The Adelaide Fringe starts today, Friday 15 February and runs through to Sunday 17 March. It also marks the debut of the Mad March period in Adelaide.
With more than 1300 shows on at the Adelaide Fringe in 2019, it can be difficult to know what shows to see. We’ve done the work for you and have selected 22 shows with a French or francophone theme. Happy Adelaide Fringe festival!
Louise Blackwell, an Australian singer who has lived in France, will sing French songs and explain their meaning. She will transport you to a French salon where she and her band play. This show will be performed in different places on different dates during the Adelaide Fringe, including in a church!
Louise Blackwell & The French Set
Another show from the same singer and band, this will take place at the Gilbert Street Hotel for the jazz club that they have established for the Adelaide Fringe. Having lived in Paris and sung in jazz bars, Louise Blackwell knows jazz and French music well. With Mark Ferguson on the piano, Julian Ferraretto on the violin and John Aue on the double basse, Louise Blackwell and the French Set will perform the big jazz hits as well as French songs inspired by the period.
Johnny en Rose – songs of the little Sparrow
Johnny has liked the Edith Piaf’s music from a young age. In Johnny en Rose, he sings Piaf songs as well as telling the audience stories about his life. You can read out interview with Johnny here.
Under the Paris Sky Dinner Show
In this show, Georgia and Louise will take you to a Parisian night out. Georgia will sing well-known French songs (such as Piaf) but also lesser known ones (such as those by Zaz). Louise will make you laugh a lot in her role as the useless French maid. What’s more the ticket price includes your dinner or lunch!
We interviewed Antoine Carabinier Lépine from Cirque Alfonse when their show Tabarnak made its Australian debut last year. In Barbu, bearded men will perform amazing circus feats. Perhaps you have seen them dressed only in their underwear rollerblading the streets of Adelaide during previous Adelaide Fringe festivals.
We interviewed Antoine Carabinier Lépine from Cirque Alfonse when their show Tabarnak made its Australian debut last year. It’s a show which is quite different to Barbu – for a start they are wearing more clothes, but it takes place in a church and they also sing.
The team from Sips & Giggles is putting on two shows at the Adelaide Fringe. Wednesdays you can learn French swear words because we all get great relief when we swear but it’s not always appropriate… but if you do it in another language maybe people won’t even know! Saturdays are all about flirtation where you will learn the art of flirting à la française and in French. You can read our interview with Arnaud, who will be your “teacher” here.
Monsieur Bunbury: A Tale of Two men in earnest
The Adelaide University French Club puts on a play in French each year. Last year, they put on an Oscar Wilde play, also all in French. They had such a great time that they decided to put a show on at this year’s Adelaide Fringe. In this abridged version, the Oscar Wilde classic will be performed in both French and English. Go and support student theatre in Adelaide this Adelaide Fringe. Read our interview with the show’s director here.
Old Stock: A Refugee Love story
We spoke to you about the show which made its Australian debut at Sydney festival last month. Ben Caplan plays in this show which tells the story of playwright Hannah Moscovitch’s great-grandparents They were Jewish refugees searching a new life in Canada. This is theatre with a difference and where music plays an important role.
Luke is a wine expert, comedian and science student. In this show, he will use all of these talents to present the history of wine as well as answering the questions we’ve all wondered about. For example, why do we get hangovers? In this show which will take place at the National Wine Centre you can drink wine while learning about why it has the effects that it has. You can read our interview with Luke here.
Pierre Ulric, a Québécois who has been living in Australia for about 20 years, is an internationally recognised magician and illusionist. At the Adelaide Fringe, he is performing his show “Enchantments”. This show is for all ages so you can also make it a family event. He promises a fantastical montage of magic and fantasy and illusion. You will learn some spells, make some potions, levitate some objects, manipulate time and explore new dimensions. Anything can happen with “Enchantments”.
Born in Niger, Le Gâteau Chocolat is a regular at the Adelaide Fringe. He has just finished performing another of his shows, Icons, at Sydney Festival, which was well received. You can read our review of Icons here. In Another night at the musicals, Le Gâteau Chocolat together with Olivier put on a party which is described as a melting pot of musical theatre karaoke, of vaudeville, of variety show, of sing-alongs and of crazy costume changes. Go along to see this show from the Ebony and Ivory of drag.
The team from Cut Mustard Theatre are graduates of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq. The company has bases in Bristol, in France, in Norway, in Australia and also in South Korea. Through physical theatre, mime and clowning they create multilingual shows.
In this piece, it’s the year 2100. You have an unlucky human, an unbeatable heroine and a Dark Lord determined to have universal domination. This is an homage to all space adventures.
Britt Plummer is South Australian and founded FRANK. Theatre in 2018. She is a graduate of both the Adelaide College of the Arts and the Ecole Philippe Gaulier in France. She specialises in bouffon, clown and vaudeville styles of performing.
This show is a charming coalescence of satire, physical comedy and storytelling. It explores the dynamics of gender, stereotypes and social pressure.
Jeromaia is a graduate of the Improv Theatre Sydney and in clowning from the Ecole Philippe Gaulier. He has also graduated in improvisation from the iO in Chicago.
In his first solo show, Jeromaia Detto is a clown, improviser, educator and waiter. He will present a dégustation of delicious disguises. Bon appétit!
Don’t Do it, Don’t Do it, Do it!
Nelly is British Canadian but lived in Québec in her 20s. She has studied clowning in the Gaulier and Pochinko schools.
In this show, she plays Zuma Puma. Don’t Do It, Don’t Do It, Do it! is a clown odyssey of sexual catastrophe, an exploration of the different lenses of womanhood and our relationship to our inner voice, which she refers to as her inner monster. Nelly wanted to create a show which is pertinent to the women of today.
This is a show by a theatre troupe called The Latebloomers. They are based in Bristol in the United Kingdom. The three actors are graduates of the Jacques Lecoq international theatre school in Paris.
They’ve already performed their show Scotland at the Paris Fringe and this is their debut in Adelaide. In it you can expect physical theatre: rhythm, body percussion, singing, stomping, clowning and the spirit of Scotland!
Aurélie Roque is French via her father. In this show inspired by the Wizard of Oz, she plays a Kansas girl who will tell you the true story of her strange voyage since she was transported to the land of AUS as well as her strange realisation that her life follows an all too familiar path along the Yellow Brick Road.
You will be guided by evocative and hilarious tales, transformed into songs of all styles. Slippers are stolen, wizards debunked, witches squished and loyal companions found. After all, this is the story of life in a pair of stolen shoes.
Acclaimed internationally, #nofilter was invited to perform for a month at the festival d’Avignon in France when it was staged at the Adelaide Fringe.
This show presents a multimedia experience. It is choreographed by Dannielle Candida to reflect the stories and emotions of the cast who express their experiences of survival, struggle and loss. It is also accompanied by live music. #nofilter aims to normalise the conversation around mental health.
Piaf and Brel: The Impossible Concert
Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel are two French music icons. They sung of romance, heartbreak, hope and love. They lived lives full of dramas and passion.
Melanie Gall, the internationally recognised singer, will make you relive the adventure and inspiration of their lives and their music. Expect to hear “Amsterdam”, “Milord”, “La Vie en Rose” and others among the great French classics.
Intoxicated Man: Presenting the songs of Serge Gainsbourg
Mick Harvey is an iconic musician and co-founder and guitarist in a number of groups: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party and The Boys Next Door. He is also a producer ad member of PJ Harvey’s band.
In this show, Mick Harvey celebrates the life and works of legendary French singer-songwriter, Serge Gainsbourg. He will sing songs from his 4 albums of translated Serge Gainsbourg songs.
Mick Harvey will be joined on stage by J.P. Shilo, Dan Luscombe, Glenn Lewis, Hugo Cran, a string section and other special guests.
See! There really are shows for everybody at the Adelaide Fringe in 2019! What sorts of shows do you like? What shows are you going to see at the Adelaide Fringe this year?
