Events and Festivals
2016 Fringe Festival
The Fringe Festival is one of the finest events on the Melbourne Calender. The 2016 version runs from 15 September to 2 October, featuring over 400 shows in over 150 venues across the city.
The program is broken up into eleven genres. Comedy and performance are the biggest slices of the fringe, represented by over 100 different shows. They are joined by art forms as diverse as cabaret, circus, dance, visual art and live art.
Flick through the program and you will find classics that have been reinterpreted and original scripts being showcased. You will find circus and dance shows that will perhaps challenge your perceptions of these art-forms. Music of all genres, experimental art, Melbourne comedy stalwarts and emerging theatre directors. Shows for children and shows that shouldn’t be shown anywhere near children.
Pick up a copy of the booklet or go online for a full program and if you are not impressed with what you see than perhaps art isn’t your thing.
Any recommendations?
I wouldn’t dare, however here are a few recommendations from some greater creative minds than myself.
Time Out Melbourne’s Top Picks
Concrete Playground – Ten most interesting things
Melbourne Fringe Festival – The Plus One’s Guide
My City Melbourne’s guide to winging a festival
Five ways to decide what to go see when you don’t know what to go see
- Narrow down the field by picking your preferred time and date and choose from that list.
- Read the program and take a chance based on the synopsis only.
- Find some reviews – Plenty of people will be writing reviews as the festival gets going, while many of the shows have already been performed at other festivals, meaning a quick search can be revealing.
- Hang around the Hub in North Melbourne (see below). Talk to people, or for the more introverted, listen in on conversations to find out what’s hot.
- NEW Visit the Festival fortune-teller on the corner of Swanston and Collins Street or online at The Fortune Teller and after answering a series of questions you will have a handful of shows recommended to you.
Fringe Hub and Fringe Club
I don’t think any Melbourne festival has a “hub” like the Fringe. In and around Errol St, North Melbourne you will find Fringe HQ with over 70 shows, 3 bars, 1 club and a lot of smiling people.
Thanks for reading
Have fun and please do share if you have any recommendations, tips, hints or review. If you are an artist appearing in the Fringe just recommend your own show using a fake name. Please tweet, repost, email or telegram this post as you see fit.
