Sydney Fringe Festival director and CEO Kerri Glassock marks 10 years in the role this year – and the dynamic first line-up announcement for the festival’s 2023 iteration proves she’s not letting up. From September 1 to 30, more than 400 events will happen around the city, from a new festival hub in Moore Park to the historic laneways of The Rocks and the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta.

Fringe – New South Wales’s biggest independent arts festival – will launch with an opening-night party in The Rocks. In the area’s historic laneways and buildings, performers will give audiences a taste of what to expect from their Fringe shows. A bunch more artists will take to the stage for a free party in the Argyle. Every Thursday to Sunday during the festival, shows will happen in pop-up spaces around The Rocks, as well as in the pop-up musical theatre club Lola’s Piano Bar.

For the first time, a Fringe hub is taking over the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park. The Spiegeltent Festival Garden at The Showring will host musical comedy The Marvellous Elephant Man the Musical, directed by Olivier Award-winner Guy Masterson, for its Sydney debut. Nearby, comedy-acrobats Headfirst Acrobatics will perform their latest show Godz in a 300-seat circus dome.

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Over in Parramatta, Riverside Theatre will turn into a pop-up cabaret club headlined by Big Thick Energy – an accessible safe space for IBPOC and LGBTQIA+ bodies. It’ll also have a pop-up piano bar, and a program of comedy cabaret. Young Henrys’ Best Served Loud live music series will also be held in Parramatta.

Back in the CBD, and you can expect to catch free morning concerts by singer-songwriters at George Place, as well as a block party at the new Sydney Place precinct. At Darling Quarter a circus tent will be set up for Fringe Kids.

Caribbean culture will bring Kensington Street in Chippendale alive on closing night, with picó collective El Gran Mono throwing a bash involving DJs, live music and dancing.

Sydney Fringe Festival runs from September 1–30, 2023, at various locations around Sydney. The full line-up will be announced in the coming months.

sydneyfringe.com