The Fringe Festival is an annual arts festival that takes place in Sydney, Australia. From February 1st to March 31st (or until it reaches 100 performances), the city comes alive with music and art from a variety of genres!
Sydneysiders are coming together for the annual Fringe Festival that celebrates all things weird and wacky! The catchphrase “go weird or go home” is an ongoing mantra with a wide range of independent artists showcasing their unique talents across 340 shows featuring music, theatre, comedy performances, visual art exhibitions. With so many different categories to choose from there’s something here for everyone who wants to get into some mischief in September.
The Importance Fringe Festival
The first fringe fest was in September of 2010 making it 10 years ago that Sydneysiders could enjoy an alternative arts event outside the mainstream. Over those last 10 years, success has grown exponentially with more than 3 million people attending each year! With such incredible attendance rates for something so unique, there are boundless possibilities on what can happen next as we enter into our 11th season!
In 2008 when Australians were dealing with one of their worst recessions since WWII Sydney theatre-goers had yet another reason to rejoice: large scale outdoor performance art festivals designed specifically for free public enjoyment.
Our Top Picks for Sydney’s Fringe Festival
Matriarch – Sandy Wood
Sandy Greenwood’s one-woman show is a captivating, powerful mix of music, history, dance and the spoken word. Beginning from her family’s story back in WWII to how she became an Aboriginal woman who speaks for them all by telling their tale with raw emotion through songs that are both hauntingly beautiful and profoundly sad; this performance will entertain as it educates you about local Indigenous culture without sugarcoating what life was like at times under colonial rule.
Shaun McGrath Wig Exhibition
Wigs are usually put on the head to replace hair that is lost from illness, medical treatments or a trauma. Shaun McGrath’s pop-up wig exhibition at Broadway Shopping Centre showcases these artistic creations in celebration of his craft and skill as a hairdresser while also highlighting sustainability through recycled materials.
Fringe Ignite: Festival Opening Party
The Sydney Fringe Festival is a fantastic way to experience the city with so many different events and performers. The opening festivities always start out big by shutting down an entire block for the celebration where you can find DJs, alternative bands, pop performances and more! There are multiple venues involved in this festival which means there’s never a dull moment here at all times of day or night. You’ll want to take advantage of our map on our website that will show exactly what each venue has going on during any given time slot because if we have it your bound not miss anything special happening throughout the evening.
Silent Theatre
Travelers beware: with only one ticket, you can see a show in four different places. The Silent Theatre is an immersive theatre experience that features 4 groups of playwrights who each are told to write a scene matching the scenary and put it on display for audiences at neighboring hotel rooms, streets below or even opposite balconies. You may be shocked by what secrets lie beneath this unusual performance – grab your pair of Bluetooth headphones and revel in the mystery!
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