore’s Eye View gives an in-depth history of sex work from an insider’s perspective. ★★★
Adelaide Fringe
When head of department Nicky enters her boss Jo’s office for her yearly work review, she’s resigned to yet another meaningless form-filling exercise. What follows is anything but. ★★★★★
Celebrated UK theatre-makers Wright & Grainger bring the old gods down to earth with their powerful weave of music and spoken word exploring where the divine reveals itself in our modern world. ★★★★
You may find yourself booking a real-life adventure at Ningaloo after watching this mesmerising undersea odyssey on the dome screen at the Freemasons Hall. ★★★½
Mary Coustas will be channeling her inner Effie again when she embarks on a national tour of her beloved and sassy big-haired Greek girl
The Grilling Season with Annabel Crabb provided some insight into the culinary arc of her political reporting career in this Fringe exclusive but ultimately played it too safe. ★★½
Adelaide Fringe
Witness an ensemble of very lonely young people struggle to find love while submerged in a sea of dating apps and matching algorithms. ★★★½
Adelaide Fringe
Storyteller Narie Foster’s 1 in a Chameleon is a comedic and moving journey to self-acceptance. ★★★★
In a set both approachable and engaging for diehard fans, Cal Williams Jr revisits Dylan classics with richly textured vocals and mesmerising guitar work. ★★★★½
Britt Plummer’s highly relatable tale of long-distance love is buoyed by moments of clowning brilliance but ultimately suffers from a lack of true intimacy. ★★½
The Botanic Garden has been turned into an outdoor gallery under the stars this Fringe as it hosts a trail of colourful projected and immersive installations, including works by local artists sharing stories of culture and country.
Joanne Hartstone has been involved in the Adelaide Fringe for almost 20 years as a performer, producer and presenter. Now she is part of the global Fringe ecosystem – helping bring shows here from overseas and even giving up her spare room to international artists.
Exceptionally written, directed and performed, Blood of the Lamb presents anti-abortion policies we hadn’t dreamed could be real, and as theatre coming out of the US, it doesn’t even feel dystopian. ★★★★½
With a skilled band arranged behind “Yellow Submarine” inspired props, singer Rachel Vidoni delivers a powerful hour of songs that goes way beyond nostalgia. ★★★★
Prepare to party like its 500 BCE as you journey into the hedonistic lives of the gods of Ancient Greece in the sinfully spectacular GODZ. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe’s former director Greg Clarke is back in his home town for the 2024 festival season – this time as a visual artist showing his paintings in an exhibition on the Fleurieu Peninsula with long-time friend Louise Vadasz.
Adelaide Fringe
Hooking its audience from the opening scene, Plenty of Fish in the Sea reels us in with inventive staging and hilariously physical performances. You can almost smell the ocean. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
From Beyoncé to Balenciaga, Zan Rowe and Myf Warhurst serve up an entertaining hour of pop culture chat and ‘faarshun’ in this live version of their popular podcast. ★★★★
A night with comedian Mel Buttle is one full of uncontrollable bouts of laughter, warm nostalgia and painfully relatable recollections. ★★★★½
For guaranteed laughs in the Garden of Unearthly Delights, you’d do far worse than Tommy Little’s stand-up show – potentially the most self-deprecating thing at the Adelaide Fringe. ★★★★
Arj Barker made a dramatic entrance before settling into a routine that reflected on how well we know the real world around us – especially in terms of our bodily functions. ★★★
Bisexual Intellectuals is a compelling, camp, and ultimately joyful love letter to those who have been unseen in popular culture. ★★★★½
Adelaide Fringe
In a young performer’s debut solo circus show, physical theatre proves a fitting medium for exploring the absurd and frightening reality of living with psychosis. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Limbo – The Return is a high-energy show displaying the power of beat-heavy music in a fire and acrobatics performance. ★★★½
Adelaide Fringe
UK company Mythological Theatre throws the battles of the Norse gods into the wrestling ring in this surprising form of (very) physical storytelling. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
The latest work from Japanese contemporary circus company Cirquework is a precise balancing act of tension, beauty and joy. ★★★★★
You don’t have to know about rugby to enjoy Grav. But if you do, this one-hander, performed memorably by Gareth J Bale, really kicks it out of the park. ★★★★★
When a play begins with a man screaming in a dumpster we know it is a story of the lower depths. England & Son is a corrosive account of the degradation of working people in the UK, escalated by the Thatcher years and even more pervasive today. ★★★★★
With her acid wit and memorably wicked aphorisms, Dorothy Parker is a rich subject for the stage, and playwright Annie Lux has seized the chance. ★★★
Although Tandanya’s future is uncertain, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and cultural leaders will make the most of the Adelaide Fringe season with events including gigs, stand-up shows, cultural tours, and a camping festival.
Adelaide Fringe
Tracy Crisp shares her hilariously hard-won Gen X wisdom in this insightful monologue about sewing, mothers, female friendship and being in the middle of middle age. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
In this experimental work, performer Matt Pasquet bends, flips and morphs his body to create a kinetic story within a single square metre of light. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe audiences will be lured to the West End this year by attractions ranging from dance, theatre, music and circus shows across multiple venues, to a late-night underground party and an inflatable church hosting theatrical weddings.
Like the female singers she honours in her Adelaide Fringe show Woman Sings the Blues Volume 2, powerhouse performer Prinnie Stevens admits she has also battled at times to find her own voice in the music industry she loves.
In search of recalibration and reconnection to nature, ex-cricketer turned artist and arts worker Oakey found herself on an amazing adventure that also ended up providing the subject matter for her upcoming exhibition: Deep Rest.
Adelaide Fringe has launched its 2024 program with more than 1300 shows in 500-plus venues, ranging from an ‘art gallery under the stars’ in the Botanic Garden, to an immersive and cinematic Pink Floyd Experience, special DJ sets of Beatles and Fleetwood Mac remixes, cabaret treats, and the return of circus hit Limbo.
SA arts & culture news in brief: Australian Dance Theatre’s Daniel Riley to perform in a special return season of Tracker, Adelaide Fringe announces the first recipients of its 2024 grants, and a picnic to celebrate 35 years of Young Adelaide Voices.
Adelaide Fringe
Refreshing Adelaide Fringe debutant Afrique en Cirque presents high-energy circus, joyful rhythms and mind-boggling acrobatics through the lens of West African culture. ★★★★½
Adelaide Fringe
Adelaide Fringe’s Honey Pot marketplace has proven a valuable springboard for artists seeking opportunities for future touring, and it is hoped a new event with a specific focus on circus and physical theatre will bring even greater rewards.
Feisty and feminist, Helen of Troy lobs some truth bombs about unattainable beauty standards and the problems of being female in both the ancient world and this one. ★★★★
This world premiere, presented by South Australian creatives, offers a unique and stunning expression of one of the most common mental illnesses in Australia. ★★★★★
Comedian Mel Buttle’s social media followers know her largely as her suburban mum character Lynn, and in her hour-long Adelaide Fringe show she gives us that and more. ★★★★½
In an elegantly decorated room at The Jade on Flinders Street, Lauren Edwards steps up to the microphone to share her gripes with the modern world and today’s broken capitalism, and sing a song or two. ★★★ ½
Adelaide Fringe
A group of young Asian Australian creatives are rediscovering their roots as they prepare to pay tribute to two late Hong Kong idols during this year’s Adelaide Fringe.
Festivals
With just a couple of days left to make the most of the summer festivals frenzy, here are some InReview recommendations from both the Adelaide Festival and Fringe programs – including dance, comedy, music and theatre shows.
Blisteringly anarchic and devilishly clever, Creepy Boys would like you to attend a birthday party for some very horny twin teenage brothers in a yurt. ★★★★★
Comedians Greg Fleet and Krutika Harale have merged their skill sets of writing, acting, and stand-up comedy to create this original reworking of A Star is Born. ★★★
Cruise ships are the vessel for this hour-long satirical musical comedy that has audiences chuckling from start to finish. ★★★★★
Local performer Britt Plummer honed her clowning skills in France, studying under the master Philippe Gaulier. Her latest Fringe offering is Fool’s Paradise.
Adelaide Festival
The Fringe has already sold a record 930,000 tickets and Adelaide Festival has well exceeded its 2023 box office target ahead of the final weekend of South Australia’s ‘Mad March’ festival season.
Adelaide Fringe
Lano’s recounting of Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick is disjointed as Woodley, in his typical role as earnest but annoying sidekick, constantly threatens to derail proceedings by helping out. This show is a joy. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
From a small solo show at Fringe to joining The Illusionists, performing in more than 80 countries and now presenting a new star-studded world premiere, Paul Dabek knows how to work magic with an audience.
Adelaide Fringe
Sweet-faced and sharp-tongued, The Coconuts make their Fringe debut with Brown on the Outside, White on the Inside – a lively blend of storytelling, stand-up, songs, and slideshows. ★★★★
Not-for-profit theatre group Iran Saye Theatre is presenting an intriguing, though difficult to follow, experimental multimedia performance at this year’s Fringe. ★★★
Beat looping magician Adam Page borrows drum samples from artists ranging from Michael Jackson to Led Zeppelin and Taylor Swift to create a one-man symphony, but it’s when he picks up the sax that his show really sings. ★★★ ½
Charming and skilful performer Kathryn Hall reveals the absurdity of institutional systems in this story of her teenage years, which she spent living in youth shelters while managing cerebral palsy. ★★★★
The class of Year 7C takes audiences on a musical trip back to school PE classes – and perhaps the dread that came with them. ★★★★★
