MEDIA RELEASE • 2 SEPTEMBER 2022
Geelong Arts Centre is thrilled to welcome back Melbourne Fringe Festival this October for three nights of eclectic performances at Westend Geelong, running 20-22 October.
A proud Satellite Venue for the 2022 Melbourne Fringe Festival for the second consecutive year, Geelong Arts Centre is set to have Westend Geelong abuzz with nine performances of six incredible shows, celebrating artistic exploration and creativity through dark comedy, melodic storytelling and daring self-expression.
Returning for its 40th year, Melbourne Fringe is delivering a bold and boisterous program that celebrates cultural democracy by platforming more than 3,400 independent artists over 150 venues.
This year, Geelong Arts Centre looks forward to hosting six curated shows with a line up including the ever-so-sassy Miss Cairo, satirical genius Scout Boxall, the brash and brilliant Lou Wall, hilarious humourist Nicolette Minster, rising comic AJ Lamarque and the critically acclaimed Andrew McClelland, along with ever-eager accompanist Martine Wengrow.
Tickets to shows are on sale now and anticipated to sell quickly. Get in quick – limited capacity!
Tickets are available at geelongartscentre.org.au/melbourne-fringe-2022/
Individual tickets are available, or bundle and save 15% off full priced tickets by purchasing seats to three or more performances.
QUOTES ATTRIBUTABLE
“We are so excited to host the return of Melbourne Fringe to Geelong in 2022. By incorporating a unique catalogue of the industry’s most daring acts, we hope to provide the community with a tantalising preview of what’s to come for our creative city in the near future. ”
Quote attributable to Penny McCabe
Geelong Arts Centre - Head of Programming
To keep up to date with what’s happening at your arts centre, visit geelongartscentre.org.au and sign up to the e-newsletter.
For a comprehensive show-by-show breakdown, see over page.
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VENUE & BOOKINGS
All Geelong Arts Centre x Melbourne Fringe Takeover shows will take place at Westend Geelong, 98 Little Malop Street, Geelong. Access by foot via Little Malop Street or Moorabool Street
Bookings can be made via the website, or by phoning the Box Office on 1300 251 200 between 10:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday.
THE PERFORMANCES
THE VERY MODEL OF A MODERN MAJOR MUSICAL | ANDREW MCCLELLAND & MARTINE WENGROW
6:00PM | 20 OCT
An exuberant hour of musical comedy written for a cast of ninety, performed by a cast of two.
Andrew foolishly spent 2020 writing a full-length, full-cast comic operetta based on the musical clichés and ridiculous plots of Gilbert & Sullivan (but with the pesky sexism and colonialism removed). Joined by his over-talented, ever-eager accompanist, Martine Wengrow, they are determined to bring his musical vision to life, just much shorter and more reasonably staged.
BLEEP BLOOP | LOU WALL
7:30PM | 20 OCT
After a sell out season at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Lou Wall brings their smash hit show to Geelong.
Britney gave us 'Toxic'. Beethoven gave us Symphony No.5. And Ginuwine gave us R'n'B smash hit, 'Pony'. Now multi-award winner Lou Wall brings you their magnum opus, a pop-culture comedy album about life’s biggest BLEEPS and smallest bloops.
A raucous night of pop bangers, high energy meta-comedy, breathtaking ballads and gossip. This album launch will have you screlting all the way homo. So cut your nails, hydrate and be gay. Wall is officially making musical comedy cool again.
NET WORTH | NICOLETTE MINSTER
9:00PM | 20 OCT
According to NetWorthRanks.com, Nicolette Minster is a 6ft, 29 year old worth $15mil. Except she’s not. She’s a 38 year old who shops in the same Woolies she used to work in and whose career highlight was starring featuring alongside Meryl Streep at age three. But what is the bot generated life is living the life that was meant for … well … Nicolette?
Net Worth is “Who Do You Think You Are?” meets 90s blockbuster “The Net” in a story about online alter egos and sliding into the DM’s of complete strangers.
Created and performed by Nicolette Minster and Directed by Sammy J.
ENGLISH BREAKFAST | AJ LAMARQUE
6:00PM | 21 & 22 OCT
We’ve all been there. The water’s boiled. Everyone is waiting. And in that moment, you ask yourself, do I have what it takes to make the perfect cup of tea?
Join AJ Lamarque in an uplifting and sentimental comedy show that tries to figure out what it means to be perfect in an imperfect world through AJ's own journey as a Mixed Raced/Queer human.
You'll love it if you've ever felt like you've never fit within the mainstream. You'll connect deeply if you're Mixed Raced, a Person of Colour and/or Queer. You'll hate it if you've ever said, "comedians can't say anything anymore!".
BUCK WILD | SCOUT BOXALL
7:30PM | 21 & 22 OCT
Melbourne-based legend and Fringe favourite Scout Boxall brings their trademark manic energy to Geelong for the very first time with the critically acclaimed Buck Wild, a show that offers a peek inside their glitching, shimmering, elastic bipolar brain.
The show swings between darkly funny stories of Scout's teenage stint in a psychiatric ward, a PowerPoint presentation ranking Arnott's Assorted Creams, their unlikely fanatic love for Formula 1 and why dolphins are the perfect partner for men past their sexual prime.
Directed by Michelle Brasier, Buck Wild is an immersive hour of carefully organised cerebral chaos with interwoven stand up and original songs that defies genre, gender, common sense and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.
BREASTS BECOME HER | MISS CAIRO
9:00PM | 21 & 22 OCT
Green Room Award Winner, Miss Cairo puts her breast foot forward to create her first ever solo show, all about her newly formed boobs.
Exploring her relationship between with her femininity since transitioning from a UK drag superstar, to an Aussie cabaret trans icon, singing a mix of original songs and classic belters; breasts exposed and begging the question of “When do I become a Woman?”
Confident, self-assured and for-the-lols delirious, Miss Cairo makes work about her intersecting communities, popular culture and her boobs. If you like self-aware iconic 80’s films with leading ladies, trans rights and reparations you will love the show and come away questioning your own relationship to who you are.