Sydney has no shortage of places to eat, drink and dance – but a venue where you can watch a human pyramid, a drag queen brunch and a giant bubble galaxy all in the same week? That’s a little harder to find.
Enter Fool’s Paradise, the newest Sydney Fringe Festival destination taking over The Entertainment Quarter from 26 August to 11 October, bringing seven weeks of circus, comedy, cabaret and wonderfully weird entertainment to Moore Park.
Created by award-winning local circus troupe Head First Acrobats, Fool’s Paradise is less a traditional festival venue and more a temporary playground for anyone who likes their nights out with a little extra drama. Across two big-top-style venues – The Bunker and The Virago – audiences can expect everything from family-friendly afternoons to late-night shows that are very much “did I really just see that?”
Headlining the program is Return of the GODZ, the outrageous acrobatics spectacular fresh from sell-out seasons in London’s West End and Brighton. The five-strong cast is returning bigger than ever, with brand-new gravity-defying acts, outrageous comedy and feats of strength that make you wonder whether they have discovered a different set of human rules.
UK critics have called the show “gloriously silly” and “genuinely impressive”, and honestly, that might be the perfect description for a show where impossibly strong people launch themselves through the air purely for our entertainment.
But the chaos doesn’t stop there.
For something the whole family can get behind, Radio Variety brings circus and cabaret together with a soundtrack of generation-defining hits, as acrobats, aerialists, comedians and dancers flip through the decades.
All-Star Circus also returns after winning over Sydney Fringe audiences last year, serving up the kind of big-top moments that never get old: backflips, one-arm handstands, giant spinning wheels and human pyramids that look like they should require a construction permit.
Then there’s The Flying Bubble Show, which takes the humble bubble and gives it a full theatrical makeover. Following a sell-out Edinburgh Fringe Festival run, Maxwell the Bubbleologist combines immersive theatre, aerial movement and giant rainbow spheres to create a dreamlike world of smoke-filled galaxies and floating magic.
And because Sydney knows there’s no better way to spend an afternoon than with a little sparkle and a lot of attitude, The Big Top Drag Brunch will bring some of the city’s biggest queens under the big top for one very fabulous event on 29 August.
Featuring Etcetera Etcetera, Hannah Conda, Coco Jumbo, Vybe, Carmen Geddit and Charisma Belle, the brunch promises bottomless laughs, outrageous comedy and enough glamour to make your average Sunday lunch feel seriously underdressed.
“Everyone can find something to see and love this year at Fool’s Paradise,” says Fool’s Paradise Director Thomas Gorham. And so, whether you’re wrangling kids, planning a date night or just looking for an excuse to swap another night on the couch for something a little more unexpected, this new Fringe destination is ready to deliver.
Fool’s Paradise runs from 26 August to 11 October at The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park. Tickets are on sale now.
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