Adelaide Fringe 2022 sees a return to international performers but it is still very much the local acts who are putting on shows with French links. This year there is a heavy focus on music and cabaret with some theatre and comedy in the mix as well. Read on to find out about the shows with French themes.
CABARET & MUSIC AT ADELAIDE FRINGE 2022
Adelaide Fringe favourite, Louise Blackwell and the French Set transport you to Paris with an afternoon of French chanson interspersed with tales of Louise’s time in Paris.
With a four-piece all-star band featuring Mark Ferguson on piano, Julian Ferraretto on violin, John Aué on double bass and Joshua Baldwin on drums, Louise Blackwell and the French Set perform songs by the great artists of French popular music including Edith Piaf, Léo Ferré, Georges Brassens, Barbara, Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg. on this evening of French chanson.
Read our review of A night in Paris from Adelaide Fringe 2021
Baby et Lulu finally return to Trinity Sessions on their Album Trois tour. Expect a celebration of love, life and passion… with a sultry, sometimes outrageous French accent from this faux-French pair and their formidable band.
Read our interview with Lara Goodridge, aka Lulu
Australian actor and singer John Waters performs the songs of the iconic Belgian crooner, Jacques Brel.
Read our interview with John Waters
Disenchanted: A cabaret of twisted fairy tales
Why was the Wolf in Grandma’s bed? Did Sleeping Beauty have an opinion on consent? Were the ugly sisters’ feet really that big? And what does a goose have to do with the French revolution? Join vivacious Madame d’Aulnoy in her 17th century Paris salon, to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the twisted truth about fairy tales.
Adelaide Fringe 2022 will see the final instalment in the emotional love journey of Jacques and Madeleine as told thorough songs sung by Les Flâneurs Volants. Expect “more French, Quebecois and Cajun songs than you can point a baguette at.”
Read our interview with Les Flâneurs Volants from Fringe 2021
The first of a set of three concerts of choral music at Mary Magdalene’s church in Adelaide is entitled “Songs of Longing and Belonging”. In this 27 February performance, you can expect to hear choral gems from mediaeval England, renaissance France and right through to contemporary outback Australia.
CIRCUS/CABARET
Enter Blanc de Blanc’s glitzy, glamorous & extravagant world of vintage French flair, risqué humour, spectacular aerials, sparkling comedy and big dance numbers.
Rouge is circus for grown-ups. Michaela Burger, who you may have seen in her Helpmann Award winning Exposing Edith show about Edith Piaf, sings in French and in English in operatic cabaret style completing this line-up of acrobatics and tongue in cheek burlesque.
COMEDY/INTERACTIVE
A night of laughter as you learn an f*-load of your favourite swear words in French. Shows are loud, rude, and hilariously fun.
Read our interview with Arnaud, teacher of this French swearing class here
Read our review of the show from the Adelaide Fringe 2019 here
THEATRE AT ADELAIDE FRINGE 2022
Of Auburn written by Steven Oppes of Les Flâneurs Volants, weaves together the life and poetry of CJ Dennis. With the narration of WW1 nurse Madge Yeatman, the performance stirs emotions through theatre, poetry, personal testimony, live music and AV technology to tell the stories of Dennis and the women of World War I.
AND…ONE TO WAIT FOR
Silence!
Originally slated to be part of the Adelaide Fringe program, French troupe Les Commandos Percus will now bring their unique percussion, fireworks and pyrotechnics masterpiece to Australia in October.
For other events with French links happening in Australia and online this month, take a look at our What’s on in February 2022 article
Which shows are you planning to see at Adelaide Fringe 2022?
