Adelaide Fringe 2026

Adelaide Fringe has unveiled its 2026 program, igniting the countdown to another remarkable season of creativity, culture and connection. With more than 1500 shows spanning comedy, cabaret, circus, theatre, music, visual art, interactive works and large-scale immersive experiences, Australia’s biggest arts festival will once again transform Adelaide into one of the world’s most bustling cultural destinations.

Running from 20 February to 22 March 2026, Adelaide Fringe will activate hundreds of venues, precincts and pop-up locations across the CBD, suburbs and regional South Australia, from iconic hubs to intimate neighbourhood spaces, injecting colour, energy and imagination into every corner of the state.

Beloved Fringe institutions including Gluttony, The Garden of Unearthly Delights, Rhino Room, Fool’s Paradise, Goodwood Theatres, Courtyard of Curiosities, Plant 4 Bowden, Arkaba Hotel, Holden Street Theatres and dozens more will once again create a constellation of festival hotspots across the city and suburbs

Venue and Program Highlights;
● Gluttony will host a strong program of First Nations–led works at Tandanya, featuring powerful storytelling, contemporary performance and collaborations that foreground Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices. Highlights include Aboriginal Comedy All-stars,
● The Smartphone Orchestra and Adelaide Youth Orchestra are teaming up on a unique experience at the Star Theatres where the audience helps create The Score.
● Holden Street Theatres’ program is jam packed with local and international theatre shows including the Edinburgh Fringe sellout, ‘Eat the Rich’.
● Goodwood Theatre will be home to the Australian premier of Cadel: Lungs on Legs after sellout shows throughout the UK, with the show performing the entire season across February and March.
● The newly refurbished Mortlock Library, which was recently noted as the second most beautiful library in the world, will host a stunning season of Orpheus and Eurydice by Fringe favourites Wright and Grainger.
● The West End delivers an exciting program, with Arthur Art House returning along with Infamous Circus back in the Western Parklands and new to the Fringe Lassu Cosmic Cabaret Circus in a Big Top tent, taking over Light Square.
● Immersive Worlds, a new festival initiative presented in partnership with NRMA Insurance and Novatech Creative Technologies, showcasing Fringe’s rapidly expanding landscape of digital, sensory and experiential art. This year’s program invites audiences into next-generation VR worlds such as Monsieur Vincent, an interactive experience of works painted by Van Gogh, Surround Sync VR experiences at the Mercury Cinema and boundary-pushing immersive film. Anchoring the series is a suite of full-dome works at Olympic House, including the return of the cult favourite Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon. Following its previous sell-out seasons, this 360-degree fusion of sound, art and space is back by popular demand.
● Another highlight in the 2026 program will be Cathedral Chiaroscuro, an immersive fusion of light, projection, and music set to transform St Francis Xavier Cathedral in the heart of the city on Wakefield street into a visual masterpiece.

With artists arriving from all over Australia and around the world, and audiences returning year after year to make Fringe part of their summer tradition, the 2026 season promises to be one of the most dynamic in the festival’s history.