★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. The Jade. 20 Feb 2026
Nick Parnell is one of the best vibraphone players around. He’s South Australian born and bred, but the world is his stage. Even though he’s performed with some of the best orchestras and conductors here and abroad on elite concert stages, he’s also happy performing in clubs or al fresco venues. He is unassuming, almost shy, but, as a musician, he is bold and fearless.
Instrumental art-music concerts staged in the Fringe frequently lack the pizzaz and audacity of other events, and border on being ‘polite’ and ‘safe’. Parnell’s concert, entitled Home, is a case in point: it doesn’t have ’razzle and dazzle‘, but it is relaxed and the emphasis is squarely on the music, the allure of the vibraphone, and particularly on Parnell’s consummate skill as both a player and an arranger.
Parnell explains that the concert program derives from his soon to be released fourth album and the music selections invoke feelings of being home, wherever and whatever that means. The program includes arrangements of well-known folk songs like Scarborough Fair and Danny Boy, as well as iconic numbers like I Still Call Australia Home and Amazing Grace. But it’s not only ‘popular’ music that receives the Parnell treatment. He also includes classical favourites like Satie’s Gnossienne No. 1, excerpts from Bach, and more recent art music such as by Brazilian composer Ney Rosauro, one of today’s most significant composers for percussion, which proved to be a favourite of the capacity crowd in the Jade.
For me, Parnell’s performance of Gary Burton’s 1959 composition A Singing Song was just sublime. Parnell demonstrated his command of the instrument and of 4-mallet playing, as well as his intuitive feel for jazz inflected rhythms that makes the music sound like it is being composed for the very first time.
Not all of Parnell’s arrangements are as compelling as others: his extended Scarborough Fair was revelatory, but Danny Boy sounded too detached and lacked the mellifluousness and pathos that strings can give. I Still Call Australia Home included evocative and enjoyable mystical nods to Aboriginal dreaming, but Gnossienne was given much rubato, perhaps too much, and grace notes were cut alarmingly short. But it’s all a matter of taste.
Parnell doesn’t need the razzle and dazzle that is so often on show in the Fringe and sometimes relied upon by lesser performers to disguise shortcomings in technique and style. Parnell simply lets his polished world-class technique and thoughtful musicality do the talking, and the audience just love it.
Kym Clayton
When: 20 Feb – One night only.
Where: The Jade
Bookings: Closed
★★★★1/2
Adelaide Fringe. Holden Street Theatres. Judy’s. 19 Feb 2026
Not the most attention-grabbing of titles. I wouldn’t have rushed to see this show. But, oh my, I am so glad I saw it.
One may call it one of the “sleepers” of the Fringe—really obscure but with potential to be a must-see.
And, audiences shouldn’t hesitate about booking because it is in one of the tiniest of Fringe venues—Judy’s—a room in the main house at Holden Street.
Vera Shrimp may well meet you at the door. She’s a wee English schoolgirl girl with a dramatic pageboy fringe and beautiful sad brown eyes.
She will explain how nervously she is doing a school project on water about which, for one reason and another, she has become something of an expert. Her anxiety is so pitifully acute that one just wants to take her home and look after her. But she wants to impress and she has done the work. So, we see how water moves and evaporates. She has demonstrations. And she has slides which she projects over a wall absolutely covered in school notes and data.
Gradually we learn why she has this preoccupation as she reveals something of her peer group and parents. Therein it weaves into a vivid audio-visual tale of the cloudbursts of loss which have been her life. She draws us in closer and closer in the tiny, close room. And our emotions ride into hers and the beauty of sadness is profound.
Vera Shrimp is just not ordinary. And its performer, Martha Walker, is not ordinary, either.
She’s quite a marvel.
Get thee to Judy and see for yourself.
Samela Harris
When: 19 Feb to 22 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Adelaide Fringe. Moa @ Gluttony. 19 Feb 2025
An Opening Night Gala should—I’d say almost by definition—be a star-studded affair for the well-heeled and the well-dressed, except of course when it’s at The Fringe and the venue is a tent in Gluttony, The Fringe’s marquee Parklands space. Adelaide has no ‘A’ list to invite, former sports persons and TV people who are unrecognisable without their makeup barely constitute a ‘B’ list, so it’s fair to concentrate on the parklands. The completely redeveloped pond and surrounds make a fantastic gift wrapping for the business of relaxing, meeting friends, having a drink and seeing some shows. Gluttony is great!
The Gala was hosted by Hugh Sheridan, who quipped his way through the evening and assured us his rumpled suit was ‘a tuxedo’. He resembled a Fringe artist impersonating Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
But I get ahead of myself: a pre-opening gala performance should—I’d argue—showcase the best of skills, both of the artists and the venue, so to standing around outside15 minutes after the scheduled start time listening to the talent still soundchecking is, obviously, unprofessional. This morphed into the opening performance, thus as we gratefully filed into the Moa we were quite literally sung to our seats by the Soweto Gospel Choir. It was a deft touch in programming; the performance solos were in places exuberant and ‘shouty’ but the hot and dusty conditions clearly played upon the voice.
A snapshot: Hailing from Belfast, The Shamrocks showed solid style in rollicking pipe and drum music and absolutely no sign of genre advancement in their rendition of the hoary classic Whisky In The Jar. Hailing from Adelaide, DJ Groove Terminator explained why his History Of Dance Music still attracted crowds then hastily threw to Screaming Jets/Angels singer Dave Gleeson who explained how the ‘History Of’ idea was to be applied to the Australian rock music scene. Hailing from Tandanya, the venue across the road on the corner of Grenfell Street, WAYIN:THI Collective’s Fibres was a sublimely presented contemporary dance piece which captivated with its simplicity and the way set, lighting, costumes and movement meshed so well.
Hailing from Japan, Gasha is described as ‘a new wave of Japanse circus’ and was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening. A contemporary reconstruction of a Bushido acrobat (!) Gasha appeared to be suspended for her acrobatics by the hair. Powerful both visually and stylistically, her performance was interrupted by a technical issue and the crowd rose to her defence as she spun and twirled in a spray of red and white lights.
It’s always interesting to see what is considered the crème de la crème of a festival; I found some of the choices questionable, but overall, as a teaser, there’s clearly some great shows to be seen in Gluttony.
Alex Wheaton
When: Closed
Where: Moa @ Gluttony
Bookings: Closed
★★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. Holden Street Theatres. The Arch. 18 Feb 2026 Media Day
Duane Forrest is his name. Rasta is his game.
I’m telling you now, this man is about to become the darling of Fringe 2026. He’s been here before, so he was already “discovered”. But now, he is “adopted”.
He sings Bob Marley songs, but just some of them. His repertoire is broad and so is his vocal range. Many are the tunes which resonate with his audience. He includes his audience, involves it, encourages it and, above all, enlightens it as he entertains.
His is not a mere musical show. It is a cultural emancipation on several levels. Duane is a Canadian of Jamaican heritage. He has an abundance of locks, the sort we used to call “dreadlocks” but now, thanks to Duane, realise that they are just locks which scored a second-rate label somewhere along the way. Rasta style hair has spiritual roots, so to speak. And also, are a symbol of resistance.
Nazarites, Zion, Rasta, slavery, family trees…such are the references encompassed by this endearing performer.
As much empathy as whites may have, they cannot “be” black. And, largely, are oblivious to the nuances of identity experienced by those who are. Duane Forrest has a way of imparting this. There is no rancour in him. He is a man of sweetness and good spirit. But he has grown through the shadows and has learned the true meanings of Caribbean songs we have chorused in blithe cheer.
Duane’s show is anything but your average one-man musical Fringe show. It is a sophisticated production with excellent audio-visual content as well as a complex lighting plot delivered at Holden Street by Harry Ferguson.
Buffalo Soldier will never sound the same again. But, thanks to Duane, Don’t worry, Be Happy, is now etched deeper, and perchance in future every hearing will be to revive the memory of Duane and his locks.
Samela Harris
When: 18 Feb to 22 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres, The Arch
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
★★★★1/2
Adelaide Fringe. Holden Street Theatres. The Arch. 18 Feb 2026 Media Day
Martha Lott pushes boundaries and pulls triggers in this extraordinary work of her own creation.
Her new play is nothing less than an act of bravery.
It presents a mother and daughter awaiting a school headmaster’s verdict on the choice of captain of the debating team. Tiger mum, Martha, has extremely high expectations of and for her brilliant daughter. Her main debating rival is a talented Chinese student called ChiChi and the competitive fear and loathing are eating into her.
Mum is a former debater who has worked as savvy political strategist, she simply cannot countenance that her daughter is closely challenged and she is consumed by indignation and cultural resentment.
Her outbursts of racial stereotyping are really confronting not only for the daughter but for the audience.
This is not the first play Lott has penned. That Boy was written around the theme of a divergent lad. So, Lott already has broken ground with daring scripts not to mention stupendous performances.
When the daughter of The Debate is called in to see the headmaster, the vituperative mum is left alone in the waiting room. She vents even more spite in a fugue of restless, roaming fury. Therein she brags her power as a strategist. And therein ensues the grand denouement of the play.
The play begins with the two protagonists seated facing each other. Initially, the daughter is fairly monosyllabic and clearly used to her mother’s nagging dominance, Director Nick Fagan makes an odd directorial decision to keep her in profile throughout the first section of the play and, indeed, also at the brilliant climax when Amelia is carrying the action.
This city is familiar with the onstage power and brilliance of the award-winning Martha Lott and, indeed, she is extremely potent in this difficult role she has written for herself. There is a contextual incongruity, however, in the strident ‘Strine style of her delivery as a doyen of the debating culture.
Daughter Amelia Lott-Watson acquits herself magnificently. Lovely voice. Lovely, composed stage presence. It is her first Fringe role, and it is laudable.
The play itself will generate some lively foyer talk. While it deals with social media, cyber bullying, AI and things on the zeitgeist, it also is decidedly un-“woke”. Great grist for the Fringe mill. A must-see.
Samela Harris
When: 18 Feb to 22 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres, The Arch
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au