Top Picks for Adelaide Fringe 2026

We have a love-hate relationship with this process, because we want to pick everybody! It's art, not commercialism or a contest.

We should simply celebrate what has been created. Go see something that interests you, who cares if it has no reviews or top picks? Or, take a chance on something you'd never see; it will probably surprise you.

But, since we are an artist-centered outlet, we're happy to do some narrowing down and give some well-deserved shout-outs to Adelaide Fringe artists.

PLUS, we are including bonus picks of Adelaide Fringe shows that have been featured on the podcast or previously reviewed by What the Fringe?! because they are already our Top Picks, and you should see them. Period. End. Of. Story. And it's our blog, so we can do WTF we want.

Top 10 Picks of Adelaide Fringe 2026

Good Man playing at The Courtyard of Curosities

Critically acclaimed performer and writer Connor Morel returns with his unique brand of comedic, intimate storytelling and blistering original songs in this gripping rock monologue backed by an incredible live band. When Connor was 17, his dad turned up unannounced to one of his gigs. Which is great and all, except they had never met before.

Millicent Sarre is Too Tired to Smash (Patriarchy) playing at Guttony

The cost of living crisis rages. Our devices rule our existence. We’re days away from selling a vital organ to afford to enter the housing market, and we still have to decide what to eat for dinner every single night. Being a human in 2026 can be exhausting. We’re all a little burnt out, and in this fresh new musical comedy, award-winning cabaret artist, singer-songwriter, and professional feminist Millicent Sarre seeks to understand why.

the worst of us. playing at Goodwood Theatre & Studios

‘the worst of us.’ explores the messiness of being human, the ways we fail one another, and how we can begin to forgive ourselves. one storyteller. three stories. an eruption of music, spoken word, and hope.

Only Bones playing at The Mill

Explore a microscopic universe in this intimate and mesmerising work of nonverbal physical theatre. Join a jelly-like solo performer as they pluck creatures from evolutionary history, pushing, bending and twisting the laws of physics. The ordinary becomes extraordinary and the strange becomes familiar.

Boombox Bootscoot playing at Plant 4 Bowden

Get ready to bootscoot back in time! Boombox Bootscoot returns with an all-new set of country style covers of your favourite 80s AND 90s hits like you’ve never heard them before. This wild 6-piece band featuring banjo, fiddle, upright bass, rich vocal harmonies and line dancing moves brings a quirky yet classy energy to the retro bangers from artists you know and love.

Wright & Grainger's SELENE playing at The Courtyard of Curosities

A STORY ABOUT THE GODDESS AND THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. A story about the light sides of us, the dark sides of us, and the things we grow up in the orbit of. And about the stuff inside us, all the wild stuff inside us. A radical explosion of an ancient myth about the moon from the internationally award-winning company Wright&Grainger, made with and told by Megan Drury

Hannah Maxwell: BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG playing at The Courtyard of Curosities

A focus group. A pitch meeting. A show like no other. Maxwell needs her next autobiographical theatre show to be a rampant success. She needs YOU for some intensive audience research: which of her personal traumas is most likely to get adapted by Netflix?

The Alphabet of Awesome Science playing at The Garden of Unearthly Delights

Join Lexi and Noel for an hour of carefully crafted chaos, where fascinating words inspire mind-blowing science… that floats, flies, squirts, sprays, ignites and erupts!

Too Clowns playing at The Courtyard of Curosities

WARNING! This is a very clowns show. Probably too clowns for most. It’s also very experimentals. Maybe don’t come(s). (While we haven't seen Penguins, we do have to say, we're excited to see Damien perform with pants on.)

Tits & Teeth playing at Plant 4 Bowden

Comedy, cabaret entertainment at its funniest! Australian queen of cabaret, Dolly Diamond, is in her element delivering lashings of sharp-tongued wit and comedic genius as she interviews much-loved celebrities to uncover what makes them tick. Expect a night that's a bit naughty, a little risqué and packed with innuendo, all in Dolly’s dazzling Diamond style.

Bonus Top Pick # 1:

Improv Battle Royale - performing at Gluttony

From the madcap improvisers of Oscar-Winning Improv and 2025's SOLD OUT Improvised Movie Mash-Up comes this BRAND-NEW, completely improvised game show! Six of the sharpest, funniest, and most versatile national and international performers are thrown

into the ring, armed only with their wits. They'll face off in a series of high-stakes, 'Whose Line Is It Anyway'-style improv games!

Lauren, host of What the Fringe?! Podcast will perform in one of the shows. So yes, we are a little biased. Go see any night, you will not regret it.

A bonus to this bonus, go see Lauren's solo show HOLY O. We can't list it as a top pick, because, like, nepotism, but you bet we'll take a hot second to give the show a shout out.

Bonus Top Picks # 2: Shows on the Podcast in 2026 (Can't wait to see your shows BFFs)

Listen to our interviews with these artists! 

An Evening with Dame Granny Smith performing at The Courtyard of Curosities

Dame Smith (not to be confused with her tarty cousin Maggie!) is witty and larger than life, if perhaps a little senile in her old age. From her vaudeville debut at age five to her breakthrough role in Disney’s Snow White, Smith will take you on an incredible journey through her storied life and multi-decade career, all told with her trademark candour and wit. A love letter to the grand dames of the golden age and a roast of showbiz lore, reminding you to cherish the older people in your life before they reach their best-before date.

CADEL: Lungs on Legs performing at Goodwood Theatre & Studio

From down under to the top of the podium — experience the riveting true story of Cadel Evans, the first and only Australian to win the Tour de France. Pedalling live on the bike Evans rode to victory. Delves fuses grit, storytelling and heart-pounding energy in a breathtaking theatrical ride. A high-octane tribute to endurance, ambition and the spirit of Australian sport.

Casey Jay Andrews: The Wild Unfeeling World performing at The Courtyard of Curosities and Feast of Words playing at Treasure 1860

A tender, furious and fragile reimagining of Moby Dick from multi award winning writer & storyteller Casey Jay Andrews.

A supper club celebrating the art of storytelling, live music and shared food. Around the table, poets, playwrights, authors and musicians pair stories and music with a three-course tasting menu of small, seasonal plates crafted by the Treasury 1860 head chef.

DUST performing at The Mill

England-2020-Pontefract-Lockdown-2:20AM. A man fights for each breath, determined to make it home to Dot. In his isolated, morphine-fuelled delirium, we witness a frail man reliving his fragmented past: a boxer, a soldier, a boilermaker, a miner—dancing with Lady Luck as he battles to win. Dust is dedicated to the servicemen who fought for their country, the seven men who tragically lost their lives in the 1973 Lofthouse Colliery disaster, and to every miner who lived their life in darkness so we could live in the light. 

Feast of Words performing at

My Grandpa Doesn't Follow Me On Instagram: A Guide To Trans-generational Road-Tripping performing at The Mill

They drove from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands – one grandparent, one grandchild, one unspoken truth. Drawn from hundreds of real Instagram Stories posted during the trip, Yoz revisits what they shared with their grandpa – and the secrets they didn’t. Blending clowning, found footage, and intimate confession, 'My Grandpa Doesn’t Follow Me On Instagram' unravels what it means to hide yourself from the people you love.

'The Soaking of Vera Shrimp' from Patch of Blue performing at Holden Street Theatres

During an almighty rainstorm, Vera Shrimp discovers she has a remarkable gift. She can read raindrops, each one having soaked up an emotion from someone the water has come into contact with. But as her family disintegrates, Vera’s extraordinary ability takes on a darker and more urgent significance. Part science lesson, part storytelling, this is a poignant and playful solo-show about love, grief, and never giving up.

Bonus Top Picks #3: Shows We Have Previously Reviewed (we love them and you will too!)

Just to Be Close to You performing at The Courtyard of Curosities

My love for Cam and this show is so deep. He is a master at connecting with the audience.

Meg in the Magic Toy Shop performing at Gluttony

I've said it before, I will say it again: Meg needs a TV show. This showhits on so many levels. Listen to our Interview with Merrilyn Greer HERE.

Monski Mouse's Baby Cabaret Deluxe performing at The Garden of Unearthly Delights

Get ready to bop till you drop with your little ones. You will be singing and dancing along, living in a moment of joy.

SMILE: The Story of Charlie Chaplin performing at The Courtyard of Curosities

Oh, this show! My heart was captivated by Marcel's tenderness and honesty.

The Routine performing at Goodwood Theatre & Studios

How does a story told only with movement and music bring me to tears and make the world a better place?

Wright & Grainger's ORPHEUS performing at The Courtyard of Curosities

I am still singing the songs from this show. "Color me in, so I'm not just black and white." Master storytellers.

Kirsty Mann: Corpse performing at the Courtyard of Curosities

We saw the WIP version, and did not review it, but it was SO good. We can't wait to see the final version. We believe EVERY bit of this story.