For those who like it a little weird.
Melbourne Fringe Festival is right around the corner, and it’s no easy feat wading through more than 400 productions to find one that takes your fancy. Luckily for you, we’ve done the hard work and plucked out five we’re sure will pique your interest. Here’s what you need to see this Fringe season.
Simon Taylor is a Super Funny Boy
Simon Taylor returns home to premiere his new show, Simon Taylor is a Super Funny Boy, at this year’s Melbourne Fringe. Taylor took his previous show, Right Now, around the country earlier in the year, including a full season at Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He comes to Fringe fresh off the back of a UK tour. A workaholic, Taylor is eager to launch into something new.
Simon Taylor is a Super Funny Boy comes to The Kodiak Club from Thursday September 12 to Saturday September 21 (bar Tuesday). Read more.
For Our Freedom
Composer Jordan Gilmour has designed an audio-visual installation to magnify voices of Indigenous Australians and asylum seekers in the exhibition For Our Freedom. Gilmour explains that it’s essentially an “experience exhibiting a collection of stories of identity from Indigenous Australians and asylum seekers”.
When asked why he’s chosen these two groups of people in Australia to tell their stories, he responds saying, “Essentially it’s kind of removing the white man from the equation. Trying to represent the stories of those of the past and stories of those of the present and reflecting on the sort of cultural identity of a contemporary Australia.”
Catch For Our Freedom at the Brunswick Street Gallery from Thursday September 19 until Sunday September 29 (bar Monday). Read more.
I’m A Phoenix, Bitch
Making her long awaited return to Melbourne, the UK performer has drawn from her own trauma to create a masterpiece that is right at home within this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival program.
Kimmings has never shied from sensitive subjects when it comes to her stage works, and with I’m A Phoenix, Bitch she delves into trauma and postnatal depression with a new level of honesty and vulnerability – the kind of candour we’ve come to expect from the fearless performance artist. Read more.
I’m A Phoenix, Bitch comes to Arts Centre Melbourne from Wednesday September 11 until Sunday September 15. For tickets and more info, head to the Arts Centre website.
What Am I Supposed To Do?
Sarah Aitken and Rebecca Jensen of Deep Soulful Sweats want you to fight your climate change inertia within their participatory eco-horror, What Am I Supposed To Do?. Arguably the duo’s most ambitious project to date, Aitken and Jensen want audience members to feel the same powerlessness they do towards our climate crisis and the show’s crowd involvement heightens this. Read more.
What Am I Supposed To Do? takes over Arts Centre Melbourne’s Fairfax Studio from Wednesday September 18 to Sunday September 22. Find out more and buy tickets via the venue website.
Oh No! Satan Stole My Pineal Gland!
Absurd title aside, this play has some pretty big names behind it. Directed by Green Room Nominee Jean Tong and 2018 Best Emerging Artist Lou Wall, and written by emerging playwright Kirby Medway, the show makes you re-experience every awkward step you’ve had to take in order to make a friend. Warning: may contain cringe.
Oh No! Satan Stole My Pineal Gland! runs between Saturday September 22 and Sunday September 29 (bar Monday).
In Search Of The Truth
Cause Collective’s global project is making its way to Melbourne. In this free interactive exhibition, punters step inside a giant inflatable speech bubble, sit in front of a video camera and respond to the prompt “The truth is…”. All responses are then collected, edited and presented in a public exhibition.
In Search Of The Truth will be exhibited at Grattan Gardens between Friday September 13 and Sunday September 15.
Energy with Brett Ashby
You wouldn’t think of painting and skateboarding as compatible activities, but international artist Brett Ashby makes it happen. In his latest production, Energy, Ashby will paint portraits of musical greats, including Cash Savage, Mick Harvey and Sarah McLeod — all while skateboarding. Ashby’s been doing this since 2013, so you can trust something good will come of it.
Brett Ashby’s Energy comes to Gasworks Arts Park from Thursday September 12 to Saturday September 14 with two events on the Saturday. Read more.
Melbourne Fringe is running between Thursday September 12 and Sunday September 29. For tickets, head to the festival website.
