Jennifer Wong transmutes her diagnoses of depression and degenerative eye disease into a quick-flowing hour of self-deprecating, hilariously absurd situational stand-up. ★★★★½
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
Current and former Adelaide Fringe ambassadors – from across artforms and continents – chronicle the festival’s evolution and agree there’s one essential characteristic that will secure its future for decades to come.
Adelaide Fringe
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
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. ★★★★★
A comedian recounts the experience of trading a live audience for the blank walls of a warehouse studio in this compelling exploration of art, creativity, and mental health in the age of COVID. ★★★★
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. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
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 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. ★★★★
The art of storytelling depends on two things that Tracy Crisp has nailed: entertainment and believability. ★★★★
In his previous long-running theatrical show, John Waters mastered the role of John Lennon. His new homage to Lennon is more of a band performance, but it is still compelling. ★★★★★
In this generous work-in-progress season, First Nations-led dance company Karul Projects is not only sharing its creative process, but also inviting audiences to engage in an achingly-long-overdue ceremony. ★★★★
Not-for-profit theatre group Iran Saye Theatre is presenting an intriguing, though difficult to follow, experimental multimedia performance at this year’s Fringe. ★★★
Adelaide 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
Adelaide Fringe
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. ★★★★
Millicent Sarre is Opinionated is an entertaining, emotional and, for many, eerily familiar journey through modern feminism, the ridiculousness of prejudice, and the damaging role patriarchy has played in all our lives. ★★★★★
Unabashedly joyful and devilishly close to a copyright violation, Reclaiming Harry fights to reclaim the multi-million-dollar franchise for those who love it most – the fans. ★★★★
In this memoir show wearing stand-up comedy clothes, Colin Ebsworth searches for laughs, larger meaning and a sense of understanding amid the detritus of his years spent growing up in a cult. ★★★ ½
The perfectly paired Nat Harris and Hannah Camilleri present a selection of delectable comedic treats in their new sketch show. ★★★★ ½
A team of top creatives has brought together some of Australia’s most talented theatre and opera performers to present this vaudevillian production that is right at home in the circus-like Wonderland Spiegeltent. ★★★★★
Cabaret, drag and titillating theatrics aren’t just for after dark. Sate your appetite for something fun, fabulous and risqué during brunch. ★★★★
This show featuring Stevie Wonder’s most famous songs is more than just a slick tribute concert; it is a joyous celebration of the man who brought us some of the biggest hits of the 1970s and ’80s. ★★★★★
Drone-art spectacle Electric Skies encouraged us to sit down and gaze skyward – and in return it gave us a whole lot to look at. ★★★★
Olivia Ruggiero tells the story of her love of musical theatre as she skilfully travels through Broadway’s most famous songs for a night of mellifluous delight. ★★★★
Shock factor, nudity and chaos are cornerstones of this year’s big new show at the Garden of Unearthly Delights, where they’re ready to get The Party started. ★★★
A mesmerising, immaculate contemporary dance production overflowing with emotional resonance, the Australian debut of Taiwanese company Hung Dance’s internationally acclaimed work is a Fringe gem of heart-stirring beauty. ★★★★★
Over a cringe-inducing hour, actor Ellen Graham takes audiences on a tour of egregious objectifying encounters that lead to an absurdist and logically extreme end. ★★★
From inside a yurt to a former bank on the Fleurieu Peninsula and a busy city courtroom, Adelaide Fringe is finding its way into every corner of South Australia, and often bringing a dose of local cultural resilience with it.
Immersive and unique, work.txt is an experimental theatre piece for everyone who has secretly suspected their day job to be utterly meaningless. ★★★★★
With the strong reputation of the Best of the Edinburgh Fest from previous Adelaide Fringe festivals, there was good reason to hope it would be a winner again in 2023. Happily, we can tick that box. ★★★★
This focused and captivating ode to one classic album of gritty realism, melancholy tales and raw social commentary is an enervating and uplifting experience, in the best tradition of The Boss himself. ★★★★ ½
Adelaide Fringe project 10×10 has created an intense hive of activity in the local music and filmmaking scenes that will culminate in an energetic and celebratory screening event at the revitalised Mercury Cinema this Saturday.
Adelaide Fringe
Making fun of a contestant’s nerd-factor is an artform Tom Gleeson has mastered in his knowledge-based game show Hard Quiz, and never has it felt so right to laugh with the tormenter. ★★★★ ½
Adelaide Fringe
Alex and the Babes spin a three-act play from three lines of poetry and thin air as five rapid-firing minds combine to create improv comedy gold in Haiku For You. ★★★★
Adventure Rooms Adelaide takes players into the seedy underbelly of the organised crime world in the live escape-room experience Mafia. ★★★ ½
A stint covering a holidaying worker should be a breeze, right? In Temping, a show unique to each audience member, you have a team behind you but you’re ultimately on your own. ★★★★★
Showcasing some of the top acrobatic talent in Fool’s Paradise, Crème de la Crème offers an evening of flirty theatrics, impressive feats and hilarious antics. ★★★ ½
Sarah McLeod and Carla Lippis are electrifying as the Adelaide Fringe’s favourite supergroup returns to rock audiences with their finely tuned hour of rock, grunge and soul, paying homage to famous musicians who never saw the age of 28. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
They walked among the gods in the hit 2022 Adelaide Fringe show Oracle; now, Bass Fam Creative return to drag audiences down to the depths of hell with the frightening Adelaide premiere of Mansion. ★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
The Advertiser is not reviewing performances at the Adelaide Fringe this year after a failed negotiation, the festival’s organisers say, although the News Corp newspaper insists its editorial decisions are not based on commercial considerations.
It’s not the Fringe without a maze to conquer, and this year Kaleidoscope is all about reflection, perspective and dizzying optical illusion. ★★★
French pyrotechnic percussionists Les Commandos Percu kicked off the Adelaide Fringe with a bang – literally – as they lit up the riverbank with a primal storm of percussion, flame and fireworks. ★★★★
Art meets science in a back-room gallery, and the conversation is quietly fascinating. UK studio Megaverse presents a new collaborative work that explores our relationship with water. ★★★ ½
The ever-energetic Umbilical Brothers keep the laughs coming as they return to the Fringe with their daftly hilarious, award-winning mash-up of live performance, real time footage and green-screen-trickery. ★★★★ ½
Adelaide Fringe
The title of this show describes Ross Noble’s wild, stream-of-consciousness style, but doesn’t do justice to the hilarious ingenuity of the content. Celebrating his 21st tour, the comedian again proves himself the virtuoso of improvisational stand-up. ★★★★
Adelaide Fringe
Are the rumours of Sherlock Holmes’ demise true? Has he met his end at the hands of his arch nemesis? All is revealed in this gripping solo stage show starring British actor Tim Marriott. ★★★★★
We are always in need of new ways to explore heartbreak, and Mustard – through the art of storytelling and the aid of potent symbolism – provides us with just that. ★★★★★
This high-energy, tightly professional and foot-tapping slice of soul, jazz, blues and more blends rich melodies, driving rhythms, and global and local talent for a lively hour of captivating music. ★★★★
As the 2023 ‘Mad March’ festival season kicks off, eight of InReview’s writers and critics share their must-see shows and events across the Adelaide Festival, Fringe, WOMADelaide and Writers’ Week programs.
The Adelaide Fringe is set to break its ticket sales record, with the festival likely to hit one million sales over the next four weeks.
Adelaide Fringe
There’s persuasive rhetoric that depicts art and science as opponents – we can either have creativity or facts, emotion or logic – but a number of intriguing shows at this year’s Adelaide Fringe highlight what can be unlocked when these two different schools of thought come together.
Visual Art
From her studio space in Stepney, painter-turned-animator Kate Kurucz is piecing together a personal story of migration, loneliness, and more than a hint of movie magic.
Adelaide Fringe 2023 Ambassador Penny Arcade – an icon of Andy Warhol’s Factory crew – tells it like she lived it in a ‘memoir show’ at new city-centre venue The Pyramid. ★★★★
On the back of sell-out Edinburgh Fringe seasons, three female performers are bringing compelling solo shows to Adelaide that reflect the diversity and power of women’s stories.
‘Where does the body end and the avatar begin?’ In a series of absorbing interactive spaces, FLEX plays with the links between our physical selves and the environments we inhabit. ★★★★
French performance artists Les Commandos Percu bring their pyrotechnic and percussion spectacular SILENCE ! to the Fringe this year and – amid the noise – ask quietly urgent questions about our future.
Adelaide Fringe
Two psychiatrists walk into a bar… and then hit the mike for stand-up routines unlike any others at this year’s Fringe. Adelaide doctor and funny man Dr Kim Le and Kiwi Dr Joanna Prendergast present two very different comedy acts based on observations from their professional lives.
Adelaide Fringe
Heading into the city to see a show or 10 is a summer ritual for many South Australians, but hitting the highway for a night of world music in Clare could become a new tradition.
Let your senses and imagination come alive as you surrender to the beauty of Electric Skies – that’s the advice Electric Fields musician and visual artist Zaachariaha Fielding has for audiences attending Adelaide Fringe’s 2023 drone spectacle.
The number of international shows at Adelaide Fringe will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, with a total line-up of more than 1200 events unveiled today – including an opening-weekend show featuring pyrotechnics and percussion in Elder Park and a smorgasbord of performances in a new hub in Victoria Square.
Graphic designer and digital illustrator Alana Naylor has won the 2023 Adelaide Fringe poster competition with a vibrant design inspired by native flora and the buzz that surrounds the annual festival.
SA arts and culture news in brief: SALA celebrates its 25th anniversary with a record 11,865 participating artists, local ceramicist selected for prestigious Rome residency, applications open for 2023 Fringe grants, Illuminate events extended, Class of Cabaret callout, and how a new villain ensured Independent Theatre’s latest show will go on.
InReview
SA arts and culture news in brief: Flinders University heralds ‘bold revival’ of drama, new director appointed at the Elder Conservatorium, 2023 Fringe poster competition opens, and navigating the City Lights works bringing a glow to Adelaide after dark.
