Timing is everything – the art of planning your festival and fringe schedule

For example, I had an enjoyable Shakespeare-themed afternoon last Sunday watching The Stage Awards 2025 nominee Forced Entertainment’s Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare – a highlight of the Adelaide Festival’s theatre programme. In one afternoon, I could see The Merry Wives of Windsor, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida and Richard III, each exquisitely delivered using table condiments in presentations of around 60 minutes. My day was then nicely bookended by a trip to the fringe’s Garden of Unearthly Delights (one of Adelaide Fringe’s big hub venues) to watch Shit-faced Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By the end of the day, I had come away from Forced Entertainment’s production knowing I’d never look at a salt-and-pepper shaker in the same way again, and from Shit-faced Shakespeare fearing for the liver of the poor drunk actor playing Hermia, which I suspect may have walked its own way back to the dressing room!

Those hours that were spent browsing through programmes were hours well spent

At the Adelaide Festival, one of the headline names appearing this year has been Stephen Rea in Samuel Beckett’s play Krapp’s Last Tape. The most interesting aspect of this production is that Rea had the foresight to record himself at 39 performing the lines in the play. Forty years later, they now serve as the tapes in this production. Meanwhile, the volume of clowning shows at the fringe this year – with many of them playing with form and often delving into a darker side of humanity – has created a Beckettian atmosphere in the Adelaide air. 

Such shows have formed a key component of my fringe schedule. Kinder and Niusia are two such examples, both exemplary works of theatre and true fringe highlights. In Kinder, Ryan Stewart – who gives one of the most compelling performances you will see at this year’s fringe – explores gender and queerness in a world where they continue to be targets for censorship. Meanwhile, Beth Paterson’s family drama Niusia explores her heritage through three generations from Auschwitz to the suburbs of Australia. Keep an eye out for both these works on the international fringe circuit.
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Adelaide continues to be Australia’s home for cabaret. In June, it will host its 25th international cabaret festival, but ahead of that, there are many performances to slot into an Adelaide Fringe-goer’s schedule from leading and emerging performers including Amelia Ryan, Libby O’Donovan, Michael Griffiths, Sarah-Louise Young, Millie Sarah and trilingual diva Skank Sinatra. 

At the Courtyard of Curiosities, two contrasting shows: Grandpa Poseidon and Dreamgirl, reflect the importance of fringes as places for experimentation and the development of work. UK-based company Wright & Grainger are premiering Grandpa Poseidon – a new work in development for young audiences – alongside their long-standing works, Helios and Orpheus. Norwegian clown Karen Houge is also trying out her new show Dreamgirl, which uses her first-hand account of travelling from Greece to Germany with a group of Syrian refugees.

I picked out this varied medley of shows from a packed schedule of hundreds of productions at Adelaide Festival and Fringe. Those hours that were spent browsing through programmes and carefully curating my show schedule were hours well spent, enabling me to make the most of my festival experience.