2021 Dunedin Fringe Festival Programme

About Us

Erica Sklenars Projection mapping Fringe HQ Building 2019. Image by Kerry Hodge

The Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust is a non-profit charitable trust.

Established in April 2004, the Trust provides governance and contributes to the successful delivery of the various projects coming out of Fringe HQ.

Current Trustes: Nicola Mutch (Chair), Sue Marshall (Secretary), Melissa Parker Bentley (Treasurer), Inge Andrew (Trustee), Oonagh McGirr (Trustee), Domi Angelo-Laloli (Trustee).

The Trust employs a full time director, Gareth McMillan, a part time Administrator, and other contracted staff to run its projects and events.

We're recruiting for Amped Music Project 2020! Calling all school bands, performers and young musicians aspiring to get out and gig in Dunedin, and gain insight into how the music business works – your time has come!

AMPED Music Project is a free 7-week music mentorship programme that aims to encourage and empower young musicians.

We run free all ages, alcohol free gigs and workshops for high school bands/solo acts to play at. Students learn about how to organise gigs, manage their band and various aspects of sound and performance among other skills.

NZ Young Writers Festival 23 - 26 September 2021

The New Zealand Young Writers Festival is an annual festival held in the heart of Dunedin – UNESCO City of Literature, produced by the Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust and with support from Creative New Zealand and Phantom Billstickers, each festival includes workshops, performances, panel discussions and bookish social festivities.

Check out the website to watch video documentation of some of the past events.

White Box is Dunedin’s newest little gallery space, providing a window to the arts in Princes Street.

Aiming to support and showcase a diverse range of engaging and experimental projects, enabling arts practitioners, students, writers, curators and community projects to present work free from commercial and criterion restraints.

White Box is in a highly visible location, giving a wide spectrum of viewers the opportunity and encouragement to engage with the arts.

For information on making a proposal check out the White Box@ fringe HQ page.

Fringe HQ 26 Princes st, Dunedin

At Fringe HQ, we run the Dunedin Fringe Festival, the Amped Music Project, NZ Young Writers Festival, White Box window gallery, and provide support to the art community from our central and warm office space.

We also provide opportunities for young people to work with us as staff and interns.

Volunteers are an essential part of the Fringe HQ team and we recruit volunteers year round, but especially in January through to March.

The Goal at Fringe HQ is to share our resources and infrastructure with Dunedin’s creative sector. If you or your organisation are keen to talk to us about using our space, find out more here:

2021 Dunedin Fringe Festival: 18-28 March!

As an open access Festival we welcome all artists and all art forms. Anyone can register an event.

We're part of an international network of Fringe Festivals, and the 2021 festival dates follow the end of Auckland, Wellington, and Adelaide Fringe, which puts the Dunedin Fringe at the end of a potential touring circuit.

Artist registrations will be open early September 2020.

Please contact Fringe HQ if you have any questions. More information on artists registrations can be found here:

Fringe Benefits Card

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17 March

Opening Night Party

Get the Fringe carnival started with cocktails, comedy, and party bands.

a gREAT rAW

A show about war & all its greatness, a gREAT rAW is a one man, multi-masked musical debate looking at some histories of WW1.

Adulting... Are we there yet?

An inaccurate and irreverent comedy of surviving your twenties.

Fringe Advertisement

26-27 March

Adventures in Failure

Professor Helen Heels presents a Lecture/Demonstration in three parts with a variety of Extraordinary Artefacts.

Again! Again!

Two hapless clowns try their hardest to re-create a Fringe show they've only just seen.

American Refugees

Two happy American refugees.

AUGmented STRORK

A rare chance to hear a handful of premieres in one go.

Awardless!

From the director of Terminator 2 and Titanic. Tagline for Avatar. Got bums on seats. Don't see why it shouldn't work for me.

AYE E KARE WUU2?

A guide to Health, Wealth and Peer Reviewed life's style.

The Bacchae

An adaptation of Euripides' original Greek tragedy of power, gender, and morality, all through a unique Aotearoa perspective.

Bald Man Sings Rihanna

Ever heard a bald man sing Rihanna?

Bathroom Self(ie)

The Bathroom Self(ie) machines are conductors of conversations about shared privacy, private images and public spaces.

Black Box

The Black Box is always packed full of surprises.

BLUE Experience

What's your favourite album? You know: the one you play on repeat, know all the words to, and never get tired of?

Bondage Queen Sings the Hits

A hilarious kinky cabaret.

The Book of Mark

Experience Mark's fast-paced narrative - aloud and anew. Often surprising. Sometimes shocking. As fresh and immediate as ever.

Cargo Bike Art Space

Cargo Bike Art Space brings artists and art to the streets, cycle ways and public spaces in Ōtepoti Dunedin.

The Carnival ain't over - A circus rock opera

You are the choir. Freaks and misfits surround you. A King and Queen invite you to join a celebration. The power of love conquers all.

The Changing Shed

A one-man show navigating the terrain of boxing, long-distance running and floral art.

Charmian Hughes: She, Live from the UK!

Jealousy! Revenge! Obsession! Well, a girl has to have a hobby! Comedian Charmian has fun with vengeful goddesses, disdainful big sisters and the Colossal Squid.

Chris Parker - How I Felt

Chris Parker was the only comedian to be affected by the global COVID-19 crisis*, and he's pretty certain he's the only comedian brave enough to talk about it live onstage**.

CLOSE UR EYES, MAKE A WISH

Film screening and artist talk - feel the grass, kissing in the wind.

The Cool Mum

Even You Can Become Cool- The Jo Ghastly Way!

Crash With Me

Verbatim theatre performance that grapples with homelessness and its impact on the quality of life for young women.

Creative Keys

Wood, keys, strings, pegs and other bits of piano recycled into wonders of art.

Daddy Issues

A genre-defying show that explores feminist cliches such as 'The Patriarchy', 'Toxic Masculinity', and 'The One That Got Away'.

Dark Dunedin

This is a story about my Dunedin. Ōtepoti, the place of the steep points at the bottom of the world.

David Correos' David Postoffice

Returning for a third glorious year at the Fringe, come and see what David has cooked up this time.

Dayboy

A fresh, explosive, kiwi drama centred around boyhood, brotherhood, toxic masculinity and rugby.

Disenchanted: A Cabaret of Twisted Fairy Tales

I never knew I needed a raunchy, operatic 'Into the Woods', but I did.

Donna Brookbanks & Justine Smith

Two of the best, with a half hour of stand-up comedy each, this will be awesome.

Down To Mirth

Two of Dunedin's best comedians performing their greatest material.

Dunedin Festival of Women's Art & Music

A micro-festival celebrating Dunedin women's artistic and musical creativity showcasing a woman only line-up, offering a complementary alternative to other notable Dunedin Festivals.

Dunedin Fringe Awards 2021

The Fringe Awards combines a prize-giving, party, performances, and more.

Dunedin Race Relations Week

Dunedin Multi Ethnic Council welcomes everyone from all ethnicities, cultures and countries to gather together for four events during the Fringe.

Duo

Two spaces, two dancers, one hypnotically beautiful duet bridging the virtual and physical.

Ecstatic Dance and Sufi Trance

A journey of passion and love in the company of Dunedin's very own Sufi band Fatima's Dream.

Elena Poletti Reads

Lullabies and other poems.

Eli Matthewson: Daddy Short-Legs

A new hour of stand-up from one of New Zealand's best young comics.

Every Now and Then I Have Another Child

An inventive and heartfelt meditation on motherhood by author Diane Brown.

Exquisite Corpse 2

“unimaginable by one brain alone" - Surrealist poet Simone Khan.

Faovale Imperium

This is an irreverent show... not a reverent show, there is no place for reverence here.

Fashion Fwd>> Disruption through Design

Iconic designs from iD Emerging Designer Awards finalists exhibited alongside pieces from Otago Museum’s extensive textile collection. Experience couture that crashes through convention.

Fierce Love & Fresh Air

love, rage & a hunger for change.

The Glass Menagerie

A timeless classic of the American Theatre - complex, captivating and compelling.

GLOSSY LEAF kiss

Queer performance art: (using all my body) i'm climbing on rocks.

Golden Retriever - new work by Lauren Lysaght

Ain't it funny how an old broken bottle Looks just like a diamond ring (John Prine, Far From Me).

Happiness in 20 Minutes!

A joyously brief performance on being happy by that blind woman.

Happy Jokes For Happy People

NZ comedy maverick Dan Brader's latest acid tongued hour!

I Just Don't Want to Be Alone for an Hour

I just don't want to be alone for an hour. So I wrote a show. Please come.

In Plain Air

A drop-in exhibition with documentary short film on loop. In Plain Air is presented amongst paintings created in the film by artist Pauline Bellamy.

Inside James Mustapic

Head Inside the Treacherous Mind of James Mustapic.

Is This Thing On?

Stand-up comedian Rob McLennan returns to Dunedin Fringe with his pun-heavy one-liners, unbelievable anecdotes, witty tunes and very own brand of fake news.

James Nokise: Let It Out

Back for the first time in 8 years, 2019 Fred Award Winner James Nokise returns to Dunedin Fringe with his brand new show.

Late Night Line Up

The ultimate Fringe night out! 4 of the best comics playing the Fringe followed by bands and DJs until late. Grab a cocktail and enjoy the show.

Laura Davis: If This Is It

Dark, shining and brave there is no comedian better suited for an apocalypse.

Meow

A fun-filled feline-themed exhibition of outstanding original artworks and film – purr-fect for the family!

Michele A'Court & Jeremy Elwood On The Road

Finally bringing this show to Dunedin, it will be one of the hottest tickets on the fringe.

Midlife Cartooning

Ever wanted to be a cartoonist? Watch and hear how Di turned her random one liners and pearls of wisdom into a new cartoon series.

Mike Fowler & Rob Harris - Crowd Sourcing For Approval

A stand-up comedy show!

MOA Love Letters: Dub Dance Poetry@ DFF 2021

MOA LOVE LETTERS ONE WOMXN WHALERIDER TALE

Murder on the Dance Floor

A completely improvised show made up with the help of audience suggestion!

Neil Thornton: Honestly Brutal

The truth hurts, but it's funny.

Nick Rado's 110% Comedy

Winner Best Male Comedian Winner Best Comedy Show Dunedin Fringe 5 x Winner Best Comedy MC As Seen On: 7Days, Just 4 Laughs Sydney.

No! I'm not Australian!

A one- woman R-18 comedy piece, featuring songs in the style and atmosphere of a cabaret show.

NO SHOW4 The Cameltoe No Show

A ship of fools, cycling in a circle for mental health.

O friend, this longing...

An Exploration into the world of Nayikas (heroines) and their stories.

Ōtepoti Hip-Hop Hustle

The best Hip-Hop show in the South has become a Mini Festival. Aerosol spraying, legs pumping, rhymes flowing and turntables scratching - Hip-Hop Hooray!

Our Footsteps are all Entrances

Experience the music, poetry and light in this world première work, unique to Ōtepoti, composed by Jeremy Mayall with design by afterburner.

The Pantybag Collective

Walk Dunedin streets discovering 'panty bags' created by The Pantybag Collective filled with takeaway stickers and zines to amuse! Not suitable for the prudish. R15+

Passing Through

A play with a waiting room, an administrator and a group of people. The problem is, they are all dead - whatever that means.

The Power To Change Your Mind

- A BEAUTIFULLY STUPID HOAX MOTIVATIONAL TALK -

Precious

This is a show about birds. More than birds. The world. And our place in it.

Quantum Shorts Film Festival Screening

Quantum Shorts Film Festival Screening: The Finalists.

The Quilt Project

During this hands-on workshop you will discover the joy of creating quilts.

RAA! Random Acts of Art!

A theatrical sneaky peak through a window to a family's journey across the levels of lockdown 2020.

Ray Against the Machine

7 Days and Have You Been Paying Attention? star in his Dunedin debut with a brand new hour of stand-up comedy

Re-Cycle

RE-CYCLE will take you on a journey through the life of a prisoner exploring strategies on how to deal with the obstacles faced.

Resting Spaces; Shelter and Kindness.

Engaging in multicultural and community based narrative; this work invites you to take a moment to rest and engage in an immersive collaborative space.

RetrospectiveFuturistic: A Steampunk Adventure

An original Steampunk production.

rotor plus presents: fugue states --(something about something)

.-. / --- / - / --- / .-. / .--. / .-.. / ..- / ... -..-. .--. / .-. / . / ... / . / -. / - / ... -..-. ..-. / ..- / --. / ..- / . -..-. ... / - / .- / - / . / ... -..-. ... / --- / -- / . / - / .... / .. / -. / --. -..-. / .- / -... / --- / ..- / - -..-. / ... / --- / -- / . / - / .... / .. / -. / --.

Sausage Party

Sausage Party is a saucy, silly party for any kind of sausage lover!

Scenic album tour!

Part album tour, part scenic tour, part listening party. Hop on the minibus and let Band Sensations guide you into the twilight.

Sexwise - The Sneaky Peek

Sex education is not about 'boy meets girl' anymore. Be the first to preview Sexwise 2021.

Sine Rave

Thrill to the horizontal non beat of Sine Rave’s ambient experimentalism. Relax and drift off with us to the land of deep sound.

Situations of Trust

New Contemporary abstract paintings. Trusting intuitive art-making process... an elegant exhibition!

Sleepwalkers

A muse argues with her sellout human, the last woman on earth doesn't want children, an inept wizard pilots the first colonial trip to Mars.

Spectacle Presents: Spectacle

Six core artists exploring one theme through multiple mediums. A sensory feast.

Talanoa Mai Moana

Pasifika men gather to share their stories of regeneration with song and memories. We invite you to come to the circle. Ulu tonu mai.

Tea Dances

Premiered at the Edinburgh International Children's Festival, this piece combines dance, film and projection to re-house dance for a teacup!

Thief

A garage sale, priceless family drama and a banging 90s soundtrack are brought to life by powerhouse performer, Kelly Hocking.

This Piece Won't Change The World

- a couple who perform perform ... a couple ... of couples.

Time for Tea

Edinburgh's Cowgate Fire of 2002 unfolds as residents struggle to rescue each other. Discover what remains after a city crumbles, in this award-winning drama.

Tom Sainsbury Does Dunedin

Tom Sainsbury, a microphone, and lots of lols.

Tomás Ford: Have A Bath With Me?

Run the tap, set your screen up somewhere it can't electrocute you and prepare for a dance-pop extravaganza that will leave you feeling gloriously dirty.

Tony Lyall - One Night Only

Tony Lyall drops into Dunedin for One Night Only, bringing with him the greatest stand up comedy show the world has ever seen*! (*Potentially)

Too Many Dick Pics

Alan McElroy gets Too Many Dick Pics.

TWO

One night, One pub, TWO actors, 14 characters.

Unreal! Ewan McDougall paintings with Virtual Reality by Claire Hughes

Unreal! Vibrant Painting leaping off-the-wall and into Virtual Reality. Ewan McDougall and Claire Hughes.

Vor-stellen

Improv / experimental group blending motorik guitars and drums with ad-hoc electronics producing perforated waves of uncanny earthly sound echo-ing off the fourth wall.

We'll Dance on the Ash of the Apocalypse

Near future. A young couple living in a world ravaged by climate change face a terrifying prospect - an unplanned pregnancy.

Zero F*cks Good Music Zumba

Just like actual Zumba, but with laughter, and music that won't make your teeth hurt.

About Us

The Dunedin Fringe Festival is the world’s southernmost Fringe Festival. Initiated in 2000, Dunedin Fringe aims to bring experimental contemporary art to a wider audience and to support the work of emerging artists. Dunedin Fringe is an annual event which happens every March timed to coincide with other fringe festivals in New Zealand and Australia.

Useful Links

Ticketing T&Cs

Our Contacts

Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust
PO Box 1331
Dunedin 9054
New Zealand

03 477 3350

info@dunedinfringe.nz

About Us

Amped Music Project

NZ Young Writers Festival

White Box @ Fringe HQ

Fringe HQ

Dunedin Fringe 2021!

17 March

Opening Night Party

22-24 March

a gREAT rAW

19-20 March

Adulting... Are we there yet?

26-27 March

Adventures in Failure

25-28 March

Again! Again!

25-27 March

American Refugees

21-28 March

AUGmented STRORK

22-24 March

Awardless!

19 March

AYE E KARE WUU2?

26-28 March

The Bacchae

24 March

Bald Man Sings Rihanna

18-28 March

Bathroom Self(ie)

18-27 March

Black Box

19 March

BLUE Experience

18-20 March

Bondage Queen Sings the Hits

19-21 March

The Book of Mark

18-27 March

Cargo Bike Art Space

27 March

The Carnival ain't over - A circus rock opera

26-28 March

The Changing Shed

18 March

Charmian Hughes: She, Live from the UK!

21-24 March

Chris Parker - How I Felt

21 March

CLOSE UR EYES, MAKE A WISH

21 March

The Cool Mum

18-28 March

Crash With Me

18-26 March

Creative Keys

25-27 March

Daddy Issues

18-28 March

Dark Dunedin

18-20 March

David Correos' David Postoffice

20-23 March

Dayboy

18-28 March

Disenchanted: A Cabaret of Twisted Fairy Tales

18-20 March

Donna Brookbanks & Justine Smith

18-20 March

Down To Mirth

20 March

Dunedin Festival of Women's Art & Music

28 March

Dunedin Fringe Awards 2021

20-28 March

Dunedin Race Relations Week

27-28 March

Duo

24-26 March

Ecstatic Dance and Sufi Trance