ADELAIDE FRINGE 2025

Adelaide Fringe 2025. 

Director and Chief Executive. Heather Croall Adelaide Fringe Ambassadors Michelle Brasier, Nancy Bates, Rhys Nicholson and Teresa Palmer. Adelaide and regional South Australia. February 21 – March 23 2025, Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au Call 1300 621 Buy online at adelaidefringe.com.au

Previewed by Peter Wilkins.

Heather Croall. CEO and Director of
Adelaide Fringe

“There’s no way you could turn up in Adelaide during the Fringe and not be aware that it is on. Like Edinburgh we take over and transform the entire city”  I am talking with Heather Croall, CEO and Artistic Director of the Adelaide Fringe who has guided the festival and helped it to flourish and grow financially and artistically for the past ten years. Flags flutter and banners span the main road from the airport to Adelaide’s CBD.  Victoria Square, in the centre of the city is a bustling hub. Buskers ply their trade in the shopping heart of Rundle Mall and the eastern parklands throng with visitors to the Garden of Unearthly Delights and Gluttony.  

For many years now I have reviewed this remarkable showcase festival of comedy, circus, cabaret, physical theatre and theatre, film, music, exhibitions and digital experience. Last year ticket sales reached the magic million mark with all proceeds Croall proudly tells me being paid back to the artists. In a festival of 1300 shows in 500 venues I am keen to discover how many Canberra artists will join the hundreds of local, national and international performers who come to the Fringe from Australia and across the world

Christopher Samuel Carroll in The Cadaver Palaver

“This year we have 165 theatre shows.” Croall tells me. “That’s enough for any theatre lover and the quality’s great.” The programme features ten shows by Canberra artists. Sarah Stewart performs two shows in the Comedy category, Midwife Crisis and Tales From The Other Side. Also performing in this category are Felix McCarthy with Hadi and Felix Save Australia and Chris Marlton with  Chris Marlton – An American Pope. Laura Johnston and Stewart also perform two shows in the Comedy category, In Flight Entertainment at Gluttony  and Untitled Voice Memo 1136 in the Hymn Bar. The Gluttony venue in Rymill Park across from the Garden of Unearthly Delights is managed for the Fringe by former Canberrans Elena Kirschbaum and Peter Karmel. Another former Canberran, Bron Lewis is making a name for herself and will be performing her latest stand up show Who’s Talking in the Fringe’s comedy heart, the Rhino Room’s Drama Llama.

Marcel Cole in Smile-The Story of Charlie Chaplin

Award winning Canberra artists Marcel and Katie Cole (The Ukulele Man) and Helen Tsongas Best Actor awardee Christopher Samuel Carroll will need no introduction to Canberra audiences and will be performing three shows for Fringe audiences. Katie Cole will perform her new show Kangaroo – the Musical  in the Cabaret category at The Laneway at the King William Hotel. Marcel Cole will present his hugely successful show  Smile-the Story of Charlie Chaplin and Christopher Samuel Carroll will perform  The Cadaver Palaver: A Bennett Cooper Sullivan Adventure.  The latter  two shows will be presented in yet another innovative venue The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum and the Cirulating Library of the State Library.

“We’re really seeing great theatre, great story telling coming back again and again.” Croall says. With titles like Why I stuck a flare up my arse for England it’s no wonder that audiences flock to Holden Street Theatres for top quality, intimate theatre shows from Australia and abroad. 

The Dome Experience

I’m interested to find out what is new and different. What experiences are new to the Fringe and new experiences for Fringe-goers.  Exclusive to Adelaide is the stunning Chihuly Nights at Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens. At sunset visitors will be amazed at the soaring sculptures by internationally renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. This feast for the senses will feature live music and food and wine are on hand at the bar. It’s an unmissable visual feast.

With so many shows and events to see, it will be hard to choose from the Fringe guide of almost 150 pages, clearly sorted into categories. But apart from the spectacular Chihuly exhibition there are two very unique experiences that visitors should get to. At the Dom Polski Centre in Angas Street, the Dome Planetarium promises to astound young and old alike. Visitors lie back in Bean Bags and get taken to outer space past planets to the soundtrack of Holst’s  Planet Suite. There is an underwater experience with whales at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. Another documents the lives of emigrants who came to South Australia to establish copper mines. Letters relating the stories of home sickness and finding a new life are read out. From Deakin University comes The Earth Above which goes through tens of thousands of years of history told from a First Nations perspective.

Sleeps Hill Tunnel - Photo: Anastasia Comelli

These exhibitions are also on during the day. “It’s good to have things on during the day that are not competing with things at night.” Croall says. Another daytime event that is ideal for families to experience is the award winning Sleeps Hill Tunnel. This phenomenal visual projection and installation tells the unique story of the steam train era that used the tunnel until the new trains proved too heavy for the viaduct on the other side so the tunnel was abandoned.. It was then turned into a mushroom farm because of its ideal climactic conditions. Time lapse footage will appear on the walls all around. “This is an amazing piece of forgotten history” Croall remarks. This site specific work, set in Panorama at Adelaide’s foothills is a perfect example of how the Adelaide Fringe can embrace all aspects of a city.

Sleeps Hill Tunnel - Photo: Jenny Kwok

Access and inclusivity are key features of the Adelaide Fringe. Croall is quick to compare Adelaide with its sister Fringe in Edinburgh. The Adelaide Fringe is the largest event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere It transforms a city as well as reaching out into the regions.

And for the thousands of artists who come to Adelaide each year to perform the Adelaide Fringe provides unequalled opportunities.  For Fringe goers Adelaide Fringe 2025 offers an unrivalled chance to experience the vibrancy of Adelaide at festival time.