Our Top 10 Picks for Melt Festival 2025
If you’re already suffering from Brisbane Festival withdrawal symptoms, don’t worry: Brisbane’s Melt Festival is just around the corner (22 October-9 November)—and probably in many corners near you.
Amplified: The Exquisite Rock and Rage of Chrissy Amphlett | Sheridan Harbridge & Sarah Goodes
Harbridge doesn’t so much play Chrissy as resurrect her. For two hours, the audience is made to feel the dangerous voltage between sex and fear, mockery and obedience, survival and self-destruction. Amplified is cabaret at its most alive: irreverent, haunting, and fiercely electric. Like Chrissy Amphlett herself, it demands we ask what rock really is—before it spits in our face and leaves us begging for more.
Elements of Freestyle | ISH Dance Collective
Elements of Freestyle is the definition of defying gravity— a thrilling collision of dance, extreme sports, and classical music. Imagine raw power meeting refined artistry in a high-octane performance that shatters genre boundaries and challenges every expectation. From start to explosive finale, it held the audience spellbound. You can’t afford to look away. Simply put: Wow!
TINA — A Tropical Love Story | Ben Graetz
TINA - A Tropical Love Story is a fun one-hour cabaret showcase of First Nations’ talent that spotlights the talents of Ben Graetz/Miss Ellaneous, and gives a platform for local and emerging artists; great frocks, charming stories, excellent lip sync and interpretation, and solid musical choices.
“Hands down the craziest things I’ve ever done for Strut & Fret.” Spencer Novich on Late Night Vice
“When you don't allow phones suddenly an audience is more engaged. They're less self-conscious and artists are given sort of a pass to do things that they normally wouldn't feel comfortable doing otherwise if it was recorded…”
DragSpeare | Jo Loth & Anne Pensalfini
This show challenges your expectations from the very beginning. It was set in a theatre pretending to be an RSL pretending to be the theatre again. The cast plays men, playing women. There were enemies playing lovers and lovers playing enemies and frames within frames within frames … DragSpeare is going to challenge you and give exactly what you need all in one big ball of smouldering pouts, puns, gender fuckery and song.
Cirque Bon Bon - Le Retour | JACs Entertainment
There were so many excellent moments in Le Retour, but one special highlight for me was contortionist and foot archery artist, Shannen Michaela, who performed her spectacular and technical archery act. The crowd was blown away by the acts, how she was able to set the scene, with accompanying epic music, as well as her charisma and perfect execution.
Limbo - The Return | Strut & Fret
Without spoiling too much, it was an enchanting blend of artistry, music, and acrobatics that was sensual, whimsical, intense, and dangerous. If you fancy a ride into a sinister and sexy circus netherworld that will leave your heart pounding, then ‘Limbo-The Return’ is the perfect show for you.
Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show | Jean Paul Gaultier & Brisbane Festival
Fun, flashy, and fantastical; Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show is a love letter to fashion geeks, theatre freaks, and the super chic everywhere. It’s a spectacular night of entertainment that takes to a world where everything and everyone can be (and is) beautiful. You do not want to miss it.
The No Bang Theory | Oliver Hetherington-Page
The show itself is a delight, but it stands out against the current landscape of mainstream theatre - Hetherington-Page’s call to action for greater representation and platforming of neurodiverse artists within theatre spaces is a powerful act.
Briefs Factory on The Art Boat | Briefs Factory & Cluster Arts
Super entertaining, very festival-y in its novelty, and by far the best boat trip I’ve had down the Maiwar (Brisbane River).
Our hot picks for BrisFest 2024
Spring is in the air and what does that mean for Magandjin / Meeanjin? It’s time for BrisFest! Running from 30 August to 21 September this year, we’re once again spoilt for choice with some epic offerings of theatre, circus, musicals, dance, cabaret, live music, installations and so much more. This is way too much goodness in the program for this year’s festival, so who better to turn to than the writers of NEHIB to let you know what you simply must see at BrisFest this year.
Dangerous Goods | Polytoxic
If you want to see a subversively hot, femme-fuelled show full of hot babes smashing the patriarchy, go see Dangerous Goods at QPAC. It’s one of the best shows I have seen. Bonus is, there'll be various guest artists throughout this season so no two shows will be the same. You’ve got another three weeks to see this unmissable show.
Twisted Christmas | GALORE! Presents
We’re guided through this seasonal smorgasbord by our elven MC, Maddy – a staunch unionist direct from the North Pole who’s (1) truly and deeply jaded by capitalism’s co-option of the holiday and (2) concerningly quick to guarantee we’re all on the naughty list this year.
Cirque Jingle | JACs Entertainment
There are a lot of great choices for a festive-themed show this season, including shows that have returned for many years. It’s great to see that JACs Entertainment has produced a show that complements those choices, offering an event that is suitable for the whole family.
Sleep and the City | Emma-June Curik
The performance was a thought-provoking experience that left me with a whirlwind of emotions. It combined the three things that tend to lead to the best original work: raw vulnerability, education on a misunderstood topic, and catharsis. This combination seemed to result in a unique sense of community and belonging that I hadn’t expected.
Bumhole Brunch | Gogo Bumhole, Adrian te Veluwe and The Burrow
On the first Sunday morning of every month at The Burrow in West End rising drag star (or drag gremlin as they’d like to call themself) GoGo Bumhole brings the drag brunch back its underground, community roots. Backed by a cavalcade of Meanjin’s finest cabaret performers, it’s an infectious morning of drinks, feasting, entertainment and dare I say community that’s bound to become a sold-out staple for those in the know.
Tipsy History | Glitter Martini & Anywhere Festival
One thing I love about the Glitter Martini shows I’ve seen is they’re always audience participation heavy, which is great to keep the crowd entertained at changeovers between the acts. A particular crowd favourite this time was a modern spin on an Ancient Greek drinking game, which everyone got right into, and it really brought out their competitiveness. These interactive segments made the show intimate and that little more special and memorable for everyone.
The Wharf Revue: Looking for Albanese | Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott
The Wharf Revue is an irreverent adventure combining popular culture, cabaret and politics cleverly executed just as much as Scomo ruled the nation singlehandedly and got away with it till he didn’t. This show is just as ambitious as Clive Palmer spending $123 million to win one seat to open another iron ore mine. With such a huge field of contenders to choose from, this show delivers one punch line after the other, meticulously crafted to squeeze out every climate denying, debt defying, corrupted and lying gag possible.
Blush | Highwire Entertainment
This isn't one of the typical cabarets that tries to sell sexy as performers brushing past each other, femme figures as objects and same-sex desire as queer baiting. Blush makes the titillation of such shows seem like childhood flights of fancy. There is something truly for everyone here, with each performance celebrating love, lust, passion and desire in various forms.