The artists of the Melbourne Fringe Festival invite audiences to peek into their personal lives, serving up rambunctious stories that can only be conceivable as real life because the artists are here to tell the tales. While the narratives are often serious, life threatening or completely terrifying, in the hands of these Fringe artists audiences will experience life affirming, hilarious and inspiring performances. These first-hand recounts will be on show from 1–20 October.
The Dilly Dally of Death & Dying (pictured right) is a new, semi biographical work from writer/performer Ben Noble. In 2020, one of Ben’s friends noticed that he had a limp, beginning a six-month process of doctors’ visits and investigations. Ultimately, Ben was told he might only have six months to live, and so he waited to see if he was about to die. As a result, his theatre company, Fairly Lucid Productions decided to talk to people about death and grief. Using these interviews as a springboard, a charming, humorous, silly comedy emerged, exploring mortality and what we leave behind, blending music, storytelling, autofiction and audience participation. 2–6 October at The Square in Festival Hub:Trades Hall.
Colin Ebsworth is presenting Me, My Cult & I, a story that follows Colin’s parents being matched at random in a mass wedding at New York’s Maddison Square Gardens in the 80s by a man who said he was Jesus Christ. Through a mix of theatre and comedy, My Cult & I explores the inner workings of why people join cults, and the universal search for connection, belonging, and purpose. 9–13 October at the Music Room at Festival Hub:Trades Hall.
Much-loved comedian Scout Boxall (pictured left) presents God’s Favourite, a forensic retelling of their harrowing night-long mental marathon after getting stranded in regional Victoria without medication for the first time in twelve years. In the process, they imagine life in the 13th century, trawl the strangest crevices of the Internet and (briefly) find God. Scout was the winner of Best Comedy at Adelaide Fringe in 2023, the Moosehead Award at Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2022, and the Best Newcomer nominee at MICF in 2021. 9–13 October at the Corner Store in Festival Hub: Trades Hall.
Pam Wood is an emotional rollercoaster in a merry-go-round world. She’s a 67-year-old red-cordial-level extrovert, with a bunch of complex mental health diagnoses and death-defying resilience. Pam has never performed before. But now she must in Dys-Ord-ed. It turns out her audaciously unorthodox life has been one, giant creative development towards this defining moment in which she will finally find her voice. Dys-Order-Ed is an autobiographical solo show about owning who you are with guts and grace. 2–6 October at La Mama.
Wage Against The Machine weaves a tapestry of comedic anecdotes that resonate with anyone who’s ever clocked in at a less-than-perfect job. Award-winning comedian and storyteller, Matt Harvey (The Shovel, The Shot) confesses he still owes money through Robotdebt. Throughout the show Harvey shares his experience cleaning up the government’s mistakes. 1–20 October at Mission to Seafarers
Med School is one-man show about becoming a doctor against your will. Noah Szto endured four years of med school in hopes that it’d make for a good show one day. Including an hour of songs and stand-up, Szto guides audiences through the misadventures of his reluctant medical journey. Noah Szto is an Asian-Australian comedian whose debut hour of comedy “Success in Everything” won him Best Newcomer Award at Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024 and the Comedy New Work Award at Melbourne Fringe 2023. 9–18 October at Long Play.
Patrick Livesey delivers their latest work, I hope this mean something, the inaugural recipient of the Melbourne Fringe Climate Crisis Commission, supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation. An activist with a history of mental illness sets themself on fire. Will we ever know why? Venturing beyond the science of the climate crisis to uncover a fragile mind squarely undone by it, I hope this means something is the story of one person becoming increasingly radicalised by the world around them.Based on their experience as climate activist, mostly with Extinction Rebellion, and research for the work talking to climate scientists from the CSIRO, scientists who have travelled to Antarctica, COP delegates and First Nations Traditional Owners, I hope this means something confronts the interconnectedness of grief, community, and our desperate need for something to believe in. 2–13 October at Chapel off Chapel.
In Dad Genes, performer Eddie Pattison shares the experience of losing a father while becoming kinda, sort of a man. Pattison explores their medical transition, only weeks before their father’s death. The show parallels grieving a father while becoming a man. 2–6 October in the Evatt room in Festival Hub: Trades Hall.
Melbourne Fringe Festival 2024
1 – 20 October
melbournefringe.com.au
