Adore Händel is celebrating their 269th birthday — and you simply must not miss the festivities.
Spanning centuries of ill-advised romances, electric chemistry, and the occasional catastrophic misjudgement, Adore has lived, loved, and documented it all in their legendary Little Black Book. Volume Three was to be the centrepiece of this evening’s festivities — a glittering collection of the most scandalous tales yet. There is, however, a slight complication…
Join Adore and their long-suffering assistant Peter for the most chaotic, glamorous, and surprisingly moving birthday party you’ll ever attend — complete with operatic vocals, baroque camp, and a burning question.
Part cabaret. Part whodunnit. All fabulous.
Adore Händel’s Birthday Party: Little Black Book Vol. 3 is the third installment of the award-winning drag cabaret series beloved by Melbourne Fringe audiences for its unique blend of classical music, theatrical storytelling, and absolutely zero shame.
Dress appropriately. Bring a gift. Tell no one what you witness.
★★★★★ “One of the funniest sixty minutes you will spend at the fringe.” — Barry Hill OAM, Stage Whispers
★★★★★ “A glittering humorous show with a message which is stunningly performed.” — Rob McKinnon, Glam Adelaide
★★★★★ “Formidable, fabulous and fearless.” — Lilithia Reviews
ACCOLADES
Adelaide Fringe 2026 Weekly Award — Best of Cabaret
Fringe World 2026 Weekly Award
Melbourne Fringe 2025 Nominated Best in Cabaret | Judges’ Pick
SESSIONS — FESTIVAL HUB: TRADES HALL, ARCHIVE ROOM
AUSTRALIAN-BORN DRACULA EXPANDS TO 65 PERFORMANCES ACROSS SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE
Fresh from sold-out international seasons, BIG Live brings its Brisbane-born global success back to Melbourne and Sydney, across 65 performances. Following sold-out seasons in London’s West End and the United States, and a record-breaking tour across Australia and New Zealand in 2025, BIG Live’s critically acclaimed Dracula: Ballet at its Darkest will return home for 65 performances across Sydney and Melbourne: 35 in Melbourne and 30 in Sydney.
The Australian-born production will play 35 performances at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, from 10 September to 25 October 2026, alongside two Sydney engagements: eight performances at the State Theatre from 22 to 27 September, followed, due to overwhelming demand, by 22 additional performances at the Capitol Theatre from 7 to 29 November 2026.
The Capitol Theatre extension adds 22 performances to the originally announced eight-show State Theatre engagement, taking Dracula’s Sydney season to 30 performances in total. It will also return a major production to dates made available after the cancellation of Beetlejuice: The Musical’s Sydney season, supporting work for artists, technicians, venue teams and the wider live-performance economy.
The additional Sydney performances have been welcomed by Foundation Theatres, with Chief Executive Graeme Kearns placing the expansion in the context of the wider pressures facing the Australian live performance sector. “The industry relies on producers with the confidence to invest, adapt and continue bringing ambitious works to our stages. It is particularly significant to see an Australian founded company developing work here, building an international audience for it and then bringing that success home. Productions of this scale sustain artists, musicians, technicians and theatre workers, while giving audiences compelling reasons to experience great live performances. We are delighted to welcome BIG Live back to the Capitol Theatre with Dracula”
In Melbourne, the season also marks BIG Live’s return to Her Majesty’s Theatre during the venue’s 140th anniversary year. “In our 140th year of proudly entertaining Melbourne audiences, Her Majesty’s Theatre is delighted to welcome BIG Live back to our stage with Dracula: Ballet at its Darkest. We are proud to present an Australian-created production that has grown into a genuine international success, performing on major stages across the United Kingdom, the United States, Asia and Australasia. Its bold storytelling, exceptional artists and impressive theatrical scale make it a particularly exciting production to welcome back to Melbourne.” Quan Tu, Chief Operating Officer, Her Majesty’s Theatre
For BIG Live, the 65-performance return is part of a wider story of Australian investment and international growth. Founded in Brisbane and operating without government funding, the independent company is on track to sell more than 400,000 tickets across its productions in 2026, with more than 200,000 people expected to see Dracula during its 2026 international tour alone. “There’s no question the touring landscape is challenging right now, but there is also real cause for confidence. The response to Dracula – both across Australia and on major international stages – shows that when work genuinely resonates with people, the demand is there. We are proud to support Australian talent and to prove that Australian-led productions can hold their own anywhere in the world. As an independent company, we have built BIG Live around audience demand, long-term employment and the confidence to move quickly when opportunities arise.” — Khalid Tarabay, Executive Director and Co-founder, BIG Live
For Artistic Director and Co-founder Joel Burke, the Australian seasons are also a creative homecoming for a production developed in Brisbane and now established on major international stages. “Dracula was created in Brisbane with the belief that ballet can deliver the same emotional intensity, scale and excitement as any major theatrical production. We wanted to create something cinematic, immediate and unapologetically theatrical – an experience that could connect with devoted ballet audiences while also bringing people into the theatre who may never previously have considered seeing a ballet. To see an Australian-created production welcomed by audiences in London, the United States and Asia, and now returning for these major seasons at home, is enormously rewarding.” — Joel Burke, Artistic Director, Choreographer and Co-founder, BIG Live
BALLET AT ITS DARKEST
Choreographed by BIG Live Artistic Director and Co-founder Joel Burke, Dracula: Ballet at its Darkest is a bold, cinematic reimagining of Bram Stoker’s gothic classic – a visceral exploration of forbidden love, grief, obsession, immortality and sacrifice.
The production features a powerhouse cast of artists with experience at the Mariinsky Theatre, English National Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet and other leading companies. BIG Live principals Ervin Zagidullin and Abbey Hansen perform as Dracula and Mina Harker, with internationally renowned guest artist Adamzhan Bakhtiyar appearing at selected performances.
Set within a world of gothic grandeur created by award-winning CTS Design, Dracula is driven by a powerful score led by Emmy Award-winning composer Jason Fernandez and featuring masterpieces by Bach, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Debussy.
Dracula’s 2026 international tour has included the London Palladium, Sadler’s Wells, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre and Singapore’s Esplanade Theatre, before returning to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Further international performances are scheduled for Hong Kong and Bangkok in January 2027.
ONE MONTH TO GO
Shakespeare’s greatest plays retold with a Dettol bottle, a jar of marmalade and a set of salt and pepper shakers at Sydney Opera House
World-renowned, Ibsen award-winning UK company Forced Entertainment brings its acclaimed production, Table Top Shakespeare, to Sydney for the first time this September – a genuinely accessible, laugh-out-loud way into the Bard for anyone who finds his works intimidating or a slog at school. Suitable for ages 14 and up.
With exactly one month until opening, the Sydney Opera House is counting down to the Sydney premiere of Table Top Shakespeare, presented by internationally acclaimed ensemble Forced Entertainment – the company The Guardian has called “Britain’s most brilliant experimental theatre company” and The Times says is “confounding conventions and exploding audience expectations.”
Six performers take on the whole of Shakespeare’s canon using nothing but everyday household objects – a vase becomes a prince, a jar becomes Juliet, a Dettol bottle plays her nurse, and salt and pepper shakers rule an entire kingdom. Narrated live and entirely from memory, with no fixed script, each retelling strips Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies and histories back to their essential drama, wit and plot – no prior knowledge of the plays required.
It’s a genuinely different way in for audiences who find Shakespeare’s language intimidating or who haven’t engaged with his work since school, as well as a fresh, funny lens for seasoned theatre-lovers. Forty years into a career built on pulling apart theatrical convention, this marks Forced Entertainment’s first-time tackling Shakespeare – and their first time performing them in Sydney.
Table Top Shakespeare: Selected Works is presented as double bills across the season – two plays per evening over one week, covering comedies, tragedies and histories including Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
SHOW INFORMATION: WHAT: Table Top Shakespeare WHEN: 22 – 27 September 2026 (one week only) WHERE: Studio, Sydney Opera House FOR: Ages 14 and up PRICES: Tickets from $75 + booking fee.
ABOUT FORCED ENTERTAINMENT Forced Entertainment is an ensemble of artists founded in 1984, recognised as one of the world’s most influential experimental theatre companies. Winners of the International Ibsen Award, the company has spent over 40 years pulling apart the conventions of narrative, genre and theatre itself, touring their work across the UK, Europe, North America and Japan. Led by Artistic Director Tim Etchells, with performers Robin Arthur, Jerry Killick, Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden and Terry O’Connor.
Hummingbird Theatre Company (HTC) is partnering once again with Cambridge based voice and communication specialist Laura Field to present Actor Presence & Vocal Technique, a live online professional development workshop for actors on Saturday 5 September 2026.
Following the success of HTC and Field’s previous online workshops, the new session focuses specially on the actor’s voice and the relationship between vocal technique, physical freedom and performance.
The practical workshop will explore three areas: Breath & Focus; Physical Ease & Balance; and Presence, Projection & Expression. Participants will work with breath and vocal release, physical tension and vocal flexibility, and the use of resonance, texture, articulation and projection to communicate character, text and emotion.
Actors are encouraged to bring a monologue, audition piece, script extract or other material they are currently preparing, allowing techniques to be applied directly to their own performance practice. Workshop texts will also be provided.
HTC CEO and Artistic Director Rhys Becks said the workshop builds on the company’s commitment to providing practical development opportunities for performers.
“Our previous collaborations with Laura demonstrated just how valuable focused voice work can be. Voice is integral to performance, and this workshop gives actors an opportunity to explore how projection, articulation, physical freedom and emotional expression work together, before applying those ideas directly to text and performance.”
Field has more than two decades of experience helping people develop clarity, confidence and presence in how they speak. She holds a Master’s in Professional Voice Practice from Birmingham School of Acting, a Postgraduate Certificate in the Teaching of Shakespeare in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a Level 5 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring.
Delivered live via Zoom, the workshop is open to actors worldwide, with places limited to 12 participants to encourage active participation and individual engagement.
EVENT DETAILS Actor Presence & Vocal Technique | Laura Field Saturday 5 September 2026 | 4.30 pm AEST / 7.30 am BST Live via Zoom | Open worldwide | $55 AUD | Limited to 12 participants More information and bookings: https://shorturl.at/p8uMA
Spread the word on your favourite platform!
Subscribe to What's The Show
Reviews, show news and what is on, straight to your inbox.
