Sydney Fringe Festival returns with a bang!

Arts & Entertainment Scene Stage

Erin Modaro
August 7, 2022

Image: Tim Pocock. Image: Instagram

By TILEAH DOBSON

The Sydney Fringe Festival is back and set to dazzle Sydneysiders and visitors with a massive program of alternative visual and performing arts. This year’s festival is the longest running ever with a packed schedule from 16^th August to 30^th September.

It is also the largest Fringe ever: an astounding 500+ events across 50 venues and nine festival hubs. Speaking with City Hub, Festival Director and CEO, Kerri Glasscock voiced her excitement about the Fringe’s return.

“It’s a wonderful, thrilling and slightly terrifying feeling to have the festival return after a two-year hiatus,” she said.

The tagline presents it as a little bit comedy, a little bit cabaret and a whole lot of Katy Perry, Cherry is performed by the incredible emerging artist, Sarah Caroll. Photo: supplied.

“There is definitely a palpable sense of excitement from artists and audiences, which is fantastic, but as event producers we are definitely managing feelings of anxiety and trauma from the past couple of years.”

“But now that the program is launched and we get closer to opening, excitement is definitely building within the team. It’s just terrific to get past the planning phase and into production mode.”

The festival offers an opportunity for new and emerging artists to showcase their work; over 80% of the program is made up of world premiers. Many new and important creative projects have spent the last two years in development, and Glasscock was thrilled to finally be able to announce them.

“First up is Limitless, which is our brand-new hub of accessible events celebrating the work of deaf and disabled artists. It has been curated by our Access Coordinator Madeleine Stewart and The Sydney Fringe Access and Inclusion Panel,” she said.

One of Glasscock’s top ten picks, Titanic The Movie, The Play is set to be a super clever and super fun and create participatory theatre that isn’t scary but just silly. Photo: supplied.

“Another new initiative this year is our Youth Hub in Newtown. This is a week of work that is suitable for under 18’s audiences. It’s being hosted at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts and has dance, theatre, improv, comedy and more.”

When pressed for her top ten picks from the 500 strong program, Glasscock had a hard time coming up with a shortlist – she is looking forward to all of them. However, she did highlight ten that promise to be amazing:

Six Women Standing In Front of a White Wall: In 2019 Little Dove brought one of the most extraordinary shows I have ever seen to Fringe called Evangeline. This year they are presenting an incredible work called Six Women Standing in Front of a White Wall.
Titanic the Movie, The Play: I loved Act/React’s show, Speed The Movie, The Play in 2019 so I’m already sold on this one.
The Museum of This Morning: Jim Fishwick is the brains behind this one and he is one very funny, very clever theatre maker. It’s part one man show, part art project.
Gary Starr Performs Everything: Whenever I am at other fringe festivals and Gary is performing, I always go. This is his first visit to Sydney Fringe. Gary is a mind-blowing performer, with impeccable timing, physicality and charisma.
Life Drawing with a Comedian: This is the life drawing class you never knew you wanted to go to, taking all the good, bad and ugly bits of life drawing class and creating a safe space to express yourself while laughing at yourself and others. Hosted by award winning comedian and professional visual artist Sam Kissjukian.
Game Show: This one caught my attention because it’s a mashup of all our favourite TV gameshows rolled into one with homemade sets and props. What could possibly go wrong! Game Show will see all your favourite TV competition games mashed into an entertaining 60-minute experience with 100% audience involvement.
Scattergun After The Death of Ruaumoko: This incredible one person show took out our Touring Award at NZ Fringe this year, along with Outstanding Solo Performance. It’s an exploration into class, race, gender, power, identity politics and indigenous longing and I am so excited it is able to come to Sydney this year. Definitely go check it out.
Cherry: This one had me at its tagline: “A little bit comedy, a little bit cabaret and a whole lot of Katy Perry”. It’s performed by an incredible emerging artist, Sarah Caroll, with a gun team behind her including Dramaturg Nadia Townsend and mentor Victoria Falconer.
Evocacion: Awarded best dance work at Adelaide Fringe in 2022, this show will transport you to the stages of Sevilla. It features two of Australia’s best Flamenco dancers- Chachy Penalver and Roshanne Wijeyeratne.

The Mouth The Mouth and Nothing But The Mouth: Sydney based, The Spare Keys are a twenty-headed, five part harmony Acapella group. They have a repertoire of chart toppers and this is set to be a super fun night out.