The best theatre shows at Melbourne Fringe Festival 2024

Melbourne-based and First Nations-led company NA Djinang Circus has joined forces with Circa Cairns to create a work that brings together art and nature. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people listen to the land in a complex and distinct way, passing down knowledge through traditions and stories. In Place seeks to reflect on this ancient practice, as well as society’s impact on the land, through sophisticated storytelling and acrobatic skill. For the past year, local community members have been caring for a native plant which will now become part of the performance. 

Have you ever found yourself so deep in a rave that you’ve almost forgotten there’s another world outside the sweaty microcosm of the club? Well whether you have or not, this spectacle of pure endurance seems likely to impress and horrify you in equal measure. From come up to come down, expect a three-day rave condensed into just one hour – fast-paced doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Revolutionary technology and autobiographical memoir combine in this experimental work by poet, dancer and visual artist Melinda Smith. Conduit Bodies is an exploration of the relationship between the body, disability and assistive technology. Watch as Smith straps ‘Airsticks’ (wearable musical instruments which translate movements into sounds, visuals and text) to her wheelchair, challenging the boundaries of ‘dance’. 

We bloody love an original musical here at Time Out, and this one has been described as “a bit Mean Girls, a bit Pitch Perfect”. Perth-based Crash Theatre Company has infused the Shakepearean drama we all know with hot, sporty girl power and magenta netball dresses to boot.

This provocative new play takes on the enormous subjects of misogyny and domestic violence. Having previously collaborated on Runt and Shit, the powerhouse team of director Susie Dee, writer Patricia Cornelius and performer Nicci Wilks have proven time and again that they have the guts to skewer the thorny sides of our society. This time, Wilks takes on the role of Bad Boy, described by its creators as utterly disturbing.

When we say ‘juggling show’, we understand that might not immediately pique your interest. But what if we said ‘this show does for juggling what Tap Dogs did for tap dancing’? We’re talking high-octane, jaw-dropping, playful action. 

Ash Flanders is a prolific writer and self-described “theatrical nuisance” whose work has been produced by Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse, Belvoir, Griffin and more. This Fringe, he’s presenting an hour-long meditation on the dangers of your dreams coming true. More specifically? The dream of finding a place on Australian TV for an opinionated middle-aged homosexual.

An activist sets themselves on fire, but what drove them towards such an extreme act? Eleven-time Fringe Festival Award-winner Patrick Livesey (Naomi) returns with a new solo work venturing beyond the science of the climate crisis into a mind unravelled by its realities. With direction from Benjamin Nichol (Milk and Blood, Kerosene), this piece is sure to leave a deep impression.

Part theatre, part dinner, Feast is fine dining with a twist. The latest work from experimental theatre collective Pony Cam (Burnout Paradise) is an intimate dinner party centering appetite and excess. Expect live classical music, wine and to leave feeling full.