Scarborough is about to get a Fringe makeover, with greater than 50 performances set to take over the suburb throughout eight jam-packed days as a part of the inaugural FringeJoin Stirling.
Ranging from comedy, cabaret, music and theatre to household leisure, the Scarborough Sports and Community Club will host the shows as a part of Fringe World 2026 from Thursday, February 5, to Sunday, February 8, and Thursday, February 12, to Sunday, February 15.
The performances will take place throughout two purpose-built areas: an intimate 80-seat room and a 220-seat theatre.
Among the acts lined up for FringeJoin Stirling are Marcel Cole with Smile: The Story of Charlie Chaplin, hypnotist Matt Hale with Funbelievable! 90s Rewind, and Anna Sarcich together with her string quartet Flamingo Strings performing their family-friendly Are You Afraid of the Bach? and their adults-only present Classical AF.
Telling the story of Charlie Chaplin within the type of the person himself, Cole has been touring his present for round a year-and-a-half, together with a latest sold-out run on the Edinburgh Fringe.
Named after legendary mime Marcel Marceau, Cole stated it was fortuitous that he’s now performing a mime present however he loves each minute of it.
“There’s something about people growing up with Charlie Chaplin films that makes him super universal; everyone, from all cultures and languages, knows him because there’s no language in his films,” Cole stated.
“But while pretty much everyone knows of Charlie Chaplin, not many people really know much about him. So I think it’s really fun to be able to bring his story to life.
“All ages can enjoy it, kids love it, and I love it because it’s like a cartoon. The physical comedy is great, chases, trips, falls, hits on the head, even kicks in the bum. It’s that kind of slapstick everyone understands and enjoys.”
Cole kicks off his nine-show Perth Fringe tour on January 31 and will carry out on the Scarborough Sports and Community Club on Saturday, February 7.
Hale, a Scarborough native, will carry his 90s-themed present to his residence suburb for 4 performances from Tuesday, February 10, to Sunday, February 15.
He has been travelling the world along with his shows for the previous 15 years and stated the efficiency can be filled with 90s bangers. Audiences might count on a fast-paced, interactive expertise filled with laughs and numerous fun.
“People can be absolutely buzzing by the time they leave the venue, whether they were on stage or whether they were in the audience, and that’s always their choice,” Hale stated.
“It’s great to be able to do a show in my local area, and I really hope the community gets behind the whole Scarborough program, because there’s a wide range of fantastic acts on offer.”
While not revealing the key to his craft, Hale stated it’s the viewers’s creativeness and interplay that make each present unpredictable.
“Much like when we watch a movie … your heartbeat can actually go faster when you become scared, even though you know that monster’s not real, the person’s not getting chased, they’re completely fine in real life. That’s sort of how hypnosis works,” he stated.
“There’s a lot more to it than that, but it’s really just a psychological process of how you can use your imagination to focus on something so much that it starts to feel real in that moment.
“Sometimes it results in the most outrageous dance moves you’d never think someone in front of you could do, or just the worst dance moves ever.”
Sarcich is making her Fringe debut together with her Perth-based academic string quartet Flamingo Strings, which brings classical music to life in a fun and participating manner for all ages.
In Scarborough, Flamingo Strings will carry out their adults-only present Classical AF on Friday, February 13, a hilarious, interactive crash course in how music works, adopted by their family-friendly present Are You Afraid of the Bach? on Sunday, February 15.
The group {of professional} musicians from the WA Symphony Orchestra has spent the previous seven years performing academic shows for main school-aged youngsters.
Sarcich stated classical music might be fun and participating and hoped to encourage new audiences to get pleasure from it by their shows.
“It’s going to be fun to reach new audiences that might not have seen classical music or thought classical music is not really for them,” she stated.
“It’s actually not this elitist, highfalutin thing that people think it is. It’s actually very accessible if you just know a little bit about it.
“All you need to know is a little bit, and then your world gets opened up.”
Sarcich stated the group introduced classical music in a manner audiences have been unlikely to have skilled earlier than.
“There’s lots of interaction with the audience, so it’s not just sitting and listening to us talk about it or play it,” she stated.
“We make it much more casual, as opposed to a far-away symphony orchestra on a stage … We try to be as close to the audience as we possibly can.”
For particulars concerning the shows acting at FringeJoin Stirling and to buy tickets, go to fringeworld.com.au.
