If you’re one of those people who takes a glance at the offerings in this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival and just throws up your hands at the artsy overload, perhaps the answer is to just pick one location and focus your attention there? For the city’s southsiders, an obvious option is the So Soiree pop-up.
Returning as part of the city-wide Fringe Festival, the So Soiree Fringe Garden is a veritable charcuterie board of cabaret, comedy, circus and more in and around the Ukiyo Circus tent in Grattan Gardens, Prahran. Over the 10-day duration of the event, there will be circus from Casus Creations (Apricity), Martine Howard and Katie Cawthorne (Full Disclosure) and YUCK Circus (NAUGHTIES); cabaret from A Slightly Isolated Dog (Jekyll and Hyde); and drag for days, spearheaded by the perennially popular Dolly Diamond (hosting a Rather Large Variety Hour), and also including Leather Lungs: Shut Up and Sing! and Granny Bingo.
And outside the tent, in the Fringe Garden, there’s also The Farmy Farm – G rated and a family-friendly 50-minute tribute to the outdoor life.
Read: Melbourne Fringe cooks up a creative storm
Talking of family friendly, most of the shows aren’t particularly, but every act comes with age rating guidance clearly marked on the website – a great idea. Beyond the tent, meanwhile, there will be a special celebration of the 30-year anniversary of one of Keanu and Sandy’s greatest cinematic achievements, Speed.
Located on a genuine vintage bus plonked in the Town Hall car park, Speed: The Movie. The Play is described as a ‘shameless, hilarious homage’, with jokes aplenty. Though if there are too many of those at the expense of the internet’s favourite boyfriend… well, just let’s hope they’ve got their insurance premiums all paid up.
Discover the full So Soiree program and buy tickets here.
