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  • A woman eating fire from sticks with Fringe Festival lettering in the background in blue.
  • People all doing the same clapping movement on a dancefloor in front of a DJ.
  • A dark image of people in a row holding up a striped sheet with deep pink lighting on the whole room.
Until 18 Oct

Melbourne Fringe Festival

  • Festival
  • Comedy

Melbourne Fringe Festival returns with a program of 500+ exciting, boundary-pushing arts events. Curiosity is a spark and Melbourne Fringe Festival is where it catches alight. This year the festival is challenging Melbournians to Turn Towards the Heat.

Melbourne Fringe Festival is Victoria’s longest-running multi-arts festival, platforming the vital voices of our brightest artistic talent for 43 years. Its inclusive programs platform anyone with an artistic project to share, particularly working to showcase First Nations artists, d/Deaf and Disabled creatives, queer storytellers, emerging youth perspectives, and international risk-takers. It offers a focused snapshot of urgent, ambitious art being made right now.

This year festival hubs are located at Trades Hall, Carlton and North Melbourne’s Meat Market.

For information on individual shows, all venues and ticketing visit the website.

Hours

Date Times
Sat 10 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am
Sun 11 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am
Mon 12 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am
Tue 13 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am
Wed 14 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am
Thu 15 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am
Fri 16 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am
Sat 17 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am
Sun 18 Oct
  • All day 12:00am - 12:00am

Location

Victorian Trades Hall Council
54 Victoria St
Carlton 3053

Open in maps location for Victorian Trades Hall Council

Price and bookings

From free to $50

Book online for Melbourne Fringe Festival

Contact details

  • telephone number: 03 9660 9600
  • email address: info@melbournefringe.com.au
  • Visit website for Melbourne Fringe Festival
Instagram page for Melbourne Fringe Festival

Accessibility

  • Accessible toilets
  • Assisted listening
  • Audio description
  • Auslan interpreted
  • Blind/low vision supports
  • Mobility access
  • Quiet spaces
  • Relaxed/low sensory
  • Service animals

All accessibility information is self-reported by the listing owner. It has not been verified by the City of Melbourne.

Part of Melbourne Fringe Festival

A young person with long blonde hair, wearing a  green satin top and making an animated, expressive gesture with hands up near their face against a solid olive-green background.
Until 18 Oct

Tegan Higginbotham: Follow That Turtle!

Award-winning comedian Tegan Higginbotham is back with an unmissable hour of stand-up gold.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A performer in a black outfit, shorts, and a wide-brimmed black hat stands on a stage with a red floor, holding a large, flowing red cloth like a matador.
Until 11 Oct

Marketing Man

Satirical chaos that tears the lid off hustle culture, hype mythology, and the dark art of the sell.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
Comedian Aunty Annette doing stand-up in front of a purple backdrop with her name projected onto it.
14 Oct

Aunty Annette's OutBlak

Aunty is stepping onto the stage to share stories they definitely didn't teach you at school.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
A performer lying on the ground, clutching her belly and holding a soft toy, against a red background.
13 – 17 Oct

Heir

A pregnant therapist has a stranger in her office who seems to know things about her he shouldn't.

  • Theatre
  • Entertainment
Man wearing red sunglasses taking a selfie.
Until 11 Oct

Parasocial

A one-man musical comedy on the realities of one-sided relationships with famous people.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A person with long dark hair wearing a white dress, standing in the shallow water of a calm lake or river surrounded by misty, tree-lined hills.
Until 11 Oct

Saltwater Girls

A play about catholic school, queer desire, hymns, heartbreak and lesbian yearning.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A vintage-styled woman in a pink dress holding a clear umbrella, with red liquid resembling blood dripping from the umbrella.
Until 11 Oct

Zoe's Killer Instinct

A timid actress becomes a murderous megastar after a chance meeting with a mysterious bag of knives.

  • Theatre
  • Music
An illustration of a cosy lounge room scene at night, rendered in a vibrant, stylized colour palette of neon purple, pink, orange, and blue hues.
Until 11 Oct

Like Young

Witty, charming theatre explores what really matters.

  • Theatre
  • Entertainment
A collage image of a boy wearing funny-face glasses, a sunflower and a younger boy wearing butterfly wings.
Until 11 Oct

No AuDHDinary Boi

A work in progress; the person and the show. Does it count as a one person show if Dan's masking?

  • Theatre
  • Entertainment
Close-up of woman's face with pursed lips.
14 – 18 Oct

Hannah Camilleri: Dinner Hannah Show

Award-winning clown Hannah Camilleri brings her loose, playful, absurd comedy show to Fringe.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Mossy bird's nest balanced between twig branches on a tree.
Until 18 Oct

Design X Nature

An outdoor exhibition of artworks exploring how natural systems inform creative practice.

  • Free
  • Art
Juggler holding a silver object with lights in the background.
Until 10 Oct

Kozo Kaos: Juggling Rocks

A high-energy rock 'n' roll juggling show with the world's biggest rock juggler.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
A theatre production featuring three actors dressed in mid-20th-century period costumes against a dark, moody background.
Until 10 Oct

Murder in the Market: A Murder Village Improvised Whodunnit

It's Agatha Christie but improvised - in Murder Village, people shop till they drop dead.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A cartoon image of a chubby kid with ginger hair and a serious face on a red background.
Until 11 Oct

Joely Poley, Puddin' and Pie

A storytelling show about identity and figuring out who the heck we want to be.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
An exhibition space showing lots of light fittings, lamps, desks and ornaments.
Until 11 Oct

Forty Years of Design Fringe

Anniversary exhibition celebrating four decades of experimental and radical design in Melbourne.

  • Free
  • Exhibition
Comic magician holding a briefcase emitting a sparkling wand and playing cards.
Until 18 Oct

Best of Fringe Magic

See world-class magicians performing their unique and impossible magic.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A woman wearing a pink blazer, holding a glass of red wine, in a bubble bath with a rubber duck.
Until 17 Oct

The Manager is Me

A hilarious solo show about motherhood, mental load and nearly losing it before 9am.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
A distorted, dark painting of a figure whose eyes are obscured by a thick black rectangular bar, cradling a person's head close to their chest.
12 – 18 Oct

Hitherto

The inaugural production by Gen X re-born ragtags The Zof Agenda, described as 'Adam & Eve on acid'.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A squashed pack of cigarettes on the ground.
Until 11 Oct

Anti-Smoking Super Show

Smoking is bad. This show is good.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A performer wearing a dramatic sheer tulle green cape with a high gathered collar, illuminated by a vibrant green under-light against a tinsel backdrop.
Until 10 Oct

The Loch of Love

A one-monster clown cabaret tracing the life of Nessie.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Actors in red hoods holding a wolf costume.
14 – 18 Oct

RED

A dangerous new work by Rollercoaster Theatre about power, survival, and who gets to tell the tale.

  • Theatre
  • Entertainment
Layered satin fabric in yellow and pink with embossed pattern.
Until 16 Oct

Design X Nature Artist-in-Residence: Pastures

Visit artist Cara Johnson as she adds to her artwork, Pastures.

  • Free
  • Art
A person wearing a VR headset in front of a group of onlookers.
15 – 16 Oct

Free UR Head

Put on a VR headset with your family and become part of a living sculpture made of 24 people.

  • Family and kids
  • Entertainment
Drawing of a woman's head, leads attached to her hair.
Until 10 Oct

Ghostware

A sad play by funny people about grief and AI.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A woman dressed in a brown-toned school uniform straightening her long brown hair with a hair straightener.
Until 12 Oct

Isabel Mulrooney is Desperate

Relive a public school girl's cringe-filled campaign towards the ultimate stardom of school captain.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
Woman dressed as a fairy smoking a cigarette and looking grumpy.
Until 18 Oct

Rama Nicholas in Fairy Smut

Comedy, fantasy and romance collide in this hilariously smutty tale.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Japanese comic wearing a blue shirt.
Until 11 Oct

Work in Progress

Award-winning Japanese comic Takashi (Waka) road-tests new jokes for next year's festival show.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
Performer singing into a microphone, superimposed over images of home: a sofa, violin, window with curtains and plaque.
10 – 11 Oct

Ghar: Location Not Found

A witty, fragile story about the chaos of being human, heartbreak, music and love.

  • Theatre
  • Entertainment
Five women dressed like a rock band.
16 Oct

Queering the Music Video

Panel discussion and premiere of three d/Deaf accessible music videos from The Legend of Queen Kong.

  • Film
  • Entertainment
People seated in cinema seats with ice cream and popcorn, reacting to movies.
12 – 18 Oct

Cinema Club

Movie obsessed teens start a club to reenact scene, play games, and geek out over great films.

  • Film
  • Comedy
A man with a moustache peeking around a door with a helmet strap under his chin.
Until 11 Oct

Ubermensch

Joe Bilings is an actor and clown, and he's got something very special, just for you.

  • Family and kids
  • Comedy
A woman wearing a short, bright pink terry cloth robe and sunglasses smiles while standing on an outdoor balcony, holding a fluffy dog in one arm and holding a white pool skimmer pole with her other hand. In the background, a hillside town overlooks the ocean.
14 – 15 Oct

MILF and Cookies

A comedy and song smackdown of marriage, divorce, dating and smashing through the boys club.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A man in a red racing suit with patches sewn all over it, wearing a helmet and glasses with a cartoon godzilla in the background.
Until 18 Oct

The Year There Were No Monsters

A brand new one-man comedy from the award-winning Shane Adamczak.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A frazzled woman holds up a mug while coffee is poured into it, someone brushes her hair and someone else puts lipstick on her lips all while she's holding an envelope in her teeth.
Until 11 Oct

Everything Now

One performer, sixty minutes and an impossible list of tasks. All they have to do is everything.

  • Theatre
  • Entertainment
Three actors wearing beige clothes lined up together, noses bleeding and looking startled.
Until 18 Oct

Nosebleeds

A comedy-sketch show as hilarious as it is dark.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Performer dancing in front of a fish-eye image of Fed Square.
Until 18 Oct

Dhandha/Campfire

In an age of digital isolation, Joel Bray is lighting the way back to each other.

  • Free
  • Family and kids
Physical theatre performer Daniel Nodder with his arms outstretched and holding a pose, on a dark stage under a single white light globe.
Until 11 Oct

Only Bones: Daniel Nodder

Mind-bending physical theatre with one light bulb, and one jelly-like performer.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Smiling woman dressed in black T-shirt, standing in front of blurred garden background.
10 – 16 Oct

Design X Nature Walk: Home is Where the Nest Is

Explore the city life of birds with leading urban ecologist Dr Jacinta Humphrey.

  • Talk
  • Exhibition
Walking tour guide Deb Robinson, a smiling middle-aged woman wearing glasses and a large black sun hat.
Until 18 Oct

In Her Footsteps: Women, Crime & Justice in Melbourne

Walk Melbourne’s darker history through the stories of women, crime and justice.

  • Entertainment
  • Walking tour
A woman and man wearing clown makeup, smiling, with their hands around each other's throats.
Until 18 Oct

FU*K! I Killed the Director

Two actors perform Romeo and Juliet moments after killing their director...accidentally.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Comedian Matt Harvey talking into a microphone he holds in his hand, behind him is an illustration of an aeroplane in a blue sky, white clouds and half of the Australian Coat of Arms.
Until 18 Oct

Jokes About The Time I Got Detained In America

Satire and storytelling from award-winning comedian and writer Matt Harvey.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
A burlesque dancer doing a handstand with her legs over the back of her head.
17 Oct

Club Fringe: Tales from the Grave - ReVamped

Drag, circus and burlesque royalty rise from the grave for Fringe's campiest party.

  • Nightlife
  • Cabaret
Full-length studio portrait of a performer dressed as a stylised, theatrical pink clown against a solid light blue background.
Until 18 Oct

Adore Händel’s Birthday Party

You're invited to the birthday of history's most scandalous time-travelling songbird.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A performer with thigh-high red boots on a pole doing a deep backbend, framed by a blazing ring of fire in a dark setting.
Until 11 Oct

The Pole Shebang

The unexpected journey of a gender-rebellious neurodivergent tomboy into the world of pole.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A yellow hand drawn specimen container with a smiling person's face on one side and a naïve drawing of a smiling person on the other side, set against a purple background.
Until 18 Oct

Hand Foot in Mouth

A raucous, raw one-woman show and live DJ set by Gen Z's Mary Poppins, Bronte Locke.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Sculpture with black skittles and rope.
Until 22 Nov

Weaving the Everywhen

Step into a woven sculptural landscape where ancient clay and seasonal grasses unsettle linear time.

  • Free
  • Art
View of Melbourne from across the Yarra River
14 – 18 Oct

Guillotine! or, A Modest Proposal

A new show from Anna Piper Scott and Margot Morales, part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A person dressed in a formal tuxedo and white gloves holding a small silver tray with two whisky glasses on it.
13 – 17 Oct

Country House: An Improvised Comedy of Manners

Peek into the lives of 1920s high society with Wilde, Wodehouse and Downton Abbey, improvised.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A close-up of a bald man with a prominent beard making a wide-eyed, comical expression. He is wearing a blue, textured robe-like garment.
Until 11 Oct

Die Clown Die

Experience 30 deaths, zero enlightenments in this show from Benny Boot.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Striped strip of barrier tape tied between two posts on a lawn in front of a tree.
17 Oct

Design X Nature Talk: Queer Ecologies Panel Discussion

Artist Courtney Coombs and guests explore queer ecology and the role of noticing.

  • Free
  • Art
View of Melbourne from across the Yarra River
Until 11 Oct

Bruce

Part confessional, part stand-up, part fever dream aiming to answer the question, what is the point?

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
A scene from the play Bitch Boxer, featuring a performer on all fours, in red boxing shorts, singlet and boxing gloves captured mid-motion in a long exposure motion blur.
Until 18 Oct

Bitch Boxer

A fierce one-woman boxing story of grief, rage, love and fighting to take up space.

  • Theatre
  • Entertainment
Cabaret artist and vocal coach Amelie Peters posing in front of a pink neon wall sign that reads Pals in Pink, against a solid pink background.
14 – 18 Oct

Sink or Sing! A Sing-Along Cabaret

An award-winning singer and vocal coach brings big cabaret energy to Melbourne Fringe Festival.

  • Music
  • Cabaret
A person wearing a black suit and shoes seated at a miniature grand piano while extending one leg straight out in front, against a blue background.
Until 11 Oct

Louis Nicoll P*ss and Sh*t Piano Comedy Hour

Enjoy comedy and classical piano simultaneously from Louis Nicoll.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Three performers dressed in Regency outfits with fan, book and top hat.
Until 18 Oct

Jane Austen Improvised

A wholly improvised performance of a tale woven in the moment by the talented cast.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Cabaret performer Tina Del Twist on stage wearing a fur stole.
Until 17 Oct

Tina's Rooftop Piano Bar

Tina Del Twist lets her velvet voice and wicked wit loose with a bevy of dazzling guests.

  • Comedy
  • Music
Comedian performing with a microphone on stage, with Comedy Store signage in the background.
12 – 17 Oct

Robyn Reynolds is Better Than Ever

The award-winning comedy show returns to the Melbourne Fringe.

  • Comedy
  • Cabaret
Man looking through a TV-like frame.
13 – 18 Oct

Wrong Way Grow Back

A comedy about arriving at the middle of your life and wondering if you can find reverse.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Comedian Roisin McAlinden posing in front of a gilt-framed, shattered oval mirror showing her reflection as a sad fairy tale princess.
Until 10 Oct

Roisin McAlinden: Fairytale Ending

A funny feminist anti-fairytale using sharp and excruciatingly dark humour from Roisin McAlinden.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Dancers lying in grass, each framing each other's head with their arms.
Until 17 Oct

Break Down

Watch what happens when a group of dancers runs into a pile of compost.

  • Free
  • Dance
Man with dreadlocks standing in front of a kangaroo-skin artwork.
Until 18 Oct

Marram: Deadly Fringe Container Exhibition

Discover Marram, a striking exhibition by Iluka Sax-Williams inside the Deadly Fringe Container.

  • Free
  • Art
Dune-inspired image of a man wrapped in a yellow sleeping bag.
Until 11 Oct

Dune But Worse

A live clown parody retelling of Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic, Dune.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
Woman wearing an off-the-shoulder pink dress, holding a glass of champagne and winking.
Until 10 Oct

Gill Cordiner

Raunchy, relatable and outrageously funny, Gill Cordiner is not afraid to push boundaries.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
Moody, dark portrait of a young woman with shoulder-length dark hair.
Until 13 Oct

Colour Me Stella

A glittering music-theatre journey through heartbreak, reinvention and coming home to yourself.

  • Music
  • Entertainment
Comedian Kru Haralle in a yellow blazer with hands in her hair and mouth slightly open.
Until 10 Oct

Don't Screw the Kru

Comedy about moving cities, clashing cultures and finding home.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
A cartoon image depicting four movie characters: the Mummy, James Bond, Captain Jack Sparrow and Rose from Titanic.
Until 18 Oct

Lost in Translation

Famous film scripts put through an online translator a dozen times and read live on stage.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A performer sits at the top of a tall ladder, playing an electric guitar while below them, another performer stands facing away from the camera, holding the ladder steady with uplifted arms.
15 – 18 Oct

Ocker

Ocker is roving circus tearing through the streets on a portable railway track built in real time.

  • Free
  • Family and kids
A man in a white feathered cowboy hat, sunglasses and a white suit, with palms together as though praying.
Until 11 Oct

Tyrone Lovejacket Presents a Divine Healing Hour

An unforgettable church service you'll never forget. Led by the one, the only, Tyrone Lovejacket.

  • Comedy
  • Music
A theatre group posing for a picture with performers holding white face masks and hands on each other.
Until 11 Oct

Zeal

Zeal embraces the beauty and torture that comes with the innate need to create.

  • Theatre
  • Entertainment
A man with several birds around him and a toy cockatoo on his lap, against a bright orange background.
Until 11 Oct

Oliver Pol: Featherbrained

New Zealand comedian Oliver Pol is a silly goose.

  • Comedy
  • Entertainment
Comedian Matt Bell looking to the side with one eyebrow raised, holding a torch.
Until 10 Oct

The Ex Files: A Comedy True Crime Tour

Join award-winning comedian Matt Bell to unravel Melbourne’s most shocking true dating crimes.

  • Comedy
  • Tour
Two musicians and a man with a book in an orange room.
12 – 18 Oct

The Village Square

A show that combines live music performance and storytelling.

  • Family and kids
  • Music
A man balancing a sculpture of an elephant on his head.
Until 11 Oct

Toto's Song

A wild, tender, darkly funny new Australian play about legacy, care and chaos of being alive.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre

Only In The City

Only in the City
Inside a bustling market hall

Things you can only see in the city

Uncover secret rooms, historic architecture and iconic landmarks found only in the city.

  • Free
  • Hidden gem
A family of four standing in a grand library with antique desks, large white walls and a dome ceiling.

Things you can only do in the city

There's only one place to find these rare Melbourne experiences and secret spots.

  • Tour
  • Entertainment
Multiple plates on a white table cloth.

Things you can only eat in the city

Where to find the city's most iconic dishes.

  • Restaurant
  • Fine dining

Discover more

A group of older adults smiling and interacting at a table during a community gathering.
Until 31 Oct

Victorian Seniors Festival

Celebrate Victorian Seniors Festival with free and low-cost events for older Victorians.

  • Free
  • Festival
A person in a pink suit with a large headdress and heavy make-up, smiling and holding a microphone.
15 Nov

Opera Up Late with Reuben Kaye

A wild ride through the world of opera with a decidedly queer lens.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A train station lit up in rainbow lights

Melbourne's best drag shows and queer-friendly venues

Find burlesque life drawing, cabaret and the best queer-friendly venues in Melbourne.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
A woman with an outrageously large black hat dressed in a black outfit smiling and holding a glass against a deep red background.
22 Oct – 30 Jan

The House Soiree

An intimate evening of live music, cabaret, fashion, comedy and surprise at Piper's Playhouse.

  • Comedy
  • Theatre
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The City of Melbourne respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land we govern, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin and pays respect to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge and honour the unbroken spiritual, cultural and political connection they have maintained to this unique place for more than 2000 generations.

We accept the invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart and are committed to walking together to build a better future. For more information, visit Aboriginal Melbourne.

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