This was my third time visiting the Adelaide fringe. I had less overall time to see performances this time but also more time. On my previous trips, I was working remotely. This time my trip was mostly a holiday with a few meetings over a few beverage with some Australian creative technologists.

I managed to see a few performances on the day I arrived after travelling for 20-some hours. See my first post in the series - link.

I had prior to my trip made a short list of the performances & activities that I wanted to take part in at the Adelaide fringe. There are so many shows going on - it is quite the task to go through the online listings. I would select performances by acts I had seen in previous years & also choose new acts to see. And over the course of the festival, I would meet people performing at the festival & they would recommend other acts to see. For example, I had met Jeromaia Detto previously & he introduced me to Casey Filips this trip which led me to seeing other acts like Naughty Cabaret & Sugar Bits. And another act that I saw from a recommendation from Jero, was Laser Kiwi, what a brilliant name. I wondered if their name was inspired by some illustrations of Kiwi shooting lasers from their eyes. I asked them about their origin.

”Hey Manjit, the name was inspired from a flag design called "fire the laser" that was sent in for the NZ flag referendum a while ago... it was popularly known as the laser kiwi flag. We originally named a show laser kiwi and toured it overseas... then people started calling us Laser kiwi as a group and it stuck”

I was also meeting with up with friends from the UK & Australia & we would chat about the festival and what to see:

• Alex Petty - Laughing Horse Comedy from the UK

• Nik Coppin - A stand-up comedian from the UK

I had met these fine chaps through Craig Shaynak at the Edinburgh Fringe festival maybe back in 2011. I had met Craig some years earlier in Edinburgh in 2005 (20+ years ago!).

I ended up spending a good amount of time at one venue on particular “The Courtyard of Curiosities"; the shows here were more performance based & also at times comedic in nature. I would see acts here that I had seen on previous visits like Elf Lyons & Wright & Grainger, Mel McGlensey.

For someone who spends time using computers for work, I relish the chance to experience live events where there is the buzz of the crowd, audience participation, improvisation & sometimes things go sideways which can add to the fun.

I think I saw about 40 performances over a week and a half. The fringe festival took place across various venues in Adelaide. Some venues were small-ish rooms to large circus tents. In Australia, they refer to the centre of city as the central business district (CBD). Most of the venues were in the CBD; a few were a bit further out. Since it was the end of summer, I walked quite a bit, time and weather permitting.

Below is a selection of the shows that I saw.

All the performances mentioned below were great. I did not always manage to take photos in some shows as I was there to watch the performance after all.

Jeromaia Detto - Giuseppe's game show

Jeromaia Detto : web-site

Jero put on a game show in his Giuseppe character; the game show featured other performers from the Fringe answering questions. I saw it two nights in a row; many of the questions were the same but the results were funnily different.

Imagine a small room full of people and questions being given and answered & then Puss Puss appears & chaos ensues..

Natalia Sledz (Puss Puss) : Linktree

Jero mentioned he wants to develop this idea more; I would like to know how it is progressing 😀.

@jeromaiadetto : Instagram

Wright & Grainger - Eurydice & Selene

Wright & Grainger : web-site

I saw two performances by W&G at this Fringe. I really enjoy their approach to performance; it has a certain oratory style with spoken word with music. One of the neat things to see was how the performers are enjoying themselves being on stage while performing. How would I describe these works? These works are contemporary stories based on Greek stories.

Eurydice was performed in a library where the stage was in the centre of the room. And actually, the actress who was supposed to perform was ill and Stuart Wright stepped in to the part that night. There were musicians accompanying the performance using the library - like performing some music from the upper level and then to the sides of the stage.

Selene was performed in a yurt with some audience participation to read the parts of some of the characters. Many shows at the Fringe had some amount of audience participation.

@wright_and_grainger : Instagram

Elf Lyons - Horses

Elf Lyons : web-site

Elf describes her work as clowning; in fact, many of the acts I saw had some form of clowning. To me it seems to be comedic material with physical movement and acting as opposed to a stand up routine or monologue.

Her social media posts are very funny - check her out.

@elflyons : Instagram

Laser Kiwi

Laser Kiwi : web-site

How do I describe Laser Kiwi - an acrobatic comedic trio? This show has something for everyone. A fun filled hour of gags, physical prowess and interaction. There was an ongoing joke that was resolved at the very end of the performance - so clever; stuff like this make going to live shows so fun.

And they have been on TV.

@laserkiwi_ : Instagram

Naughty Cabaret

Naughty Cabaret : web-site

All the way from Norway. A fun filled feminist queer cabaret featuring other acts from the Fringe.

@naughtycabaret : Instagram

Casey Filips

Casey Filips - website

Casey was portraying an actor going to an audition "Virtuoso". Very very funny - his character was losing it as he tries to land a part.

Casey is a very talented performer; he was telling me how he met Jero in France while studying theatre and they found out they were both from Melbourne.

I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

@caseyfilips : Instagram

Club Doggo

Club Doggo Facebook

I could not not go to this as it was put on by Alex of Laughing Horse and there were dogs.

Imagine, a stand-up venue that is dog friendly. Most of the doggos were good boys & girls. I don’t think any dogs were asked to leave; some of their humans came close to it for being unruly!

Reuben Kaye

Reuben Kaye : web-site

I am open to seeing all kinds of acts. Some friends were going to this, and I joined them after another show. Reuben is a comedian and a singer—definitely a night of more mature humour, with an appearance by Elf Lyons. It was a cabaret variety show, and I am told Reuben trained as an opera singer. His singing was great. I often say that I don't hear enough live music, and I greatly enjoyed his singing mixed with jokes.

One joke was quite funny: he poked fun at some people for wearing hats indoors. This struck me as a very British thing to say, and absurdly funny considering how flamboyantly he was dressed. I often wear a hat when I go out because I am bald, and what remaining hair I have gets quite scruffy. I am glad he didn't pick on me!

I was seated near the middle by an aisle. Reuben walked down the aisle, and at one point, he draped his cape over my head. This was also one of the larger venues I visited—the Hindley Music Hall—and it was a fairly packed house. It was great to see such a mixed crowd wanting to be entertained.

The venue was in a nightlife area in the Adelaide CBD on Hindley street; the street was full of people out to party; a very different vibe from what I had mostly been seeing during the Fringe; let’s just say a lot of people out to get drunk & so on Australian style. It was a sight to behold on a Friday night.

https://www.hindleymusichall.com.au

@reubenkayeofficial : Instagram

Woody Fu

Woody Fu - website

This was really great - Woody Fu took us on a journey through the acting career of Keanu Reeves in "One Man John Wick". It was entertaining and thought-provoking on what it takes to be Keanu.

@woodyfu : Instagram

Ozzy Algar

Ozzy Algar : bio

Ozzy is from the UK and did a one-woman spoken word show about running a laundromat; there was a narrative of sorts with some tangential offshoots along the way; how do people come up with & write such unique plays? Very good; and here is a coincidence - she is one of the voice actors on a new game experience from Darkfield that I was playing a beta test of recently.

I AM MILK : Steam listing

@ozzyalgar : Instagram

Jon Tilley

Jon performed a one-man show about Casanova. It was a very physical performance in a fairly small room—I wondered how extra aware he had to be of working in such a small space as he performed. It was great. I had never seen anyone mime riding a horse before, and he did it incredibly well. I asked him about his horsing around after the show, and he said he studied a lot of horse videos. He looked quite serious as he said this 😀.

@mrjontilley : Instagram

Rohan Harry

Rohan Harry : web-site

Burp Me Baby One More Time

I only got to see part of Rohan’s show; it was delightful and oh so funny & oh so clever. I recently learned from Rohan that he had studied industrial design - that explains how good his visuals were; he was performing with video projections; I want to see this kind of show again & again; I am a very visually oriented person & this is my type of show. One of the songs was Rohan just going “Meow, meow, meow” from the musical Cats in tune to the melody - hilarious.

@rohanharry : Instagram

Wrapping up

As I reflect about my experience, I think about how talented and hardworking many of the performers are at the Fringe - many of the performers would be doing their shows 5 to 6 times a week for about a month. And also I was able to chat with many of them as the smaller venues could be quite informal ; what a privilege.

There are many more shows that I did not mention; I need to do more journalling while at the Fringe next time if possible.

It was great to be able to spend time at the Adelaide Fringe like this - I did get a bit frazzled some days with all the rushing between shows - ha ha. If you live in Adelaide, you can of course take it more leisurely over the month that the Fringe is on.

I would also do some sightseeing in Adelaide during this trip - that could be another post (let me know)

Many people have heard of the Edinburgh Fringe but not the Adelaide Fringe; honestly, if you can make it to Australia for the Adelaide Fringe do it & also enjoy having a look around Australia.

Bonus material

Other Links

https://adelaidefringe.com.au

Here is a map of the various venues to get an idea of the scale of the Adelaide Fringe.

Venues

We are Adelaide Fringe, the Biggest Arts Festival in Australia! We were born 66 years ago (although we don't look a day over 25) and for 31 magical days and nights each year we completely take over the beautiful city of Adelaide, South Australia.

https://adelaidefringe.com.au

I saw a good many shows at the Courtyard of Curiosities.

Courtyard of Curiosities : Linktree

There are 2 large venues during the Fringe which are like festivals unto themselves: Gluttony and the Garden of Unearthly delights. They right besides each other in the Adelaide CBD.

https://www.gluttony.net.au

https://www.gardenofunearthlydelights.com.au

In this post, I'm discussing the immersive worlds at the Adelaide Fringe. I attended the Fringe festival in March 2026, and I’ll share some thoughts on producing and presenting this kind of content.

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/immersive-worlds

A little bit of a preamble → I work in software development making apps, games & XR. I am especially interested in how technology can be used in location based entertainment (LBE). I was quite impressed with the immersive programming for the Adelaide Fringe as it is for the entire duration of the festival which was 5 weeks long; this was a great opportunity for such work to be exposed to a larger audience & immersive worlds was prominently featured on the main website for the festival, I saw:

• 2 360º videos dome

• 3 VR experiences

• an interactive cinema experience using cell phones & a cinema screen

I'm a sponge for knowledge; I like to learn things, and I'm also interested in how technology can enhance content. Most of what I experienced was documentary work.

My first exposure to dome video was at the Adelaide Fringe in 2024. 360º dome video is easy for participants to use as you don't have to put on a headset; you just go sit on the floor position yourself & let the experience happen - ok you do have to orient yourself in the space. I do like VR & it has its place for creating experiences & requiring headsets for each viewer for each screening. If interaction is key to the experience, I’d recommend VR. Dome video does require using a dedicated space or having an installable dome cinema. The cost of VR headsets can add up quickly & having a sufficiently large enough dome can cost a bit of money (of course they can be rented).

Actually, as I thought about it while reviewing this post, I realized I’d experienced a form of 360º dome cinema years ago at the Starry Cafe at Haneda Airport in Japan. It’s well worth checking out if you’re at the airport and have time before your flight. Having short-form movies at an airport is a good idea, in my opinion.

I went to 2 of the 4 venues used for the Immersive Worlds content: the Mercury movie theatre and the Olympic Hall Cultural Centre, which housed the 360° dome cinema and two VR areas.

A side note: Adelaide still has many notable modernist & art deco theatres for live performances & cinema going.

https://www.adelaideexaminer.com/best-art-deco-buildings-adelaide/

I give the planners of the event compliments for the signage to get this venue. I have been to many events & sometimes finding the venue can be a mission in itself. To get the Olympic Hall venue there were numerous waypoints on the sidewalks (or footpath in Australian English) in the area.

The Great Kimberly Wilderness

• VR movie

This was incredible. I learned about places in North Eastern Australia in Queensland that I had never heard about. Such beautiful & unique vistas. There was one part filmed on the Great Devonian coral reef. I had not seen anything like that before. This was being presented using Pico headsets. Pico headsets can be quite affordable compared to other models. The video quality was decent. On a higher quality headset the video experience would be incredible; I do have an Apple Vision Pro which is a significantly more costly headset (it would be so good to be able to watch this movie on an AVP).

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/the-great-kimberley-wilderness-with-luke-hemsworth-immersive-worlds-af2026

https://www.whitesparkpictures.com.au/the-great-kimberley-wilderness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7Lqzr1mcZ4&t=4s

I would have liked to know if there was a website to continue the experience and learn more about this part of Australia. I felt there was a missed opportunity here: having a QR code displayed on the cinema screen linking to a website would be great. I asked some of the other patrons at the screening if they had been to this part of Queensland, and they had. I would really like to visit this part of Australia and see it with my own eyes. In that sense, this documentary showed me a place I’d never known about before—one I might visit someday. I did some web searching about the reef.

https://www.internationalparks.org/australia/Devonian Reef

As the screening was in a cinema, you could watch an edit of the movie for cinema if you did not want to experience the documentary in VR or there was an issue with the headset.

Monsieur Vincent

• VR interactive

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/monsieur-vincent-immersive-worlds-af2026

https://unframed-collection.com/en/experiences/monsieur-vincent

This was a guided VR experience in that you are taken on a path through the content sections. It was really well done; Van Gogh is obviously a well known artist & I actually learned some new things about his art via this VR experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk55tV-DR0U

Iwakura

• 360º dome video

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/iwakura-immersive-worlds-af2026

I was especially looking forward to this audio visual experience. This was a work by a Japanese audio artist Kazuya Nagaya with a visual artist from Germany Ali Demirel.

Co-produced by MUTEK Japan and Miraikan (The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo), with funding from the Goethe-Institut, this project is designed specifically for planetarium environments

Project page for Iwakura

https://youtu.be/uDldw92dgIU?si=CujStPNRlkqHNnhm

This work was made a few years ago back in 2022. As I watched it at first, I found the imagery somewhat bleak with the colour palette - it reminded me of a bad dream; this was short lived, it got much better & there was many different parts to the movie. I did find myself wondering how the visuals were made by Ali. There are some making of videos online. It did not quite delve too deeply into how it was made - it seems like photogrammetry was used with some of the twisty visuals done in a graphics engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v-jiW9FEu8&t=664s

I wonder how this work might be travelling around the world with it first appearing in Japan and now in Australia at the Adelaide Fringe.

Megafauna of the Great Southern Reef

• VR movie

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/megafauna-of-the-great-southern-reef-special-immersive-worlds-af2026

This might be the closest I will ever come to scuba diving. A good example of VR experience taking one to place that might get a chance to visit in real life.

Fire Escape

• immersive - interactive using cell phones and web browsers & a cinema screen

Fire Escape - Immersive Worlds

An interactive film experience inspired by Hitchcock's world of tension, mystery and connection.

https://adelaidefringe.com.au

• https://www.inkstories.com

Coincidentally, Ink Studios had a game at Signals in 2025 in Vancouver which is my home city.

• https://www.inkstories.com/projects/lili.html

A description of the plot:

When a murder occurs in a gentrifying Brooklyn building, you must peer into the lives of its diverse tenants, making difficult narrative choices to uncover hidden secrets and unravel the mystery. Every window reveals a new story, every decision shapes your understanding, and every moment heightens the tension as you navigate the blurred lines between voyeurism and investigation in this immersive, anxiety-fueled exploration of urban life and human connection.

This was a very ambitious immersive experience. There was some technical difficulties with using the web app to connect to the audio - there was an audience of maybe about 50 people at the screening I went to. Using a cell phone, you could listen in to conversations in the different rooms in the apartment building. I was getting kicked out of the browser a few times - fat fingers? And sometimes when I was changing the room to listen it, there a long delay before the page would load & I kept tapping - I managed to the get the audio stream playing multiples times at once. I did mention the technical problem to the staff at the venue & they were not able to help. They could have at least noted the issue to send back to Ink Studios…

There was also a kind of hacker character who appears part of the way through the story; you cannot think too much about such story elements 😜 - I say this coming from having done some script writing where sometimes you suspend belief for the mechanics of progressing the story. I did find this hacker character a bit of a trope.

The game experience was being presented in real-time on the cinema screen. It was a lot to be dropped into - it did take a few minutes to understand how to interact with the experience. It was a time limited event which by the end the collective inputs of the audience would determine the outcome. It might been a better if there was a short tutorial at the beginning before starting the main story.

You could be listening to the audio of the selected room on headphones while also hearing the audio coming from the cinema - this was a bit of a challenge getting bombarded with so much sensory input.

https://www.inkstories.com/projects/fireescapelive.html

I’m glad I went, but ultimately it was a flawed experience. Maybe the complexity of the story was too much to present in this format. It made me think about how, with some immersive experiences, giving the user too much freedom can be detrimental—especially when the journey ends up feeling unsatisfying. I often feel there needs to be some kind of editorial or guided path through the experience.

I experienced a VR project a few years ago that was presented in a museum; the setup and presentation—with a video wall and waiting area—were well done, but the actual VR experience was open-world. You were left to wander without any real guidance, and I missed one of the main sections because there was a time limit to explore.

This reminds me of the work I did in interactive TV at the BBC, adding interaction to broadcast TV. TV is mostly a sit-back experience, compared to a game where you sit up and engage—Fire Escape is straddling both types of experiences.

The experience can also be played in VR as a single-player experience. I don’t know how the live experience differs.

https://www.inkstories.com/FIREESCAPE/index.html

A Sound Healing Journey

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/a-sound-healing-journey-af2026

This was something different - a group meditation experience using sound in a planetarium.

More than a performance, this is a journey, where you will be taken on an experience submerged in healing frequencies and the lull of the Himalayan Singing Bowls that fill our dome, under the backdrop of a star filled night sky.

Lastly, I wanted to mention a VR work by a friend was being shown in Adelaide coincidentally. I had seen this project by Camille Baker; it was featured as part of the immersive content at the film festival at the BFI (British Film Institute in London) some years ago. This VR work is a very thoughtful experience about a serious subject - people who have lived through cancer.

https://mammary-vr.art

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/mammary-mountain-af2026

Me & Alfie a young Koala bear at the Gorge wildlife park

I’ve been going to the Adelaide Fringe festival for 3 years in a row now. Many years ago, I lived in the UK & would attend the Edinburgh Fringe which is where I met Alex Petty of Laughing Horse comedy - I was introduced to Alex by Craig Shaynak; Alex & Craig had mentioned to me that there is a wonderful fringe festival in the city of Adelaide; Alex would promote acts & put on shows in Adelaide at the Fringe. I had been wondering about making the journey ever since. What can I say - it is long way to travel to Australia but well worth the trip. I was in Australia for almost 3 weeks this time; I would visit Sydney before returning home; I would have liked to have stayed longer & see more of the country. Alex was not the first one to go to Adelaide. Actually it was Nik Coppin and Nik was going to be Adelaide again this year and we would met up.

The Adelaide Fringe is absolutely huge & it lasts for 5 weeks - the printed guide is like a magazine with all the listings. The Fringe features: stand up comedy, theatre, dance, cabaret, circus acrobatics. And of particular interest to me there is also immersive part of the Fringe which can be projections, 360º dome video & VR. This year’s program was no exception. The Fringe starts in February and ends in March which means I get to experience the end of Australian summer which was another reason to make this trip.

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/immersive-worlds

It is worth mentioning that there are many festivals in Australia back to back; I believe it's first Perth then Adelaide, then the Melbourne comedy festival and then Sydney. Many acts would be be going to multiple festivals; Alex and Nik would comment that Adelaide was probably their favourite festival in Australia.

I was in Adelaide for the last week and a half of the festival. I crammed in as many show as I could see - typically each performance is about an hour. I would be trekking between various venues around the central business district (CBD) in Adelaide; some days I would see 4 performances. And this trip I stayed for a few days past the end of the Fringe to be able to do some excursions outside Adelaide with friends

Being in Australia, there are many acts from Australia of course & also quite a significant number of acts from the UK & also some acts from places Japan, New Zealand, Norway & more. Many big UK acts would do shows in Adelaide; last year, I had the fortune to see Ross Noble in Adelaide, who is one of my favourite comedians who I never managed to see while I lived in the UK. Australia & UK have a close cultural connection in the that sense that many British comedians are better known in Australia than Canada.

On my first night in Adelaide, I managed to see a few acts & meet up with Alex.

Sully O’sullivan - Sully doing a bit at Laughing Horse comedy.

This photo was upstairs at the Historian hotel. This is one of the main venues that Alex would be putting shows on in Adelaide; Fun fact: a hotel can mean a pub in Australia; many of these places might have had a few hotel rooms above the bar in the past.

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/a-complete-idiot-s-guide-to-great-britain-af2026

https://www.sullyosullivan.com

Bec Hill

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/bec-hill-creates-the-perfect-show-work-in-progress-af2026

https://www.bechillcomedian.com

I had seen Bec Hill on UK TV; she does this hilarious comedy bits using a hand made pop-up book that she made - you have to see it; she is based in London & originally from Adelaide. I only got to see the first part of her work in progress show. She had a board with some post it notes about various topics and people were invited to pick a note & she would riff about it. Many performances could be in a small venue which made for an intimate up close experience ; some acts where performing in much larger venues. I saw a mixture of everything. My first night in Adelaide I would end up seeing three different performances; the last performance was for a card magic show; I had to dash across town to get to the show in time for the start hence only see part of Bec’s show. Being at the fringe festival, I would end up doing a lot of walking between venues and getting my steps in.

Over the course of the Fringe, I enjoyed getting to have many conversations with some of the performers & I would also talk with some performers that I had met before . And some performers would recommend other shows to go see; getting through the Fringe festival program is quite a task guide to find things to go see; word-of-mouth is so helpful I did make a short list of shows - the website has a planner feature which was great.

Also being a fringe festival, many shows would have some form of audience participation, which can be quite fun; did not participate in performances this trip & get up on stage; last year, I was on stage three times; I did get asked to go on stage at a performance by Laser Kiwi, who were great by the way, this trip but I politely declined - I was not feeling up to getting on stage 😜 in a fairly large venue.

A performance can go a bit sideways but it was all good as the atmosphere is very positive & the audience would often be rooting for the performer. I did see one show where some props didn't quite work, and the performer was trying to contain herself but persevered and got through the show. Live entertainment!

Maho Magic Bar at the Garden of Unearthly Delights

Magic tricks with cards performed by a mostly Japanese cast. It was just ok; there are 5 magicians who would work there around the venue and do card tricks. This show had been running for many years now at the festival.

https://www.mahomagicbar.com/adelaide