Our two shows at Melb Fringe 2025
Since the program launched last night, I can finally tell you about the two shows we’re doing. Plus, I’ve got a pretty fricking hectic early bird discount to tell you about.
I’m sure you’ve been literally sitting on the edge of your seat since I told you we’re producing two (2) shows at Melbourne Fringe this year.
Since the program launched last night, I can finally tell you about the two shows we’re doing. Plus, I’ve got a pretty fricking hectic early bird discount to tell you about.
The first show we’re doing is called I Promise This Isn’t About You (Even If It Feels Like It Is).
It’s a coming-of-age drama at an end-of-lease house party in Narrm’s southeast. The twist? It’s set entirely in the bathroom and we’re putting it on in a car park (thank you so much to Melbourne Fringe for giving us the Trades Hall carpark!).
It follows five beautifully messy young people ruining their relationships, their hearts, and their stomachs as they try to figure out how to grow up.
This show has a very special place in my heart as it’s written by one of my closest friends from university, the always excellent Sarah Matthews. A friend with whom I’ve attended many a messy house party with.
In fact, one of the first times we ever hung out I almost blacked out after chugging pre-mixed sangria in her car on the way to an afterparty. She had played the Nurse in a quintessentially uni student theatre version of Romeo & Juliet which I had done the marketing for. Somehow in my drunken haze I actually asked her to pull the car over so I could mail in my postal vote for the 2019 federal election.
Since that cursed night, Sarah has gone on to graduate from VCA’s Master of Theatre (Writing) and has won the 2024 Canberra Youth Theatre Emerging Playwright Commission. She is just so bloody talented—I promise.
Apart from myself and Sarah, the team consists of the very excellent Georgie Wolfe (design & co-production), Carly Watson (direction), Blake Hohenhaus (dramaturgy), Ella Watson (marketing), and the actors Mads Lou, Jo Jabalde, Eliza Carlin, Reuby Chip, and Ally Long. Once you see the show, I’m sure you’ll agree with me just how brilliant this entire team is.
It’s my pleasure to let you know that as of today, you can book in for the show via the Melbourne Fringe website (link below) using the code EARLYBIRD. This will unlock $24.50 tickets that can be booked until the 5th of September, after which our tickets will go up to $44.00 (unless you book 6+ tickets in one go, in which case you’ll be paying only $22.50).
With only 200 tickets for sale, and such a large crew we’re anticipating selling out (in fact, opening night is already full). We’d love to have you along to catch the show! 💞
Now, the second show that Georgie and I are producing is called The Shore Remembers.
It’s a completely free experimental sound installation we’re putting on in the beautiful Oratory at Abbotsford Convent. While participating, you’ll get to lie down on a recreated sand dune and hear how the ocean changes over the course of a year. The work consists of a series of recordings made in the same location over 12 consecutive months on the peninsula, edited together to feel like a journey through time.
It’s created by the excellent Olivia Fisher, a friend of mine who’s finishing her PhD in the dramaturgy of sound design, investigating ways to make sound itself the entire show. Olivia has used a very fancy binaural microphone to make the work, which looks like a silicone pair of human ears. It mimics the way we hear, capturing sound in a really life-like way (if you ever saw Complicité’s The Encounter at Malthouse a couple years back then you’ll be familiar with this technology).
I’ve been chatting to Liv about the work, and although it isn’t autobiographical, there’s some really interesting threads that have emerged between her parents’ environmentalist work and her own practice. The work has been recorded at Anthony’s Nose, a beach she’s been visiting since she was a kid participating in anti-dredging protests on the water.
I hope you’ll find some time in your Fringe schedule to swing out to the Convent and sit with this work. It’s a really potent opportunity for us city folk to reconnect with our natural environment.
That’s all from me for now. I’ll be in touch over the next couple of weeks with sneak peaks from rehearsals, Fringe recommendations, and more.
I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Fringe!
Ryan Hamilton 🏳️⚧️🇵🇸 (he/they)
Co-producer · Pigeon Pigeon