State of Play - Fringe World

After winning the coveted Best Independent Hub Award at FRINGE WORLD 2022, STATE OF PLAY returns to the State Theatre Centre of WA in 2023 for a sensational trifecta year and with a jam-packed programme of music, cabaret, circus, comedy, theatre for adults and children, dance and even an air-guitar competition!

Proving to be the ultimate FRINGE destination, STATE OF PLAY will run 20 January to 5 February 2023, and feature across four main spaces: the Heath Ledger Theatre, Studio Underground, Rehearsal Room 1 and the Courtyard. With 30 shows playing throughout the day and evenings there is sure to be something to please all FRINGE audiences.

Guaranteed to be the hit of the season is Don’t Fret It, Shred It!, an event welcoming both artists and the wider community to rock on in an Air Guitar competition. Audiences can practice their best Jimmy Hendrix headbang, fine tune their air fenders and prepare to shred it out in the State Theatre Centre’s Courtyard. And the little rockers won’t be forgotten with air guitar workshops for kids (School of Air)!

There’s plenty of comedy to keep audiences giggling all night including award-winning comedy hypnotist Matt Hale: Top Fun 80’s Spectacular!, improv Dungeons & Dragons Improv DnD, improv romance-comedy with Love Slaps, and a satirical retelling of one of Shakespeare’s iconic works in Bogan Shakespeare: Hamlet.

Cabaret dysfunctional brother-sister duo Otto & Astrid make a welcomed return with Otto & Astrid Play The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Concert You’ve Ever Seen, home-town favourite Jamie Mykaela returns to Perth with tales of living in conservative Oxford, UK in FLOOZY and hot on the cabaret touring circuit Lisa Woodbrook tells us why she’s Feeling Way Too Good: Songs of Michael Bublé.

Joining the programme from Switzerland is multi-award winning theatre and dance performance
The Sensemaker – a dystopian battle between a woman and an answering machine as we see the effects of new technologies and the laborious administrative procedures has on our lives. With its razor-sharp sense of humour and a slew of 5-Star reviews, The Sensemaker has been performed over 60 times across Europe, in five different languages.

Audiences can also enjoy some hot jazz on those summer nights with some big New Orleans brass band energy from the Hot 6 Brass Brand, the ever-popular angelic voices of the Menagerie Choir, a journey through the music of Bruno Mars with Adam Hall and the Soul Playboys or a humorous melange of Italian music and jazz with Etta D’Elia in Buona Sera Signorina.

STATE OF PLAY 2023 also includes a huge line-up of children’s shows with a fantastic range of comedy, music and theatre performances. Ages 3+ can immerse themselves in the interactive and accessible performance of Wilbur the Optical Whale or be mesmerised by the mix of puppetry, rich sound design and playful costumes in Alex and Evie and the Forever Falling Rain. Also hot on the ticket list will be The Listies – Make Some Noise! and Wilfred Gordon McDonald Patridge: Comic Children’s Opera in One Act to name a few.