It’s full steam ahead for Melbourne Fringe Festival as it announces its biggest ever program. From September 30 to October 17, a record 472 events are planned as part of Melbourne Fringe’s 39th outing, encompassing more than 2,500 artists in a festival that creative director and CEO Simon Abrahams says speaks to the strength of the industry. He says: “Victoria’s independent artists have proven themselves to be perhaps the most resilient and innovative in the world.”
In 2020, Melbourne Fringe was the first major festival to reopen Melbourne – it literally put on a midnight comedy show (Midnight Mass) hosted by Reuben Kaye as the clock ticked over into eased restrictions. In 2021, not rain, nor hail, nor the four horsemen of the apocalypse themselves will stop Fringe, with the festival going ahead (safely) regardless of Melbourne's restrictions. Ten per cent of the festival programming is accessible online, with additional events being delivered to your home, happening outdoors or taking part in other Covid-resistant ways.
As usual, many shows in Fringe respond to our current environment. Leading the charge in 2021 with a climate change-inspired work is Groundswell, a large-scale participatory work from local musician and sound artist Matthias Schack-Arnott. The work takes place at Queensbridge Square where a mass of underfoot ball bearings can be stepped on, creating a wave of sound and movement.
Tapping into Fringe’s 2021 theme of “make some noise” (not to mention Melbourne’s redoubled sense of community) is Town Choir. For one day only, three local authors (Nayuka Gorrie, Alistair Baldwin and Michele Lee) will be writing live, while a huge public choir sings out their musings in real time.
Fringe’s Festival Hub also returns to Trades Hall. For those not familiar, heading to the hub on any given night of the festival is a sure-fire way to have a ball, with 100 performances (everything from comedy gigs to dance parties) plus artist hangouts and bars. Also returning is Design Fringe (formerly known as Fringe Furniture) and Deadly Fringe, the First Nations commissioning program, which this year includes highlights Minyerra (an evening of spoken word and music from Neil Morris, aka Drmngnow) and spiritual circus performance Of the Land On Which We Meet from Harly Mann.
One of the most popular events of Fringe will likely be We Built This City – a giant cardboard box playground taking over Fed Square. Like cats and babies, Fringe knows that often it is the gift box, not the gift, that is the greatest present. We Built This City is a free-range playground of countless recycled cardboard boxes that all ages are invited to build into a magnificent city each day... before gloriously knocking the whole thing down to begin again anew. All-ages enjoyment continues with XS, Fringe’s event series for children and families.
Other highlights from the massive program include Crystal Touch (a marathon eight-hour dance and karaoke session at Coburg RSL) and So Soiree (a pop-up comedy, cabaret and circus garden party located in City of Stonnington's Grattan Gardens).
In a nod to the financial challenges that many Victorians have faced over the last 18 months, Fringe has a flexible ticketing system in place for many of its events. Audiences can opt to pay the full ticket price set out by the artist, a reduced price (for those who've been doing it tough) or an "overflowing" ticket price – opting to pay more than the requested ticket price to help support artists even more.
Melbourne Fringe Festival is on from September 30 to October 17. Visit the website to check out the full line-up.
Melbourne International Jazz Festival is also making a comeback this spring.
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