Step Inside the Kingdom of Mushrooms: An Immersive Sensory Adventure (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

A Kingdom of Mushrooms, Five Senses, Infinite Wonder and You. That's the name of the show, and in this immersive participatory experience at Melbourne Fringe Festival, audiences are invited to journey through five distinct installations, each transforming a single sense into a mushroom-fuelled world of discovery.

Jasmin Lefers, one third of Off The Spectrum, felt compelled to translate this small, seemingly simple organism into something so immersive after an introduction to a Dutch pioneer in the world of food and design. "It all started with late-night/early-morning educational sessions over Zoom," she explains. "Aaron, one of the trio involved in putting this together, introduced me to one of the pioneers in food design Marije Vogelzang. From there I put myself through a few courses such as Food & Design Dive. Being in the Netherlands the class times were anything from midnight to 4am. It was bloody incredible. Eye-opening, mind-blowing, and tiring."

"But one question asked during the course was if you could be one food, what would it be?  Maybe it was the late-nights/early-mornings and the sleep deprivation, but mushroom immediately came to mind. I thought about why mushroom, and the more I delved, the more I realised there is nothing a mushroom can't be or do. Medicinal, clothing, decomposing plastics ... the list is endless," she says. "Yes, they are delicious but there is far more to them than simply taste and smell. I wanted to introduce this to people in an approachable, entertaining, and interactive environment. Using what I had learnt and the visions I had, I went off to convince a couple of others that it was a fab idea to bring to life. So to answer your question, I would say that I didn't so much as approach the mushroom as the mushroom approached me."

a2 Company on going from Fringe Outsiders to Festival Firestarters (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

Not many Melburnians would have known a2 Company this time last year, but after taking home the Best in Theatre award at the 2024 Melbourne Fringe Festival for Running into the Sun, they’ve become a theatre company on everyone’s lips. Excitement is building as they prepare to return to the festival with their sophomore production, Motion Sickness.

It was an incredible season for the company, capped off by their win for Best Emerging Company. Toby Leman (composer and performer) and Ben Ashby (writer and performer) describe the experience as something like a fevered dream. "It still feels like a fairytale. I don't remember all the details from that night because it all happened so fast!" Leman says.

"Completely agree with Toby!" Ashby adds. "We felt like total outsiders going into last year's fringe. We started with almost nobody in the crowd and it grew steadily through the season from word of mouth. Honestly, it was everything you hope might happen at a fringe festival."

Crisis Actor review | Arts House

The performance space for Crisis Actor would be pitch black if not for dozens of phones lighting up the room. A cardinal sin in theatre etiquette: a glowing smartphone in the dark. Except here, it’s the point. In this interactive work, audience members are not just permitted, but encouraged to participate and engage with their devices, using them to swipe, click and scroll deeper into the unfolding chaos.

The show begins with the audience gathered around a large, ominously illuminated flower sculpture. Events leading up to a disaster impacting the world are recounted by an anonymous narrator and displayed on four screens surrounding the sculpture. Periodically, the narrator pauses mid-sentence, and options appear on our phones for us to select. These selections then pop up on the screens. They don’t change the story about this Flower Attack, but they help build the illusion of a communal experience, where we feel involved even if we’re not steering the narrative.

Listening Acts review | Melbourne Recital Centre

Chamber Made have long been shaking up Melbourne’s performing arts scene, constantly challenging and surprising audiences with what live art can entail, particularly in the realms of music, sound, and contemporary performance. Their latest project, Listening Acts, was a series of works - some live, some recorded - that reshape how we respond to aural experiences and technology, and how these elements connect to memory and identity. The three live performances in this program each carve out a distinct realm, yet together, they form a fluid, thought-provoking journey through acoustic textures that pushes the boundaries between audience and performance.

Aviva Endean's Tactile Piece for Human Ears is an exquisite meditation on sound and perception. Three binaural dummy heads, equipped with microphones, “hear” audio created via the custom ‘Hear Muffs’ that twist and transform the way we normally process sounds. These altered waves are then streamed directly to each audience member’s Bluetooth headphones. In the opening moments, Endean covers the dummy head’s ears, and the resulting noise feels like I'm rushing through the sky with the wind blowing in my face. It presents an invitation to enter with a clean slate and simply exist in the present as Endean interacts with the heads, generating a variety of sounds.

Night Night review | Monash University

Perth-based theatre company The Last Great Hunt returned to Melbourne with Night Night, a visually arresting, emotionally resonant piece that speaks volumes without uttering a single word. It is another example of the stunning innovation they bring to their work; in this instance, as we are transported to the vast isolation of Antarctica and probe the depths of human curiosity and connection. A bold, imaginative, and quietly profound story, it further cements The Last Great Hunt as one of Australia’s most inventive and affecting contemporary performing arts makers.

Co-created and directed by Arielle Gray, Luke Kerridge, and Tim Watts, the show stars Gray as Pip, an Antarctic scientist on a quest to uncover the origins of life. Her path takes a surreal turn when she encounters a lone albino penguin, leading to the discovery of a mysterious glowing entity, played brilliantly by Watts' hands. (Yes, his hands).

Hive City Legacy - Naarm Chapter review | Arts Centre Melbourne

Explaining what Hot Brown Honey does isn’t easy. For over a decade, they have presented feminist productions that span dance, comedy, circus, spoken word, and music, all while confronting racism, colonialism, and gender inequality with clarity and power. Their Hive City Legacy project has BIPOC femmes in the arts join forces to create original work that reflects the unique talents of each city’s cast.

Following earlier seasons in London and Dublin, the third instalment - Hive City Legacy: Naarm Chapter - arrives in Melbourne. Here, seven local BIPOC femme artists share their stories and voices in a performance grounded in genuine collaboration and mutual support.

Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett review | Meat Market

Bernie Dieter has taken over North Melbourne's Meat Market with her spectacularly electric Club Kabarett. It's an evening to forget our burdens and worries, shed inhibitions, and indulge in the joy and defiance being presented on stage. Before the show begins, the artists mingle through the crowd, giving a taste of the cheeky and saucy humour that awaits us. And once it kicks off, it is a non-stop ride of thrills and exhilarating chaos.

As our MC, Dieter seduces us into a night of revelry and debauchery. Her flirtatious, loud personality connects with everyone in the audience, and you can be sure that if she calls upon you, there is no willpower on Earth strong enough where you will be able to decline her invitation. But she takes care of us; she is genuinely happy to have us in the room and to perform for us. Her cover of Martha Wainwright's "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole" has us all holding our breath, captivated by her powerful vocals and potent message she conveys regarding the state of women's rights today.

Top 10 Shows of 2024

Another year gone, another year of extraordinary theatre created and performed in Melbourne. I only managed to get to 111 shows (the shame!), due to being out of the country for four months, but as I have been doing for over a decade, I must compile a top ten list.

I say this every year but it's something that deserves repeating every year: sometimes the show that you remember for a long time after, is not the big splashy extravagant piece with recognisable names and a huge budget, but the one that was on for four nights with ten people in the audience. Support your independent theatre makers and venues - some can cost you as little as $20 and can be the most original, inspiring and thought-provoking performances you might see.

There's already plenty to get excited about in 2025, so I urge you to take a risk, seek something new, unknown and different in the new year.

And here are my top ten shows of 2024:

Edging review

In Edging, Australian border control practices are explored through a queer lens and a smattering of pop culture references. Initially coming across as a bit of fun talking about getting into infamous German nightclubs and horoscope guessing, Edging takes a look at the treatment of refugees as they attempt to enter, and remain, in Australia.

Co-creators (along with APHIDS) and performers, Sammaneh Pourshafighi - who came to Australia as a refugee from Iran - and Eden Falk - who did voiceover work for the reality TV show Border Security - are a fascinating duo. It's captivating watching the power dynamics shift between them as they discuss the choices they have made in life that brought them to this moment and the moral and ethical implications of these decisions. The pair role play various airport scenarios, with a focus on the challenges faced by queer refugees during their visa applications.

Cliffhanger review

Writer Holly Childs and choreographer Angela Goh have spent the last five years examining the idea of a cliffhanger, both in its literal sense as well as its storytelling device that keeps people hooked in and wanting more. Cliffhanger is the culmination of that collaboration and while the commitment is there, the result is a mixed bag of impact and exploration.

We are provided with a copy of the script to the production, so we know ahead of time Goh's lines. In some ways, this plays with the concept of the cliffhanger, of knowing what's going to come but not knowing how it's going to be delivered or when exactly.

Running into the Sun review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

Before starting my review of Running into the Sun, I want to express how exciting it is that Nadiyah Akbar and Ben Ashby have relocated from Wellington to Melbourne and brought their dance and physical theatre company a2 Company with them, because we are going to be in for some amazing treats. It's actually a challenge to write a review that will do this show justice as there is so much to see, hear, think and feel, as this nine person ensemble take to the stage and through music, projections, movement, song and scripted scenes, explore how fucked up the world is while simultaneously leaving you feeling joyful and warm.

Global Smash Club review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

My first foray into the world of Finucane & Smith was way back in 2010 with Carnival of Mysteries. I remember the sense of awe and excitement as I wondered from room to room, seeing what magic I would come across. In the 14 years following, Finucane & Smith have consistently put on incredible productions that focus on love, joy, connection and community. Their most recent one, presented alongside the Melbourne Fringe Festival, is Global Smash Club, which is also celebrating twenty years of Finucane & Smith. Twenty years of this dynamic duo giving their all, not only to their audience, but to the countless artists they have provided opportunities to allow their "voices" to be heard.

In Global Smash Club, an array of Finucane & Smith living legends come together through musical numbers, burlesque, dance and live art. It's a combination of old and new but with the structure and style of Global Smash Club, even previously seen acts retain their intensity, innovation and exhilaration.

Burlesque and performance artist Imogen Kelly dazzles in a routine that might involve the most impractical dress ever, but as a prop it is simply divine to watch how it’s used and guides their choreography. Maude Davey’s cover of The Angels' "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again" is always going to hold a special place in my performing arts heart and seeing her do it again is a pure delight. The rest of the Finucane & Smith family, including Yumi Umiumare, Mama Alto, Zitao Deng, Xiao Xiao, Iva Rosebud, Piera Dennerstein and Kate Foster, captivate us in their respective acts and roles, and the sheer stage presence they possess as they move around the room and interact with each other and audience members is remarkable.

This Is The Dust We're In review (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

Goodness, This Is The Dust We're In is an absolutely delightful show. Hot Lunch research and investigate existing stories and narratives, and in this production, they have turned their heads to Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, referred to as "the most famous Australian play ever written", with its exploration of growing up, gender norms, masculinity and idealisation vs. reality. It’s a lot to unpack in an hour, but Hot Lunch make use of every second to cover this and then some.

Written, developed and performed by Delta Brooks, Rebekah Carton, Thomas Richards and Henry Kelly, the quartet present their analysis in three parts: Nostalgia, Growing Up and Dreams vs Reality. Themes, characters and passages are utilised from the text liberally and loosely that allows Hot Lunch to place their own interpretation of how we can come to understand such an influential text.

Enter an alluring bachanalian world with new immersive experience, When Night Comes

With much anticipation, Broad Encounters' new immersive experience is coming to Melbourne next month. After the record-breaking and award-winning production of A Midnight Visit and the recent, equally captivating Love Lust Lost, Broad Encounters are back with something different, something wilder, and something more rousing than ever before.

We spoke with the minds behind this upcoming theatrical adventure with co-creators and directors, Kirsten Siddle, Mike Finch and Scott Maidment.

 When Night Comes appears to be Broad Encounters' most ambitious and exciting project to date. Promising a unique, multi-sensory and intoxicating performance with theatre and cocktails, When Night Comes invites people into a tempting, intimate soiree with visions, sounds, smells, tastes and feelings to be met via its cast of sublime characters.



When Night Comes was born from an earlier work by Broad Encounters over two years ago, A Journey Most Unusual. "This was also for small groups only where they journeyed within a fantastical world where the senses were indulged and ignited," Siddle tells me. "I’ve often contemplated Hedonist and Dionysian philosophies and wanted to explore this more deeply in something that argued for sensorial pleasure and delight, both physiological and those of a magical and intuitive nature. Like much of our former work, When Night Comes, aims to be an escape from the ordinary, and an evening of marvellous extraordinary."

Hold Me Closer Tony Danza review

It's been over 50 years since Elton John asked Who's The Boss? sitcom star Tony Danza to hold him closer. Or did he? We have Friends to thank for this confusion. Queensland-based dance company The Farm have taken this malapropism and turned it into an immersive dance-theatre show with Hold Me Closer Tony Danza, where two dancers seek out connection and understanding in a world that is overflowing with information, and misinformation.

This work is intelligently presented yet retains an element of fun and silliness. A large gold circular sheet of thick plastic rests in the middle of the room, and running across the centre of it is a wrinkled gold wall with artists Kate Harman and Oli Mathieson standing on either side of it. The audience is also split, where they can see one performer and only hear the other behind the wall.

Peacemongers review

Bigotry. Discrimination. Exclusion. They can all go in the bin. We don't need them in society. In 2020, artist collective The People (headed by Morgan Rose and Katrina Cornwell) began to write about this. Along the way, a collaboration was formed with artists Sonya Suares, Samuel Gaskin, Kate Hood, İbrahim Halaçoğlu and Zachary Pidd, and gradually their approach changed from looking at what they don't like about society, to what they do like, and what a new world order should resemble, with a focus on inclusion. Which brings us to Peacemongers, an interactive, experimental, live art, musical theatre stage show that comes with dinner. Quite a mouthful!

Having seen this diverse group of performers (except for Halaçoğlu) in other projects, I was excited to see what the evening had in store for us. Hood unfortunately was unable to be part of the season due to interstate work, but she is cleverly kept as an integral member of the production through pre-recorded segments that blend in perfectly with the live performances. The group shares the challenges they have faced over the last four years, with references to covid and lockdown times and the numerous funding rejections they receive. They recall Peacemongers' evolution, including several working titles that reflected the nature of the project and the difficulties of creating a work that seeks to embrace everyone and provide a safe space for all.

Putting On A Show review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

How do you describe Alex Hines' new show Putting On A Show? It's about the trauma of being locked in a McDonalds freezer as a child, but it's also not. It's about being a millennial with ADHD, but it's also not. It's about the ethical and moral issues about fast fashion and online stores like Shein, but it's also not. It's everything you'd expect from Alex Hines, but guess what... it's also not. Perhaps the best way to describe it, is part stand-up, part sketch, part confessional but fully twisted and totally fucked up. And it's absolutely brilliant.

Hines has always had a magnetic presence, particularly as alter ego Juniper Wilde, but here, she pulls us further into her world. As Juniper she can lean into the bat-shit crazy and looseness and run with it, but in Putting On A Show, Hines is herself, and while she is still outlandish and over-the-top, there is a vulnerability present that's not been seen before. References to her ADHD diagnosis, childhood experiences and her family, while not exactly of a personal nature, strike a chord with the room and strengthens the connection between her and her audience.

Karate Man: A Live-Action Video Game review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

It's 1988 and Karatetown has been overrun by pesky goons. Luckily Karate Man is here to save the day. But can he expel all the goons AND get the girl? Karate Man: A Live Action Video Game comes from the ingenious minds of BEAK (Daniel Scarratt and Bruno Dubosarsky) where the entire story takes place in the style of an 80s arcade game.

The audience gets to dictate the narrative and all of Karate Man's movements, because as the show title subtly alludes to, this is a live-action video game. We are given a demonstration of the controller functions and then it's up to us to lead our hero to victory. Through some creative use of Bluetooth technology, when someone presses 'punch", the word is boomed over a speaker and Karate Man punches. If "left" is pressed, then the word left is announced, and Karate Man moves left. It's a fantastic way to get audience invested and engaged in the story.

Future Proof review

Every day we are reminded that the world is in a critical state of affairs. It can be immensely disheartening to say the least. However, with Future Proof, Gravity Dolls have found the beauty within the despair in a captivating physical theatre / acrobatics piece that explores what keeps us going, what got us here and what we need to do to ensure that we can remain.



The show opens with the performers - Harlow Casey, Tim Rutty, Karina Schiller, Nina Robertson, Cassia Jamieson and Easa Min-Swe - moving on a revolving circular platform as they each express various "what if" questions around life, death and the world. It's a great introduction to Future Proof, with their brightly coloured outfits by Rutty and Harlow's direction, where we see the gripping chaos of a world colliding with ideas and ideals. This is perfectly executed with the following act that presents as a sales pitch for more plastic in the world with breathtaking design and adept direction as Rutty walks and sits on clouds of plastic bags that envelop the remaining performers.

House of the Heart review

It’s inside the Dragon Gallery of the Chinese Museum where the heads of three processional Chinese Dragons that have been used during city parades over the last century reside. Symbolic of strength and generosity, and as we celebrate the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese New Year, it is fitting that Finucane & Smith should also have their cabaret House of the Heart staged here.



The evening is full of heartwarming and heart-wrenching storytelling and musical performances from artistes including First Nations jazz blues legend Lois Olney. Accompanied by guitarist Dave Johnson, Olney delivers loving tributes to her deceased family members and recounts anecdotes with Finucane about their lifelong friendship beginning when they were just twelve. Home comes in many ways and can easily change, but as Finucane tells us at the beginning of the show, it's heart and love that keeps us connected.