The Best Shows, Installations and Parties to Get Amongst at Melbourne Fringe 2018

Have you always dreamed of having your name in lights, your face on a billboard, people screaming out your name? Usually you’d have to become mega famous to get anywhere near that level of fanfare — but at this year’s Melbourne Fringe, you could get your 15 minutes of fame for very little work.

This September, an ordinary Melburnian will become they city’s latest celebrity in this bold and ambitious new real-world performance work from art collective Field Theory. The person — picked at random from a lottery — will have their face on the digital facade at Federation Square every day during the festival, taking the public into the lives of the mysterious individual. The piece is designed to build an icon from the ground up. ICON will come to a head on the final day of the festival, with a special finale event where you’ll be able to do everything from eat the icon’s favourite food to dance to their favourite music.

The meat industry is on the chopping block in this thought-provoking dance piece at the this year’s Melbourne Fringe. Presented by New Zealand company Dance Plant Collective in collaboration with Dutch choreographer Tui Hofmann, MEAT invites audiences to chew on the social and environmental implications of meat consumption through the medium of contemporary dance and physical theatre. Hope you’re feeling hungry.

Dance Plant won the Best Newcomer Award at the Auckland Fringe Festival back in March, and will stage the show in Melbourne for three nights only on September 28, 29 and 30.

Punch out of your full-time job for the day and cast your ballot in this cheeky public poll installation from American artist Steve Lambert. Having previously taken over public spaces across the United States and Europe — including a stint in New York City’s Times Square — Capitalism Works for Me! True/False asks visitors to mull the pros and cons of capitalism and then answer a simple question.

The installation will be set up at four public places over the duration of Melbourne Fringe. A live running tally will be displayed on Lambert’s large LED scoreboard, tracking how we all feel about the system that runs…well, pretty much every aspect of our lives.

The Passion Pop will be flowing on this very special night, as Melbourne Fringe invites you to relive your Year 10 formal. Hosted by Golden Gibbo-nominated comedy duo Michelle Brasier and Laura Frew (aka Double Denim), this free Fringe Hub shindig will take festival-goers back in time to an era of ill-fitting tuxes and emo dance tunes.

Earlier this year, the duo threw it back to the noughties with their hilarious Denim Adventure Show, and now they’re heading back even further — to the halcyon days of the eighties and nineties. OK, maybe your teens weren’t the ‘halcyon days’, but the tunes were certainly on-point, and there’ll be plenty of bangers at this high school formal, spun by DJ Barnie Duncan. So fire up your old MSN account and ask your crush to be on your arm. Just don’t party too hard. It is a school night, after all.

In 2013, after 17 years on the air, Richard Mercer played his final love song dedication. Now, Tom Hogan and Bonnie Leigh-Dodds are picking up where the Love God left off. Billed as equal parts lecture, dance party and late-night cab ride home, Love Song Dedications (without Richard Mercer) is the ultimate love letter to a broadcasting icon, as Bonnie and Tom duke it out in their quest to find the perfect ballad. The pair also host a podcast on the subject. So, if nothing else, you know they’re qualified to comment on it.

One of the most intriguing cabaret shows at this year’s Melbourne Fringe comes courtesy of acclaimed performer Selina Jenkins. Best known as the creator of Beau Heartbreaker, Jenkins has a pair of Green Room Awards to her name as well as Best Show gongs from Melbourne and Adelaide Fringes gone by. This time around, she’s concocted a dark comedy based on the true story of two women who were driven from their home in rural Victoria during the recent postal vote on marriage equality. Thy Neighbour will premiere at the Hare Hole before crossing over to the Fringe Festival Hub.

Run to the Melbourne Fringe Hub for this late-night celebration of the music of Whitney Houston. Taking over Arts House in North Melbourne on Friday, September 21 in the middle of the festival, Queen of the Night will see a bevy of local performers — including Mz Rizk, Mama Alto, Shamita Siva, Jennifer Vuletic and the cast of Lou Wall’s Drag Race — pay tribute to the legendary singer with unique takes on her iconic music. Best of all, it’s free. Have a boogie, feel the heat, and make the most of this one moment in time. The party doesn’t kick off until 10pm, so you can even sneak in a Fringe show beforehand.

One of the big hits of this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival is back in town for Melbourne Fringe. Featuring some of the city’s best improvisers, Completely Improvised Potter delivers exactly what it promises, building on suggestions from the audience to tell the story of a typical year at Hogwarts. Naturally, things go off the rails almost immediately. Will our plucky heroes do battle with a horde of Hippogriffs, or defend their honour on the Quidditch pitch against a rival wizarding school? No two shows are the same, but one thing’s for certain: there’s always magic.