Melbourne Fringe Festival highlight-machines Theatre Works are putting on a huge selection of theatre, comedy, cabaret and circus acts across three stages.
Theatre Works‘ Melbourne Fringe Hub program runs across September and October and will be mainly based out of their main theatre stage at 14 Acland Street, St Kilda.
This venue has a flexible capacity that fingers crossed, will enable them to work around government lockdown measures. They’ll also boast an outdoor forecourt stage in the Blackbox Cafe, with a beautiful fairy-lit beer garden.
What you need to know
- Theatre Works is a Melbourne Fringe theatrical company
- They’ve just released a diverse and eclectic program for 2021
- Shows will be set across three St Kilda stages throughout September and October
Stay up to date with what’s happening in Melbourne here.
Another two of their Fringe Festival performances will be presented in the open Spring air, one just in time for School Holidays, the other a stirring evening conversation. There will also be a digital on-demand piece for those who want to enjoy their incredible theatrics from the comfort of their own home.
However, one of their most exciting announcements for 2021 is the inclusion of new venue located on Inkerman Street in St Kilda, alluringly called the Explosives Factory. It’s a flexible black box space for immersive and interactive performance in an old factory that used to manufacture explosives and Theatre Works say this secondary venue will be a mainstay for the foreseeable future (only accessible via stairs).
Theatre Works’ Melbourne Fringe program
Here are three of the highlights of this year’s program, providing a great example of how diverse the organisation’s schedule is.
A Material Reckoning by Dr Mohammed Taha, “inventor, scientist, wine-enthusiast, sought-after dinner guest, and destroyer of worlds.” It’s described as a 60-minute sit-down comedy talk show breaking into Theatre Works’ new outdoor venue. Questions will be welcomed, racism will not.
Whitenoise, by Kathleen Mary Fallon, described as “12 ghosts crawls into the death chamber of White Australia’s memory banks and pulls out a pretty little filly of a mess. Lindy Chamberlain: Been there, done that. Mamdouh Habib: Been there, done that. First Gulf War: Seen it all before (and after).”
This Is Where We Live by Vivienne Walsh, which Theatre Works describes as “a 60 minute two hander that draws on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth this play experiments with juxtaposing Australian voices and poetry. It explores contemporary themes including domestic violence, learning difficulties, living with a physical condition, bullying and teenage sexuality. The two characters, Chloe and Chris, are finely etched archetypal teenage ‘outsiders’ who are drawn together but whose love, like in the myth, ends in tragedy.”
Theatre Works has been providing high-quality Australian theatre for 40 years and have a total of 10 different performances occurring in 2021.
Check out their full Fringe Program, and click through each show for more info and tickets.
