THE Newcastle Fringe Festival has become the most popular regional fringe event in Australia since it was first staged in 2016, so it's not surprising that this year's fringe will have a record 53 shows.
The 2023 festival will be presented between March 9 and 19, with most performances on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And there will be a broad range of events - comedy, theatre, children's theatre, music, dance, cabaret, burlesque, spoken word, performance art and circus.
The festival, which attracts performers from all over Australia and overseas, has 12 premieres: 9 Lives, In the Loop, Customer Service Conundrum, Are You A Boy Or A Girl?, Powerhouse, Ita's Last Dance, Strange Men, Kali Girl, Electro Lieder, Shifting States and Chicks Cover the Chair.
9 Lives, an adults-only show presented by Loz Budden, with performances at the Newcastle Comedy Club on Thursday, March 9, at 7.30pm, Friday, March 10, at 6pm, and Saturday, March 11, at 5.30pm, looks at a young girl, Loz, who goes through nine different lives as she grows up. She had been told that cats had that number of lives, so she thought it would be good for her. But was it?
In the Loop, which features Newcastle's irreverent comedian Eddy Rockefeller, who is also a musician, has a raunchy nature, and will create punchlines from audience suggestions, with one woman involved, one violin, and no rules. The show, for adults only, has performances at SJs (Sydney Junction Hotel), in Beaumont Street, Hamilton, on March 9, at 7.30pm, March 11, at 4.30pm, and March 17, at 6pm. There will also be a performance at Newcastle Comedy Club on March 19, at 4.30pm.
Eddy Rockefeller and Li Laurent, who just returned from New York performances, are also staging Powerhouse, the one-hour musical comedy show that wowed audiences there. It looks wittily at how women can become powerful in a world where they are mostly silent. The show is at The Gal (Gallipoli Legion Club), Beaumont Street, Hamilton, on March 16 at 6pm, and SJs on March 17 at 9pm.
Customer Service Conundrum, created and performed by Meg O'Hara, a Newcastle and Maitland theatre actor and maker, looks at the way retail workers are treated and the effect customer abuse has on their mental health. The play arose from her own retail experiences. The show is being staged at Adamstown's Brunker Community Theatre, with performances on March 10, at 6pm, March 11, at 4.30pm, and March 19, at 6pm.
Are You a Boy or a Girl? is a question often asked of a violently androgynous queer person. Frankie Fearce's debut comedy sheds light with sidesplitting wit and narrative based humor on her fascinating perspective as a Pentecostal Christian-raised kid turned raging fruit tart and queer icon. The show is at Newcastle's Royal Exchange on March 15 and 16 at 7.30pm, plus March 18, at 4.30pm.
In Ita's Last Dance, presented by White Noise Productions, nervous office workers develop an outrageous and ambitious new program following the privatisation of Australia's national broadcasting television network, that they believe will shock the parent company into putting the network back into public hands. Performances are at Brunker Community Theatre on March 16 ad 17 at 7.30pm, March 18 at 9pm and March 19 at 4,30pm.
Strange Men will take you on a mind-bending journey into the fast-beating heart of masculinity. Expect primal drum rhythms and shockingly good music, criminally funny jokes and edgy contemporary theatre. More of a gig than a show, Strange Men stars a unique blend of peculiarly talented individuals: Richie Lewis (Tumbleweed), Matt Houston (Ironbark Photography), Fiona Leonard (Blue Goat Theatre), Tony Jozef (Whale Chorus), cult percussionist Reuben Alexander, Joshua Anderson (Fabulist Umbra) and Helen Hopcroft (The Majishans), who has produced the show.
It can be seen at Newcastle Comedy Club on March 16 at 9pm, March 17 at 7.30pm, March 18 at 6pm, and March 19 at 6pm.
Kali Girl : A Love Story with a Dead Ending is set in a futuristic world where it's possible to take a test to predict the exact day of a person's death, thus, dividing society into two: those destined for a short life, 'Kalis', and the 'Long-Lifers'. What happens when Heath and Kitty fall in love and one of them has only five years to live? It features the live band - 'Band of Kalis' - and demonic dance. The show, written and directed by Ana Louisa Davis, is at Brunker Community Theatre on March 16 at 9pm, March 17 at 9pm, March 18 at 7.30pm, and March 19 at 1.30pm.
Electro Lieder explores what art song means in the 21st Century, as society is confronting a dystopian present. Leading classically-trained musicians Brieley Cutting (piano) and Judit Molnr (soprano) of Fragments Ensemble team up with experimental composers Mark Oliveiro and Vincent Giles to produce a wildly expressive performance interpreting the concept of 'night'. The show is at Hamilton Uniting Church on March 17 and 18, at 8pm.
Shifting States: A multi-sensory meditation on connection is a musical that invites participants to move between moments of presence, empathy, grounding and connection. It has 1.30pm shows at the Royal Exchange on March 18 and 19.
Chicks Cover The Chair, at SJs on March 18 at 7.30pm, has a showcase of local Newcastle female-fronted bands covering silverchair.
For more details, go to newcastlefringe.com.au
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