This September, the Sydney Fringe Festival will feature over 400 events, showcasing over 1,800 performers, across four precincts and 12 festival hubs. With so much on offer, the Australian Pride Network takes a look at ten events worth checking out.
CRUSH
Queer Hub – Qtopia Sydney: 24 – 28 September
Have you ever wondered why they call it a crush? Having a crush is heaven. Until it’s not. Until it’s literally hell on earth. Let Benjamin Quirk take you on an emotional joyride that quickly veers off and becomes a tragic train wreck as he explores the glorious highs and devastating lows of having a crush, going through the beautiful hope we never want to lose and the cringe embarrassment we’d rather forget. CRUSH is a bold new one-man show that explores the desire, delusion and damaging side effects of an all-encompassing, debilitating, ridiculous romantic pursuit. See just how crushing a crush can be.
Dead To Me – A Comedy Tour
Village Green Festival Garden – Box Office: 13 & 14 September
Join comedian and confirmed bachelor Matt Bell for a walking ghost tour through Sydney’s storied streets and fabled haunts where you will encounter terrifying tales inspired by single life. Get the gory details about the horrors of running into exes in the street, being literally ghosted, and having dates miraculously return from the dead. Hunt down old flames, visit historic sites of abandoned romances and bask in the conspiratorial glow of a love life in jeopardy. And if the ghost stories aren’t scary enough, a 32-year-old desperately single gay man will be! 2024 Melbourne Comedy Festival – Golden Gibbo Award Nominee.
Fountain Lakes in Lockdown: A Drag Parody Play
Playhouse – Sydney Opera House: 17 – 22 September
What did Australia’s foxiest morons get up to during the pandemic? It’s August 2021. Kath is up to pussy’s bow in sour dough. Kim’s been asked to work from home (though that happened before the pandemic). Sharon has had a severe reaction to all the hand sanitiser. Relive the uniquely Australian pandemic experience through the eyes of these uniquely Australian characters hilariously parodied by Art Simone (RuPaul’s Drag Race Downunder, Have You Been Paying Attention?), Thomas Jaspers (Granny Bingo, The Gays Are Revolting), Leasa Mann (Club Broadway, Thank Mollie’s It’s Friday) and Scott Brennan (skitHOUSE, Comedy Inc., Neighbours).
Friday Ritual
Barangaroo: 13, 20 & 27 September
Accompanied by the harmonious melodies of a community choir, witness the magic of manufacturing and the creativity of construction as we release the workweek to the wind. Friday Ritual connects the creative industry with the public. Simple, scalable structures – designed to dance with the wind – will be sculpted by artist Matthew Aberline, with the Beautiful and Useful Studio, during the day and released in a moment of ritual on Friday afternoons, as the precinct transitions from business to pleasure. Matthew will set up his equipment, crafting the structures in the foyer of International Tower 3 in Barangaroo inviting members of the public to contribute to the creative process or to simply marvel at it as an onlooker. Join us at dusk as these delightful creations parade through the precinct, arriving at Waterman’s Cove, where they will be set up and displayed to the sounds of local choirs.
Hillsong Boy
Made in Sydney at PACT Centre for Emerging Artists: 3 – 14 September
Father. Son. Holy Megachurch! After 20 years of church involvement, Hillsong heretic Scott Parker has stories to tell. Pull up a pew and join him for a queer holy communion! Hillsong Boy chronicles the weird and wonderful experiences of ex-Hillsonger, Scott Parker. During his twenty years with the megachurch he experienced the dizzying heights of Christian celebrity, and the lonely lows of being cast aside, all whilst keeping a desperate secret. Scott is queer, and there’s no such thing as a Queer Hillsong Boy. Original music, autobiography, multimedia, and a leap of faith all collide in this playful revelation of coming out and getting out of one of the most talked about church movements of the 21st Century.
Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence
Off-Broadway Hub – Turner Theatre: 26 – 29 September
Step onto the court of this contemporary turmoil that entangles the timelessness of Shakespearean drama with hot & sporty girl power, celebrating women in sport! Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence is an electronic pop synth dance musical that tells a cautionary tale of when deadly ambition meets treacherous scheming amongst a netball team of gutsy misfits training for their Inter-School competition. Breathing new life into a literary classic, this energetic original musical is fuelled by an electrifying soundscape and hot pink netball dresses. Composed by award-winning vocalist, DJ, and music producer, Project BEXX, and presented by an all-female powerhouse team of Western Australian artists.
MONSTER
Queer Hub – Qtopia Sydney: 24 – 28 September
Drag artist. Transgender man. High school teacher. Florian Wild is the MONSTER! Cash in your cis guilt for the evening, and come worship at the altar of this Melbourne cabaret star! Wild delivers a punchy hour of powerhouse vocals and quickfire standup, diving into the depths of the monster within us all. The evening’s sermon addresses serious social quandaries such as: Did Veggie Tales make me gay? , Should sleep paralysis demons unionize? and Is it faith, or just sparkling fundamentalism? Between outrageous antics, Wild seeks to tear up the definition of what it means to be a monster, and thoroughly stomp all over it with a sparkly heel. With a stellar selection of pop and jazz songs accompanied by FRANKLY, a heaping of drag debauchery, and razor sharp wit, MONSTER is quintessential cabaret that will have you screaming: more! more! more!
Personal Space
Queer Hub – Qtopia Sydney: 3 -7 September
Join Brigitta as she takes audiences on a nostalgic trip through the pages of her personal space, blending dance, music, and drag into a heartfelt, somewhat cringe, sapphic spectacle. Brigitta is like every woman in her mid-30s—perpetually tired, addicted to the high of a crisp Diet Coke, and shook that clothing she wore in 2003 is back in high rotation. Inspired by the Y2K renaissance, Brigitta has dusted off a distant relic: Her teenage diary. Personal Space is not just a show – it’s a time machine back to a more authentic era that celebrates the simplicity of having a creative outlet that was truly yours, free from the pressures of likes, shares, and filters. So dust off your old CDs, dig out your favourite butterfly clips, and join us for an unforgettable evening of laughter, nostalgia, and a healthy dose of early 2000s flair.
Skank Sinatra
Riverside Theatre, Parramatta: 20 – 21 September
Glamorous, hilarious and fiercely clever Jens Radda’s award-winning cabaret show takes audiences on a whirlwind journey from South Africa to Berlin to Down Under reinventing Sinatra’s classics with electrifying modern twists. Following sell-out performances across Australia, nominated for Best in Musical Theatre & Cabaret in Sydney Fringe 2023, and winning Best Cabaret in Adelaide Fringe 2024, Skank Sinatra dazzles audiences with powerhouse vocals, razor-sharp humour and explosive charisma.
Tender
The Vault – Spiegeltent Festival Garden: 24 – 29 September
Tender is the queer circus cabaret that will leave you aching for more. What is it to be Tender? Is it gentle and affectionate or sensitive and aching? Featuring an all-queer cast, Tender probes this question to uncover and explore relationships, power play, desire, and sexuality with flips, aerial tricks, high kicks, hair whips and musical quips. Strap on in as Tender creates a dynamic play space that bridges the floor and air by merging aerial and ground disciplines along with live, original music to disassemble gender constructs and dismantle binaries. At the heart of it, Tender is a joyous celebration of queer community, connectedness, vulnerability and, of course, tenderness.
The 2024 Sydney Fringe Festival continues to 30 September. For more information and full program, visit: www.sydneyfringe.com for details.
Images: Friday Ritual (supplied) | Fountain Lakes in Lockdown: A Drag Parody Play (supplied) | Hillsong Boy (supplied) | Florian Wild stars in MONSTER (supplied) | Skank Sinatra (supplied)