Melbourne Fringe Festival returns in all its fabulous glory from 1 – 20 October with hundreds of diverse events to choose from. In a very special first announcement before the full program is released on 9 August, the Festival has released one of the highlights of this year’s program. In a major new Festival-first commission, dynamic cultural deviants, The Huxleys, will present The Winner Takes It All a grand slam queer takeover of the sporting world where Melbourne’s queer community can live out their own glamourous athletic dreams.
Running over the first and second weekends of this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, The Winner Takes It All is a large-scale participatory event come photoshoot where The Huxleys invite ordinary citizens en masse from the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies to enter a domain that they may have long dreamed of, but may never have been comfortable participating in – the realm of competitive sports.
Dressed head to toe in high-camp regalia, anyone who has ever felt excluded from sport – whether because of gender, sexuality, culture, background or disability – will get to live out epic sport fantasies, captured in a series of joyous and surreal photographs. Hundreds of participants will fill the swimming pool, tennis court and cricket pitch in an epic reclaiming of the national pastime. They will also get to take home their very own limited-edition print. Entries to participate are open now at melbournefringe.com.au
Like many young queer people, the seeds of Garret Huxley’s fraught relationship with sport were sown early in life. Garret explains: “Sport highlighted my differences and made me an easy target for playground bullying, and so I spent twelve years of my life trying to get out of every sporting activity possible. A teacher once ordered the class to triple-jump into the sandpit. I refused to do it. My inner body temperature felt like 100 degrees because I was in the unwanted spotlight.”
It’s experiences like this that The Winner Takes it All is looking to subvert, by framing queer people to be at the centre of sporting fantasies. Part show, part art happening featuring DJs and live performances, anyone is welcome to come along and play sporting stars, over eager spectators, umpires, ball runners, or orange slice attendants. “There are no winners and losers in this magical world we are creating,” Will Huxley says.
“Creating a mass participatory event with The Huxleys has been on my ‘festival to do’ list for years,” says Melbourne Fringe Creative Director Simon Abrahams. “I’ve always wanted to be a Huxley, sparkly, camp and brilliant – and The Winner Takes It All is as close as I’m ever going to get. Melbourne is going to love it.”
The Winner Takes It All will take place at Prahran Aquatic Centre, Princes Gardens Tennis Court and Malvern Cricket Ground in the City of Stonnington on 6 & 12 October.
This project is supported by the City of Stonnington, Creative Victoria and the Broadtree Foundation. It also received Cash to Create through the Fringe Fund, with thanks to Monica Lim and Konfir Kabo.
The Winner Takes It All
Melbourne Fringe Festival 2024
1 – 20 October
Entries to participate are now open:
https://melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/the-winner-takes-it-all/
For two and a half weeks each year, the Melbourne Fringe Festival invites audiences to discover the unexpected with a bold and audacious program of art and performance across the city in theatres, galleries, venues, public spaces, homes, studios and everywhere in between. Featuring a curated program of large scale public events and risk taking art, and an open access program with over 400 events, it is one of the largest multi-arts festivals in the country.
The open access framework means that anyone can register to be part of the Festival, bringing voices from the margins and amplifying them across the city. Melbourne Fringe keeps access and inclusion at its heart, actively working to remove barriers to participation and develop artists skills through First Nations commissioning program Deadly Fringe, Deaf and Disability arts programs, mentorships, workshops, residencies, forums, awards and touring support.
