With more than 1500 shows spanning comedy, cabaret, circus, theatre, music, visual art, interactive works and large-scale immersive experiences, Australia’s biggest arts festival has once again transformed Adelaide into one of the world’s most bustling cultural destinations. With so much on offer, the Australian Pride Network takes a look at 15 shows worth checking out:
Adore Händel’s Cautionary Tales
The Lark at Gluttony: 3 – 8 March
Everyone’s favourite pansexual, time-travelling songbird returns with a cabaret steeped in desire, decadence, and delicious disaster. Adore Händel revisits centuries of passion – the fleeting glances, the grand gestures, and the glorious mistakes that make history blush. Blending operatic splendour with pop seduction, they weave a glittering tapestry of love, lust, and lingering regret – all delivered with wicked wit and a velvet voice made for sin.
All These Pretty Things
The Box at ARTHUR ARTHOUSE: 5 – 10 March
What do you do when your husband leaves you for your teenage goddaughter? You dye your wedding dress black, write killer songs, and make a show. #TrueStory. All These Pretty Things is Tracey Yarad’s raw, darkly funny blend of memoir and music – a phoenix-rising tale that takes audiences from Australia, through the wreckage of a 23-year marriage, to a bold new life in New York City. It’s an evocative portrait of resilience, creativity, and the power of love and music to heal.
Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett
Aurora Spiegeltent at The Garden of Unearthly Delights: 21 February – 22 March
The hottest cabaret club East of Berlin comes to Adelaide! Join deliciously salacious, über-award winning Bernie Dieter as her gin-soaked haus band soundtracks a night of breathtaking circus, gender-bending aerial and fire-breathing sideshow at its most provocative and hilarious best. With a dizzying line-up of world class artists it’s an unmissable night of debauchery done right. A triumphant middle finger held up against the mundane, this show is a life affirming lightning bolt of pure, unadulterated joy!
EDEN
The Gallery at The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum: 17 – 22 March
A lyrical coming-of-age story about identity, desire, and the cost of becoming. Siren Theatre Co presents the world premiere of EDEN – a new play by Kate Gaul. Set over one charged summer, the play explores identity, transformation, and the quiet violence of becoming. EDEN follows Kit and Dan as their lives hover between past and possibility. Desire, guilt, and the ache for belonging entwine as the pair navigate a landscape where myth blurs the present, and where every step toward self-knowledge carries a cost. Infused with a distinctive theatrical language, EDEN unfolds as part confession, part elegy, part mystery. As the story deepens, beauty and danger become inseparable, revealing the fragile moment when identity takes shape – and something precious is lost forever.
Elixir Revived
The Vault at Fool’s Paradise (Victoria Square): continues to 22 March
This is Cirque du Soleil meets Magic Mike. Sexy, bold and unmissable. Elixir Revived is a wild, post-apocalyptic circus comedy packed with jaw-dropping stunts, irreverent humour, and world-class acrobatics. Four eccentric scientists attempt to create the Elixir of life, and are forced to test the concoctions on themselves. Chaos and Mayhem break loose in the Laboratory, and what follows is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud spectacle packed with gravity-defying acrobatics, physical comedy, and more than a touch of cheek. With its exceptional mix of humour and daring circus skills, Head First Acrobats’ Elixir Revived showcases both the beauty and the limits of the human body.
INFERNO
The Flamingo at Gluttony: continues to20 March
Australia’s Hottest Fire Show puts the flaming inside The Flamingo at Gluttony. Forget everything you think you know about fire performance! INFERNO is an award-winning fusion of danger, seduction, and skill that boasts the country’s BEST fire artists to redefine what’s ‘hot’ at the Adelaide Fringe. Fuelled by fire-breathing emcee, Clara Fable, will guide you through one hour of unbridled ferocity. If you’re looking for a night packed with heart-racing entertainment, guaranteed, you’ve found it. Brace yourself for the impact, secure all loose items (including your composure). Trailblazing fire play side effects may include a dropped jaw from mind melting material. Every act features fire manipulation and passion for the practice, ready to turn your casual evening into a hot night out.
La Ronde
The Spiegeltent at The Garden of Unearthly Delights: continues to 22 March
The high-flying, five-star hit La Ronde returns to Adelaide in 2026 – bolder, wilder, and more unmissable than ever. Step into the round and surrender to the intoxicating world of La Ronde – a lavish and brave seduction of dizzying spectacle, from the creators of Blanc de Blanc and LIMBO. This isn’t just a show; it’s an invitation to lose yourself in the extraordinary. A single beam of light slices through the dark, the beat drops—and suddenly, the Spiegeltent explodes into stars. Glittering bodies spin overhead, limbs hang in the balance, and boundaries begin to blur. At the centre of this heady cocktail of circus, live music, and comedy are groundbreaking headliners, world-class provocateurs, and raw, electric energy direct from the world’s most elite stages.
Little Miss Typecast
The Den at Dom Polski Centre: 28 February – 1 March
Cabaret newcomer Chloe Halley is bringing smash hit show Little Miss Typecast to the Adelaide Fringe. Stuck playing the kid while her peers get to grow up, Chloe Halley is pint-sized, pigeonholed and politely losing it. Little Miss Typecast is a cheeky, sharp as a tack cabaret, packed with killer songs, dance breaks for days, and a desperate attempt to prove she can grow up too. She’s done playing the kid. Unless, of course, the role is still available. Directed by cabaret royalty Dolly Diamond, alongside co-writer Dom Hennequin, Little Miss Typecast promises an evening of high-energy comedy, dynamic vocals and tongue-in-cheek storytelling about life as a performer who never quite grew out of the child roles.
Sexy Ghost Boy
Upstairs at Duke of York Hotel: 11 – 22 March
Begin with a circle. Work your way up, slowly. Bravely. The Macarena happens to completion. Scream. This is how you summon Sexy Ghost Boy – an award winning and hilariously f***able spirit, described by witnesses as a hot mess mash up of Mr Bean and Marina Abramović. The show uses clown and burlesque to dissects the unspoken rituals and micro neurosis we have around sex. Having split the sides of audiences across New Zealand, comedian George Fenn now boldly propositions Australians to have an unforgettable evening of theatre.
Skank Sinatra: The Name on Everybody’s Lips
The Lark at Gluttony: 9 – 15 March
Broadway’s greatest hits explode in a glittering cabaret spectacular as award-winning diva Skank Sinatra struts into the spotlight with powerhouse vocals, biting comedy, and lashings of sequinned charm. Two-time winner of Best Cabaret at Adelaide Fringe, Skank Sinatra joins forces with musical maestro Joe Louis Robinson for a brand-new show bursting with electrifying live vocals and camp big-band bangers. Broadway’s biggest hits, reimagined with wit, sparkle, and style. Co-created by Jens Radda & Carly Fisher, expect razzle-dazzle, satire sharper than a Patti LuPone glare, and vocals big enough to bring down the Phantom chandelier.
Tash York is Drop Red Gorgeous
BankSA Theatre at Gluttony: 17 – 22 March
Award-winning, wine-loving cabaret queen Tash York is Drop Red Gorgeous; a crimson-soaked tribute to the iconic redheads who’ve slayed stages, stolen spotlights, and inspired generations. As the second most famous redhead from Brisbane (and no, Pauline Hanson is not in the show), Tash channels legends from Adele to Annie Lennox, Bette Midler to Bowie, Florence (without the Machine) to Ed Sheeran, Lucille Ball to Rihanna (yes, that era counts). Celebrating 10 years in the biz, she serves chaos, comedy, powerhouse vocals, and more wigs than Queen Elizabeth I. Expect outrageous tales, original songs, glamour on a budget, and the kind of unhinged energy only a seasoned redhead can deliver. Because behind every great redhead is a bottle of Shiraz… and a questionable decision.
The Pink List
Ruby’s at Holden Street Theatres: 20 February – 8 March
The haunting new one-person musical inspired by untold stories of gay men in post-war Germany comes to Adelaide Fringe for a limited season. 1957 West Germany. The battle against the Nazis ended twelve years ago – but for Karl, a gay concentration camp survivor, the war never truly ended. While most laws have been dismantled, the Nazi-era law persecuting homosexuals remains in force. Karl now finds himself on trial once again, branded a repeat offender instead of a recognised victim. The Pink List takes its name from the lists created by the Nazis to track and target gay men – records that continued to be used by the German police in post-war years. The show sheds light on a chapter of history too often erased, and on the fight for recognition in a society still unwilling to acknowledge its victims. Written and performed by Michael Trauffer, and with musical supervision and orchestrations by Sarah Morrison, this original musical draws inspiration from the lived experiences of gay concentration camp survivors.
The SoccerActress
Studio Theatre at Goodwood Theatre: continues to 1 March
A fierce solo show blending autobiographical storytelling, character comedy and freestyle soccer. The SoccerActress is a powerful one-woman drama-comedy show that is poetic, conceptual, physical and emotionally raw. Through juggling balls and juggling life, Lucia Mallardi explores her journey as a woman torn between soccer stadiums, street performances around the world, and theatre stages – between societal expectations and burning artistic drive. The show breaks stereotypes, spins the ball and the narrative, and reclaims space: both on the field and in life. Lucia uses the soccer ball not only as a symbol of discipline and power but as a living instrument of expression – blending movement, rhythm, and languages to tackle gender politics, cultural identity, and the beauty of athleticism as an art
form.
The Trouble With Harry
Holden Street Theatres: 3 – 8 March
A true-crime drama of love, deception, and identity. When Harry Crawford’s past is revealed, 1920s Sydney is shaken by scandal, exposing society’s fear of difference and the price of concealment. Harry Crawford and his wife Annie seem ordinary enough; together they lead quiet, unexceptional lives in the suburbs of 1920s Sydney, working and raising a child. But when a strange girl arrives at the door, it sets in train a series of events that will result in an astounding revelation – and, ultimately, sow the seeds of bloody murder. Lachlan Philpott rips back the curtains on the true case of Eugenia Falleni AKA Harry Crawford, the notorious ‘Man-Woman’ murderer that scandalised 1920s Sydney to unravel the assumptions underpinnng our perceptions of gender, perversion and complicity.
Tomas Clifford Got Stood Up
The Bunker at Fool’s Paradise: 11 – 15 March
After award-winning seasons at FRINGE WORLD and Melbourne Fringe, the critically acclaimed cabaret Tomas Clifford Got Stood Up is finally coming to Adelaide Fringe to be the hottest date in town! Join Tomas and his live 8-piece band in the midst of their national tour for a coming-of-age that couldn’t come quick enough, and if history repeats itself – might never show up at all! The show is a whirl wind of original songs and stories where Tomas is his own greatest enemy – embarrassing, erratic, dramatic, hopeful, and hopeless.
The 2026 Adelaide Fringe Festival continues to 22 March. For more information and full program, visit: www.adelaidefringe.com.au for details.
Images: Adore Händel – photo by Bri Hammond | Tracey Yarad (supplied) | Bernie Dieter – photo by Rachel Mia | EDEN – photo by Andriyko Podilnyk | Head First Acrobats presents Elixir Revived – photo by Jason Matz Photography | INFERNO (supplied) | The Cast of La Ronde (Adelaide, 2026) – photo by Cinematic Events | Little Miss Typecast – photo by TNS Studios | George Fenn stars in Sexy Ghost Boy – photo by James Peryer Photography | Skank Sinatra: The Name on Everybody’s Lips (supplied) | Drop Red Gorgeous – photo by KTB Media | The Debate (supplied) | The Pink List (supplied) | Lucia Mallardi in The SoccerActress (supplied) | The Trouble With Harry (supplied) | Tomas Clifford – photo by Maedforu (Andrea Mae)