10 The strangest shows at the festival
1extraordinaire F*** Rant: From experimental and performance artist Nisha Madhan, winner of last year’s Auckland Fringe Hero Award and Best Performance Award. This show is Nisha “ranting” for 50 minutes straight.
2 A Womb with a View: An experience for one audience member at a time that allows them to return to the place we all came from and which none of us remember. The performers and audience re-imagine life in the womb. Each experience totally tailored to the person.
3 The Plastic Orgasm: Fearless performers Julia Croft and Virginia Frankovich + nudity + condiments. Highly experimental look at female-ness/sexuality. The performers may end up basking in red wine.
4 Welcome to Self Co: Do you feel that depression and anxiety can be like having a full-time job? Here’s a play which explores the absurd nature of work and mental illness and whether you, too, can become a Depression Superstar? The ideal candidate will be a stressed-out individual with excellent self-loathing and low motivational skills, pays high attention to the negative details and a willingness to waste their time and give up on their dreams and goals!
5 It’s a Trial: From the always excellent Binge Culture Collective, audiences get to duke it out over a case that has major implications for the future of the arts!
6 Drowning in Milk: Just 18 audience members per show, each audience member gets made a cocktail by the performer who is behind a tiny bar at Q Theatre. The bartender tells stories about systemic racism and sexism while she mixes drinks. Highly political. Very accessible. Everyone gets to drink.
7 Caesar’s Rome: Audiences literally get to go to a Roman temple and do Roman things like write on a wax tablet, fight as a gladiator and splash in a Pompeii fountain. Could be good for parents helping with ancient history school projects.
8 Chef Masters: A live cooking competition! Audiences come and compete to be the best chef and there is a finale competition at the end with the best winners from each night competing to be Chef Master.
9 For Your Eyes Only: Another one-audience-member-persession show. A different performer each night making the private public. Audiences can watch but cannot be seen.
10 Wigging Out: Tom Sainsbury and Hamish Russell play two high school “frenemies”. The tagline is excellent: “Who better to peer into the world of female friendships than two men in drag?”