Melt Festival at Brisbane Powerhouse

Overview

Springtime in Brisbane is the season of Melt Festival. The program is packed with 120+ events and 220+ individual performances in 70+ venues and four festival hubs. This is no small fry festival. One such festival hub is the Brisbane Powerhouse, which is hosting a program ready to occupy your spare time in late October and early November.

It's an absolutely massive series with so much worth your time, but we can give you a little taster of what to expect with the Brisbane Powerhouse events lineup.

If you love a bit of Tina Turner, TINA – A Tropical Love Story is an ode to the late superstar, a story of resilience, empowerment and the transformative power music can have on a community, taking place at two shows on Saturday, October 25 and Sunday, October 26.

Hitting the Underground Theatre on Sunday, October 26, is Thank God You're Queer, a Melt Festival spin on a beloved Aussie improv show, with audience interaction and resulting laughs guaranteed.

From Thursday, October 31 to Saturday, November 2, 'serial nudist' and sex worker Frankie Van Kan will take to the stage for A Body at Work, an intimate piece of confessional theatre about 16 years and counting of queerness in the sex industry.

On the same dates at the Underground Theatre is Leather Lungs: Shut up & Sing!, a drag show that promises "one of the most phenomenal voices you'll ever hear".

Standup star Scout Boxall is also coming to town, with three shows between October 31 and November 2, promising a blend of " the finest and crispiest treats" made of material old and new.

In something slightly different, Mark Trevorrow, Rupert Noffs and Bev Kennedy will host three shows from November 7–9 of cabaret performances of songs by composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim.

If theatre is your jam, be sure to catch Helios, a modern-day spin on the Ancient Greek tale of the son of the sun god, taking place at Switch Room from November 7–10. There'll be an unforgettable show with Hans: Disco Spektakulär, bringing America's Got Talent! cabaret alumni to the stage with a live band.

Additionally, acclaimed standup comic and journalist Jessi Ryan is returning to Melt for the first time since 2018 with Functional Bottom, a darkly humorous and unapologetic exploration of love, sex, death and emergency colon removal. TikTok sensations Rudy Jean Rigg and Hannah McElhinney are bringing their Rainbow History Class to a live show, and drag performer Alex Hines combines absurdist satire with supernatural pop in Juniper Wilde — Demon Slayer.

All these events and more are coming to Brisbane as part of Melt Festival from Wednesday, October 23 to Sunday, November 10. For more information or to get tickets, visit the website.