Brisbane Fringe Festival 2014

Overview

The Brisbane Fringe festival emerged in 2012 with support of a few community groups, united in pursuit of tearing down red tape in aid of Brisbane’s homegrown creative brood. Now, with 24 months of fine-tuning under their belt, festival organisers have proved themselves sharper and more streamlined than ever, with an extensive selection of collaborative work, ideas and entertainment under their 2014 banner.

From circus, comedy and cabaret, to underground bands and eccentric plays, this year’s Fringe festival is running absolutely wild with acts. You can catch performers and personalities artists well-versed in their craft, or exercise some schadenfreude at the events of awkward first timers– everyone has to start somewhere after all. To kick off your Fringe experience head to the launch party at Zoo, get down with Babushka, Arandel and DJ Gaitling Gun - it'll be the best place to suss out your two weeks ahead.

If Fringe is meant to encapsulate anything it’s comedy, and chuckles tend to be the epicentre of most events and showcases. The comedy performances of this year span as much in quality as they do in generations – Trashtalk will be presenting the young up and comers Tom Watkin, Sean Maccarthy and Tom Glassey at Visible Ink. They’re still in high school, but have already made their mark on the Queensland comedy circuit, daring to get away with whatever they can because at 17 anything goes. If you want something a bit more mature check out what The Bearded Lady, Lucky Duck Cafe and New Globe Theatre have on the bill.

Last year’s music line-up for Fringe was flawless – between the Growl and Karl S. Williams organisers went and did real good. And this year’s selection of bee-boppers and rockers are just as dancefriendly. Josh Daveta’s Caramel at Best is an onstage, musical biopic that explores his battle as bi-racial human through a catalogue of pop, musical theatre, and even some Disney tunes. You can catch him at the New Globe Theatre on August 5. If you’re after something a little more sweet and dreamy, bounce up the Blackbear Lodge staircase to see Hana Rosa.

The whole nature is of a Fringe Festival is to showcase a spectrum of art, catering to audiences who wouldn’t usually embrace harsh sunlight and don’t have to thanks to the night time events. So if you don’t like dance, music, or comedy, and like trickling Darwinism into everyday conversation and have a Sagan tattoo, Avid Readers’s Art of Science is your Fringe event. Top-notch researchers Sarah Winter, Miriam Taylor, Cindy Nicollet, events co-ordinator Madeleine Radke, and artist and curator Melody Woodnutt will be providing a set of engaging talks that fuse elements of science at art.

Brisbane Fringe Festival runs from August 14 to 21 – make yourself familiar with the program, and take a chance with your event picks. You never know, he who performs in Brisbane one year, might just be at Edinburgh the next.