fringe festival - Whats The Show

A Bold, Witty, and Unflinchingly Honest Exploration of the Human Psyche in Musical Form

14/04/2026 Aunty Kylie xo

Initial Consult: Taking diet culture to therapy Rating

★★★★★

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Charlotte Grimmer’s Initial Consult- Taking diet culture to therapy (2026 MICF) at The MC Showroom is a bold, witty, and unflinchingly honest exploration of the human psyche. Grimmer is a graduate of NIDA Acting program, a high school dance and drama teacher. Charlotte has performed this show in Edinburgh, Sydney and the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Bursting straight through the waiting room, Charlotte Grimmer’s initial court-mandated therapy session begins-and we, the audience find ourselves cast as the therapist. This fresh and fearless musical invites us into a hilariously triggering session filled with tap, rap, dance, and masterful keyboards. Grimmer’s performance showcases her diverse vocals, sharp wit and impressive comedic skillset.

The shows engaging narrative grapples with mental health, diet culture, perfectionism and the messy nuances of how we cope. Charlotte works the packed audience brilliantly- making pointed uncomfortable and knowing eye contact with every “therapist” in the room in moments that are at once awkward, hilarious, and deeply relatable. One moment the audience squirms, triggered and defensive: the next, they erupt with applause and laughter.

The stage is set with minimalist flair: a chair, a keyboard, and a side table adorned with tissues, a plant, and a pot. By the end of the performance, it resembles the floor of a teenager’s bedroom. Each prop is purposefully placed and thoughtfully used. Grimmer’s inventive excellence is evident in every detail—every movement, and exaggerated facial expression, and lyric is meticulously placed—creating a remarkably clever and cohesive piece highlighting Grimmer’s inventive flair and keen attention to detail.

Sadly, Melbourne, Charlotte Grimmer has wrapped up her season and is heading back to Queensland. The MC Showroom is conveniently located near plenty of pubs and dining options and has a licensed bar for enjoying a drink during the performance —ideal for steadying one’s nerves before this funny therapeutic ride. Patrons should note that accessibility is limited, with 25 stairs and no all-access bathroom.

In a thoughtful touch, Grimmer acknowledges the show’s potentially triggering themes, directing audience members towards support organisations such as The Butterfly Foundation. This thought-provoking and playfully disarming performance will follow you home.

Deliciously daring, Initial Consult- Taking diet culture to therapy (2026 MICF) is the kind of performance that makes you laugh, wince, and reflect—sometimes all in the same breath. Side effects may include sore cheeks from smiling and the sudden urge to book a therapy session… or a tap class.

Love Aunty Kylie xo

To book tickets to Initial Consult: Taking diet culture to therapy, please visit https://www.themcshowroom.com/whatson/melbourne-international-comedy-festival-2026-initial-consult.

Photographer: Joel Devereux

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Coco: The Time-Travelling Tart

09/03/2026 Genevieve Hudson🥉

Coco: The Time-Travelling Tart Rating

★★★★★

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Fast-paced, a little unhinged, and riotously funny, Coco takes audiences on a journey through the raunchier side of historical events. Already known and loved in the UK, Coco has boldly come to Australia in 2026 to give a sneak-peak into what really happened with many iconic figures such as Napolean, Queen Elizabeth the first, and right back to the original apple-tart herself, Eve.

Typically, there’s the expectation in Fringe season that everyone lets their hair down and just enjoys some entertainment. Intimately seated in the Yurt of the Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum, audience participation is an absolute must rather than just an option, as your hesitation or failure to respond will often lead you to take a bigger role in the evening’s entertainment that you might have planned. A delightful combination of Clowning, storytelling, and character comedy, Coco feeds off her audience’s laughter, shock, and heckles. Coco, a highly absurdist persona of comedian Max Norman, is a self-proclaimed enthusiast for champagne and shenanigans of the salacious variety throughout her historical ventures. Joyous and irreverent, she channels Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous with her statuesque frame, blonde hair, sunglasses, but with a much cheekier and more devious undertone. Drawing her audiences in with her smooth voice and cheeky grin, she cleverly keeps them engaged through courage and connection as the show progresses. From collaboratively creating pyramids in Ancient Egypt to electing a new Pope, this raucous expedition across time will have you complicit in some of the historical shenanigans that occur.

While the set is largely minimal, Coco certainly more than makes up for it through charisma and movement through the space. The sound and lighting do play large parts in moving the story along, predominantly through the initial setting of each era and the all-important time travelling taxi. From coloured lights and mini torches, simple sound cues, dry ice, and apples suspended on string, these subtle elements only enhance the performer’s efforts in storytelling.

While the later timeslot may deter some people, it certainly ensures that no one under 18 will likely wander this way. With a couple of warnings and a maturity rating for 15+, it assuredly indicates that this is not the show to bring your family to – unless you’re all adults with a quirky sense of humour. If you’re looking for something fresh, chaotic, and queer this Adelaide Fringe, Coco the Time Travelling Tart will have you laughing from shock and hilarity throughout.

To book tickets to Coco: The Time-Travelling Tart, please visit https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/coco-the-time-travelling-tart-af2026.

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2026 HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening

05/03/2026 Rob McKinnon🥉

Heartflicks Charity Film Screening Rating

★★★★★

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Following its successful debut at the 2025 Adelaide Fringe, HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening returns for 2026 bringing together brilliant short films and one magnificent feature length film from around the world continuing HeARTflicks’ mission of raising community awareness of domestic and family violence to foster empathy, dialogue and meaningful community engagement of these issues. This year the organisers have expanded the number of screenings of the films with the remaining screening on Friday 20 March to include a Q&A session with the directors of the four films to be shown that night.

Curator Steven Coy’s international call for this year’s HeARTflicks gathered a group of remarkable films and the finalist award winners were:

– Tidal, director, Sofia Poli, Australia
– The Bull, director, Jevan Chowdhury, United Kingdom
– Spider-Zan, director, Maryam Khodabakhsh, Iran
– Football Crazy, director, Katie Harriman, United Kingdom
– All Three Counts, directors, Natalie Scarman and Aron Giagu, Australia
– A Perfect Night, director, Angelo Raaijmakers, Netherlands

From the earlier screenings audience members were asked to vote for their favourite film and Australian short Wise Words by director, writer and producer Louis Dickins was chosen as the People’s Choice Award – Best Picture winner. Also, the HeARTflicks judges chose their Judges’ Award – Best Picture which was won by Aphelion by director, writer and producer Steven Willems.

On the 20 March screening, Tidal, All Three Counts, Wise Words and Aphelion will be shown.

Tidal by first-time Australian director Sofia Poli, shows the consequences of arguments in the home and how the two sisters (Amelie Stone and Zara Rose) spend time to get away from abuse and how the abuse affects everyone connected.

In All Three Counts, which features Robbie Greenwell, Nic Micalakis, Vanessa Ricks, Steven Coy and Effie Dawson, directors Natalie Scarman and Aron Giagu depict the use of power and promotes the notion that those that see abuse should say something about it.

Louis Dickins’ Wise Words shifts gears for a lighter look at the power of simple conversation and how even a chat to a stranger on a park bench can inspire change. It features Don Bridges, Ani Priyo and Louis Dickins.

These are followed by Steve Willems’ intense Aphelion, which is set in a single room. The ninety minute feature stars Nick Drummond and Talia Davida who deliver superb performances as the darkness of drug addiction and cycles of abuse engulf them. The film is raw and confronting and Williems’s film making skills are outstanding as he brings the audience into the grittiness of the room.

In Australia, intimate partner violence contributes to approximately 41 deaths each year — the equivalent of one woman killed every nine days. HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening aims to do something about this terrible statistic in presenting these exceptional films. With the added bonus of a Q&A session from the directors, the screening on 20 March promises to be a marvellous night that all should try to attend.

Profits assist Zahra Foundation.

Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating; 5/5

HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening
Remaining showing: Fri 20 Mar

Time: 7.00 pm

Venue: Cinema 1 at The Piccadilly

Booking details: HeARTflicks Charity Film Screening | Adelaide Fringe – 20 February – 22 March 2026

To book tickets to Heartflicks Charity Film Screening, please visit https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/heartflicks-charity-film-screening-af2026.

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15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical

28/02/2026 Rob McKinnon🥉

15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical Rating

★★★★★

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15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical is being performed at Arthur Arthouse, an art-deco building on Currie Street with its ‘Avant-Garde Furnishings’ signage still attached (echoing its former function) which is known for housing innovative productions.

The intimate space of The Box Theatre contains about 30 seats and a black stage where, as we entered on opening night, a smiling St John Smith sat in a wheelchair dressed in an ill-fitting surgical gown with a bandage around his head, next to him were two seats with objects covered with black cloth – one was obviously a skeleton as foot bones poked out of the bottom. Behind St John Smith was a tv screen and books.

The very affable St John Smith (a forty something man) apologised for the lateness of the start and the handful of audience members smiled back accepting his apology. He further told us that they haven’t had time for a proper tech run of the show but assured us the tech ‘God’ (Oscar) the young man in the corner would help out. St John Smith left the stage that became black, we were handed fake microphones for the karaoke parts of the show and the performance began.

Set in the 1990’s, the narrative of the show is that 15 year old Elon Musk is recovering in hospital from a beating he received at school for a homophobic slur Elon had tormented a boy with. In the hospital room Elon is visited by the skeleton ghost of South African photojournalist Kevin Carter who became famous in 1993 by taking a Pulitzer Prize photo that depicts a starving emaciated Sudanese child who has collapsed in the dirt as a vulture waits in the background. Kevin tells Elon that he will become the richest man in the world and explains the things that this will bring. Kevin further tells Elon that there will be another famine in Sudan in 2026 and asks Elon to use a fraction of his future wealth to relieve the suffering the famine will create. Later, Elon is also visited by an apparition of his father and young Elon is perplexed about what he should do with his future wealth.

Interspersed throughout the show, audience members sing along karaoke style to hits of the 1990’s. There is a Spotify playlist that upcoming audience members can prepare with – 15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90’s karaoke musical – playlist by stjohnmckay.

The one-person show by writer, director and performer St John Smith is dark and on opening night contained a few glitches which would probably be ironed out along its run, if they were unintended, although they did add an extra appeal to the performance.

15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical is a highly entertaining show (glitches included) ideal for the creative space of Arthur Arthouse and St John Smith’s performance is imperfectly charming.

Proceeds from the show will be donated to Sudanese famine relief.

Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating; 4/5

15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical
season is: Thu, 26 Feb – Tue, 10 Mar

Times: 8.30 pm

Venue: The Box at ARTHUR ARTHOUSE

For more information: 15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical | Adelaide Fringe – 20 February – 22 March 2026

To book tickets to 15 YEAR OLD ELON MUSK the 90s karaoke musical, please visit https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/15-year-old-elon-musk-the-90s-karaoke-musical-af2026.

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