A week after the Fringe Festival wraps in Melbourne, a stellar line-up of independent acts will be making their way to Ballarat for an encore outing.
The Fringe Encore: Ballarat program includes a mix of regional exclusives, returning favourites and hand-picked Melbourne Fringe highlights, coming to Ballarat's historic venues from 22-25 October 2026.
Ballarat will host the world premiere of One Fell Swoop Circus' Degustation, an ambitious collision of circus and cuisine. Throughout the show, audiences enjoy five courses created with Melbourne chef Shu Liu. This is a celebration of sensation where the meal and the acrobatics shape each other, course by course.
Guaranteeing noineteen-noinety-noine levels of camp, we will also be rewinding the clock to the eve of the millennium with fabulous drag comedy parody play Fountain Lakes: Y2K. Sounds noice!
Comedy fave Sammy J will bring his award-winning show Hero Complex to Ballarat's Civic Hall on Saturday 24 October. This real-life, hilarious comic book adventure proves sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
Fresh from its Deadly Fringe premiere in Melbourne, Na Djinang Circus’ Ocker will appear alongside a curated selection of Open Program works including:
- Elaine Crombie Grief, Love and Lead Balloons
- Kelly Lim Harris Yellow Fever: An Original Musical Cabaret
- Dune but worse
- Conk Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour
- Quiet RIOT and Darby James, Little Squirt
- Murder in the Market: A Murder Village Improvised Whodunnit
- 100BPM
- Harold Holt: The Man, The Myth, The Pool
Get ready for four days of stacked Fringe Festival fun. Tickets are on sale now, so don't miss your chance to experience the adventurous spirit of Fringe against the backdrop of Ballarat's incredible venues.