Okay, obviously you don't have to guess... and if you've been here a while you know that the beginning of December marks my annual Adelaide Fringe Festival post.
The online version of the guide dropped last Friday and I spent a good chunk of the day going through it all.
I will say that one of two things (or a combination of the two) happened while I was going through everything... obviously this year I'm on a more restricted budget, and that may have factored into whether or not I put things on the first cut shortlist, but I honestly think that there just weren't as many things I was especially interested in this time around. The first cut list was only 27 shows, which isn't really a lot when you compare it to the 41 shows from last year.
There was also a major dearth of Shakespeare related shows. I think last year was definitely an aberration with the number of shows, but I struggled to really find much this time.
And there are only five shows this year that I'm going to all on my ownsome.
There are some familiar faces and names on the list once again... Kaput, A Night at the Musicals, Raw Shakespeare, Dirk Darrow, Gravity and Other Myths, Sound and Fury and the boys from Elixr. But some of them are bringing new shows or shows I haven't seen before, or I just haven't seen them in a while and I wondered how the show had changed.
There are definitely some wild cards in the pack though, including one I was pretty sure I'd dropped off the list at some point, but really didn't remember that that was the case until after I'd bought the ticket... so we'll see how that goes. But as the second rule of my 7 Steps For Getting The Most Out Of The Fringe says: Take a chance of something new.
The full list of shows for this year is:
- Kaput: Slapstick and silent clowning at its finest: Tom Flanagan amazes, delights and leaves audiences in stitches as he pays homage to the greats Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in this one-man acrobatic comedy for all ages.
- Flesh and Bone: It explodes on to the stage as if Shakespeare was alive and well and living in a tower block in East London. Feast your eyes upon the depravity, triumphs and utter hilarity of the underprivileged in a vivid and fast-paced ride through a working class estate which fuses Shakespeare-inspired lyricism with cockney accents.
- The Bridge: A post-apocalyptic tale in which an anonymous man and woman search for salvation and the remnants of human civilization under the beaconing arch of the Golden Gate Bridge. Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, it's a story of love and survival embellished with song, shadow puppetry, and Christopher Walken.
- Heathers The Musical: A hilarious, heartfelt and homicidal new show based on the greatest teen comedy of all time. With its moving love story, laugh-out-loud comedy and unflinching look at the joys and anguish of high school, Heathers will be the most popular new musical in town. Are you in, or are you out?
- The Displaced: A collaboration between seven circus artists. It conveys the beautiful and ugly, the devotion and play, and the chaos and calm. The acrobats invite audiences into their world, a world where there is no conformity. The acrobats are individual bodies and nothing else, their thoughts influence emotions and they work together as one.
- Attrape Moi! (Catch Me!): These fearless Canadians have been wowing audiences and critics around the world with their spectacular brand of radical feats, extreme acrobatics, breath-taking trampoline turns, awesome parkour and cheeky comedy.
- A Night At The Musicals: Jonny Woo and Le Gateau Chocolat will drag through the back catalogue of fabulous musicals for a raucous night of ballsy ballads, delightful duets and slaughtered show tunes. High glammah, intense assholism, divine costumes and raggedy choreography are guaranteed in a night you’ll never forget!
- Grimm Tales: Not mincing any of our words here - the Brothers Grimm are really, really grim...Hansel and Gretel are murderously abused (almost) and Ashputtel (Cinderella ) watches the seriously ugly stepsisters lop off some of their own flesh to win that Prince.
- When There's No Strength In Men: On an intimate and raw stage, some of Adelaide's best young Shakespearian actresses bring new life to the famous roles of 'Lady MacBeth', 'Princess Katherine of France', 'Rosalind' and 'Orlando,' with stories told through their character's eyes - strength in the weakness of the men around them.
- 6 Quick Dick Tricks: A Dirk Darrow Investigation: A mind-blowing mentalist collides with thrilling danger in this ALL NEW film-noir murder mystery adventure. Unbelievable magic tricks to delight the senses and rapid-fire comedy to fracture the funny bone, this hilarious psychic detective with the winning smile puts on a killer show... literally.
- Intoxication: Intimacy is dead, and we're partying with its corpse. A post-dramatic patchwork about queer millennial anxiety; exploring how the intense fear of being alone rules our modern society, and how one person's loneliness is symptomatic of everyone's problem.
- Box and Cox: Two men, one apartment. Seems perfectly legit, however neither one knows the other lives there for one works during the day, the other at night. Ask the lodging house keeper about it and she would say nothing could go wrong.
- A Simple Space: The must-see, internationally acclaimed circus sensation returns to the Adelaide Fringe! A show that is simultaneously raw, frantic and delicate. Supported by driving live percussion and presented so intimately that you can feel the heat, hear every breath, and be immersed in every moment.
- That Daring Australian Girl: The amazing true story of Muriel Matters; the Adelaide-born Actress who became one of the leading figures of the UK's Suffragette movement and was the "Foremost Woman Orator in Britain".
- Sound and Fury's Cyranose: The classic tale of Cyranose de Bivouac and his perfectly normal love for his cousin Roxanne. Sound and Fury's Fringe-Award-Winning Hit Show returns to Adelaide!
- Circus'cision: A variety mash-up of circus superstars, Spiegeltent legends, and the hottest acts of this year's Adelaide Fringe. With a rotating cast each night, different fringe artist guests get to showcase their best, weirdest and most hilarious talents, backed up by the incredible acrobatics of Head First.
- By A Thread: An ensemble circus creation exploring the relationship between trust and play. Like the booms and sheets of a sailing ship, performers are hoisted and swung by one another to create striking tableaux and breath-taking dynamics. The actions of one acrobat affect the movements of others in a mesmerising negotiation of cause and effect.
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