The 2023 Adelaide Fringe is jam-packed with more than 1,200 shows across comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, visual art, music, interactive, and more.
Things kick off with a welcome ceremony, to acknowledge the land and waters on which the event takes place. It’s a free, family-friendly event at the Adelaide Botanic Garden.
This year’s programme has seen a 14 per cent increase on last year’s number of shows, with the number of international productions returning to pre-COVID levels. Interstate and international acts make up more than 40 per cent of the 2023 programme.
The 2023 ambassadors are Fringe performer and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’ finalist Kween Kong, internationally respected performance artist Penny Arcade, and comedy powerhouse Sarah Millican.
Previous ambassadors include Marcia Hines and Ross Noble.
“I am delighted to be performing in ‘Velvet Rewired’, as we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Adelaide Fringe Ambassador Program,” Marcia Hines says of Adelaide Fringe 2023. “I am proud to have been an ambassador. I love Adelaide and the Fringe, it holds a special place in my heart as it is where ‘Velvet’ was born.”
Electric Dreams returns in 2023, with a full programme centred around digital technology, immersive storytelling, augmented realist and virtual reality.
Image © Fumika Takagi
The festival will begin with epic performances in Elder Park from Les Commandos Percu, with their internationally acclaimed show ‘Silence!’.
Shows will be performed near and far, there are regional hubs like the Barossa Valley, The Clare Valley, and Murray Bridge areas, bursting with Fringe programming. This year, more than 12 per cent of the programming will be taking place in regional areas.
Speaking of venues, there are more than 300 this year. Favourites like the Garden of Unearthly Delights, Gluttony, Wonderland in Hindmarsh Square, Holden Street Theatres, Rhino Room and Light at The Lab. Plus, there’s the Yurt at the Migration Museum, The Vault & The Pyramid at Fool’s Paradise (Victoria Square), and AC Arts in Light Square among many more new venues!
“After a knockout 2022 season we are so excited to be announcing such an incredible programme for 2023,” Adelaide Fringe Director/CEO Heather Croall says.
“As an open access arts festival, the programme takes a form of its own, driven by the artists and shows that register and we are so happy that more than 1,200 shows have been registered.”
“It is wonderful to see so many international shows coming back after a couple of years of not being able to have internationals here. It is a bumper programme full of old favourites as well as hundreds of new shows.”
Adelaide Fringe takes place from 17 February-19 March.
