Melbourne Fringe Festival is jumping on the V-Line and heading up the road from 22 – 25 October for four days of Fringe Encore: Ballarat.
The adventurous spirit of Melbourne Fringe Festival will take over regional Victoria for a vibrant weekend of surprising art. With three headline Festival events exclusive to the Fringe Encore: Ballarat season and a full hub-style encore program of metro season favourites, Melbourne Fringe Festival activates the City of Ballarat this October.
The historic Ballarat Mining Exchange will host the world premiere of Degustation by One Fell Swoop and chef Shu Liu, combining contemporary circus with a high-end dining experience. Liu creates five courses to compliment ambitious circus performed by six world-class acrobats.
Ballarat’s Civic Hall becomes home to two exclusive performances, Sammy J – Hero Complex and Fountain Lakes: Y2K. 2025 Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend award-winner Sammy J first debuted his work Hero Complex at Melbourne Fringe Festival 10 years ago. Nearly a decade later, he brings it to Ballarat for one night only.
For its Victorian premiere, Fountain Lakes: Y2K stars RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under star Art Simone, with Thomas Jaspers and Jemima Handful as tv’s iconic foxy ladies on the brink of the new millennium. If you want to catch this award-winning camp-drag parody during the Festival, its four-night run in Ballarat is your only chance.
Fresh from its Deadly Fringe premiere in Melbourne, Na Djinang Circus’ free roving circus Ocker tears through Ballarat’s streets on a portable railway track built in real time.
Across the city will be two Hub Style venues bring the back-to-back energy of the Melbourne season to Ballarat. Between shows audiences can explore Ballarat’s own thriving dining and bar scene, making it easy for visitors to build a full night or weekend away, and giving locals the full Fringe experience on their doorstep.
At Federation University, Elaine Crombie (Top End Wedding, Nowhere Boys) brings her sharp comic timing to Grief, Love and Lead Balloons in the early slot on Friday and Saturday.
Internet sensation James Ward’s Harold Holt: The Man, The Myth, The Pool, a show built around a replica of the Harold Holt Swim Centre, runs for four nights. Across the weekend, artist Conk performs Man Sings The Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour which is… exactly what it sounds like.
From Thursday to Saturday, the historic Ballarat Mechanics Institute runs four shows across two spaces. Start with Yellow Fever: An Original Musical Cabaret, Kelly Harris’ personal account of her quest to find love as an Asian performer in the arts industry.
Then, the choice is yours. Enjoy Darby James’ Little Squirt, winner of Best Cabaret at Melbourne Fringe in 2023, a one-man musical about sperm donation. Or Dune But Worse, Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin’s bold, ill-advised and entirely disrespectful retelling of the Dune saga (just in time for the release of Part III).
Murder In The Market: A Murder Village Improvised Whodunnit, brings four never-before-improvised murder mysteries in the Agatha Christie tradition. While 100BPM is a heartwarming contemporary dance work inspired by the pulse that connects us all.
For one weekend only, Ballarat becomes a place to do Fringe properly: stack your schedule, follow a recommendation, take a chance on something new and see where the weekend leads you.
Melbourne Fringe Festival continues to 18 October 2026, with Fringe Encore: Ballarat taking place from 22 – 25 October. For more information, visit: www.melbournefringe.com.au for details.
Images: Degustation – photo by James Thomas Photography | Fountain Lakes: Y2K – photo by Betty Blackheart | Elaine Crombie (supplied) | Darby James in Little Squirt – photo by Lucinda Goodwin Photography