'8' The Play 31 Jan-2 Feb Thurs-Sat 8pm Chapel off Chapel A play about Marriage Equality - in 2 parts. Uncover the truth about marriage for gay and lesbian Americans. "8"- a new play by Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar) demystifies the debate around marriage equality. Event Details ▸
Act A Lady 16-27 Jan Wed-Sun La Mama Courthouse Reviewers worldwide continue to rave about Jordon Harrison's gender-bender tongue-in-cheek comedy, which is receiving its Australian premiere. It's 1927 and the men of a small prohibition-era town in Midwest America have decided to put on a performance for charity dressed in "fancy-type, women-type clothes". Event Details ▸
Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes of Fame 30 Jan-10 Feb Wed-Sun La Mama Courthouse Part of Midsumma at La Mama. Noel Anderson's provocative play 'Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes of Fame' charts the 60s pop icon's struggle for success and his attempted assassination by radical feminist, Valerie Solanas. Event Details ▸
Bent Burlesque 16-19 Jan 7pm for 9pm show Red Bennies The benders are back! An action-packed night showcasing Australia's best vajazzle razzlers blowing you away with their twisted tease, erratic erotica and the delectatious delivery of Bent Burlesque with the world's reigning queen of burlesque, Imogen Kelly and the Bendy Burly All Stars. Premier Event   Event Details ▸
Best of the Fest Midsumma Fundraiser Wed 23 Jan 8pm Chapel off Chapel Hosted by Tina del Twist and Dolly Diamond. There will be Musicians, Musicals, Burlesque dancers, Circus acts, Comedians, Drag and even an Erotic Finger Puppet Show! All the funds raised will go back into Midsumma's arts development fund. The must-see event of Festival 2013 as Midsumma celebrates our 25th Anniversary. Event Details ▸
Between the Cracks 1-2 Feb 7.30pm The Substation "A celebration of difference in a world obsessed with bland cookie cutter celebrity" - The Age. Queer audiences around the world know Yana Alana and Tha Paranas as a post-modern feminist outfit with both talent and clout. Event Details ▸
Bohemia Cabaret Club Midsumma Showcase 13 Jan-3 Feb Wed-Sun 5pm Bohemia Cabaret Club South Melbourne's newest cabaret club & burlesque bar is proud to present a showcase of queer themed and helmed performance, music and art every week over Midsumma. Featuring: Mr Boylesque Australia - Raven; 'Cirque Des Femmes', 'The Burlesque Underground'; and Grand Guignol shock theatre. Event Details ▸
Cock 17-27 Jan Wed-Sun La Mama Theatre 'Cock' is a puzzle of short plays, song and dance, which creates new language and form to tell relevant stories not just in the queer world, but in terms of a world view of the culture at large. It's political, it's personal and it's fun. Part of Midsumma at La Mama. Written and devised by Kevin McGreal. Event Details ▸
Confessions of a Drag Queen 24 Jan 8:30pm Chapel off Chapel After three successful seasons in New Zealand, Confessions of a Drag Queen is ready to hit the Australian stages! A cacophony of colours with style, flair, attitude, glitter and glamour straight from the steamy shores of Brazil. And that's just the first outfit! Event Details ▸
DEANlicious 17, 24, 31 Jan 7:30pm The 86 Anything but beige! This year Dean Arcuri's losing the script & inviting you to see him in the raw - vocally that is. No trimmings, no tassels, just a man with a mic and a hell of a lot of music. Event Details ▸
Dolly Diamond 'Welcome to my Lady Garden' 25-26 Jan 8pm Red Bennies Dolly Diamond's raunchy return from Europe will raise the roof for 2 Nights Only at Red Bennies. Filled with a barrow-load of new material she has cultivated whilst back in the UK, this is set to be Dolly's raunchiest show to date and she can't wait to reap and sow with her much-loved fans. Event Details ▸
Fag Boy & The Married Guy 16-27 Jan Wed-Sun La Mama Theatre What would you do if you found the school bully and your tormentor from high school on Grindr, ten years later? 'Fag Boy & The Married Guy', a psychological sexual thriller, is the latest work by Tunks Productions. Part of Midsumma at La Mama. Event Details ▸
Festival Late Night Hub 2013 24-25 Jan, 31 Jan-1 Feb Chapel off Chapel Set your alarms for sundown, the Midsumma 2013 Festival Late-night Hub is here. Acoustic and stripped performers will delight you as you unwind after work and get ready for the weekend ahead. Event Details ▸
Finucane& Smith's Caravan Burlesque 31 Jan-9 Feb Wed-Sun Northcote Town Hall City of Darebin presents Finucane & Smith. The legendary, indefinable, genre-busting salon of seductive, subversive and electrifying acts that has critics raving and audiences around the world in raptures is coming to the Northcote Town Hall! Event Details ▸
Gaybies 15-19 Jan, Tues - Sat 7:30pm, Sat 4pm Southbank Theatre, The Sumner Real-life stories from children of same-sex parents, surrogate mums, donor dads, co-parents and guardians. Created by Midsumma favourite Dean Bryant and presented at MTC's astonishing Southbank Theatre, Gaybies is a special 25th birthday commission from Midsumma. Premier Event   Event Details ▸
Geraldine Hickey in Turns Out I Do Like Sundried Tomatoes 17,24,26,31 Jan; 7,9 Feb The Order of Melbourne A show about finding your true sexuality later in life... Geraldine Hickey (The Librarians ABC TV, The Comedy Channel FOX, Triple MMM - Radio) takes us on a brilliantly funny journey as she takes a reflective look back on her life. Event Details ▸
Gobsmacked: Showbiz and Dating 15 Jan-3 Feb Tues-Sun The Butterfly Club Fabulously Single Darling! Joined by her BGBF (best_gay_boyfriend), Jamie Burgess, Nikki Aitken bares her single girl's soul in a musical-theatre-meets-cabaret showcase of spilt chocolate, spirit-fingers and spoilt divas. Featuring all-original music. Event Details ▸
Goldilocks 19, 26 Jan, 2 Feb 7:30pm Hares & Hyenas Laughs, songs, friends & porridge. Goldilocks, what a bitch! She eats your food and sleeps around and these fellas aren't taking it lying down - that's their turf! Skits, songs and stand-up as cabaret & comedy combust thanks to the humorous escapades of Ash Unicomb & Dean Arcuri. Event Details ▸
Grindr : A Love Story? 17-19 Jan 9pm Gasworks Arts Park Back by popular demand! After a sell-out 2012 season, Grindr : A Love Story? returns for 3 shows only! Nath Valvo is addicted to Grindr, he is not alone. Join this award-winning comedian as he dives head first into the most influential application to hit the gay scene since fake tan. Event Details ▸
HAIR: The Rock Musical 31 Jan-2 Feb, 6-9,13-17 Feb Chapel off Chapel Midsumma Of Love. Hair tells the story of a group of politically active, long-haired hippies living a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War. The musical is renowned for its profane depiction of the use of illegal drugs, treatment of sexuality, irreverence for the American flag and the controversial nude scene. Premier Event   Event Details ▸
Here & After - by Steven Dawson 16 Jan-9 Feb Tues-Sat 8pm, except 26 Jan Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre Live or dead, no-one's perfect! It's 1942 and Michael has finally met the man of his dreams. Tom is everything you could want: tall, charming, good looking and American. The only trouble is, he may also be dead. Dark and twisted, hilarious and violent. Event Details ▸
Here Lies Henry 22-27 Jan 7:30pm Theatre Works An intriguing comedy/drama that promises to keep you in a constant state of arousal. Henry seems a little on edge. He is a man with a mission to tell us something we don't already know. But who is Henry and why does he have such a compulsive aversion to the truth?! Event Details ▸
Iron Man 23-25 Jan 9pm Conduit Art (Window) Hot, pressed and steamy! Witness the fitness of Iron Man! Melbourne's premiere pop up shop window ironing strip-show! Expect erotic bicep flexing, exotic hip swaggering and unparalleled ironing! Negotiate a price and item of clothing and Iron Man will strip and steam for you. Event Details ▸
Kitsch in Synch 16-20 Jan 7pm Chapel off Chapel A Deranged Domestic Drag Drama. Welcome to the zany, madcap world of a paranoid post-modern perfectionist housewife! After a sold out season at the 2012 NZ Fringe Festival, Pollyfilla is excited to present the Australian premiere of her latest work Event Details ▸
Midsumma's Playing-In-The-Raw at The Chapel 12 Jan 2,9 Feb 2pm Chapel off Chapel In-your-face, in-the-raw - acclaimed gay theatre, raw. Taking the play readings out of the chairs and the productions out of the theatre, plus setting you up on a spicy date with some of the world's most internationally acclaimed writers & plays. Event Details ▸
Monologue of a Deaf Woman 18,20 Jan The Bluestone Church Arts Space A one woman piece about life love and the universe from a deaf gay woman's perspective. Medina Sumovic and Stephanie Linder present to you this powerful, awe-inspiring piece Off the back of their Fringe Festival success Silent Monologues. Event Details ▸
Naked Boys Singing 30 Jan-1 Feb Gasworks Arts Park The hit show hailed by audiences world-wide returns to Melbourne for a strictly limited season. This hilarious long-running Off-Broadway musical revue kicks down the taboo of the male body with all singing, all dancing, all gorgeous, all Australian, and unashamedly, all naked boys. Event Details ▸
Polecats 6 - 9 Feb Gasworks Arts Park Following a national tour with sold out season at the Opera House, POLECATS comes to Melbourne thrilling audiences with its breathtaking and unique marriage of contemporary dance, ballet and pole dancing. Event Details ▸
Psycho Beach Party 11,12, 14-19 Jan 7:30pm Theatre Works Charles Busch's camp classic is the perfect bipolar summertime party in St Kilda. Presented by Little Ones Theatre and Theatre Works. Camp classic, Psycho Beach Party, follows the schizophrenic world of Chicklet, a Gidget-esque nerd with a dream to surf. Premier Event   Event Details ▸
Return to the Black Forest-The X18 Burlesque 31 Jan-2 Feb 7pm Red Bennies Return to the fairytales of Grimm like you've never seen them before and give them over to the depths of your adult mind. Be prepared for the darkest, dirtiest dreams from the denizens of the Black Forest as they come alive in a wild ride of erotic tales, burlesque beauty and extraordinary, rippling psychosexual circus. Event Details ▸
The Bad Barber Shop Burlesque Show 24-26 Jan Red Bennies Cannibals, Man Eating Plants, Cross Dressing Transylvanians come to Midsumma Festival for you! Smash hit of Adelaide Feast Festival, Bad Barber Shop is an extraordinary showcase of queer talent in what is set to be one of the all time gay festival crowd pleasers. Event Details ▸
The Beat Goes On 19-20 Jan Starting point: Outside the Visitor Centre at Federation Square Melbourne's cheeky beat history - a guided tour that explores the secret world of Melbourne's historic gay beat culture. As the trail marches through the city streets, stories of what was once one of the few ways that men could meet others like themselves are told. Event Details ▸
The Cost Of Love 17-27 Jan Thurs-Sun The Butterfly Club What would you pay for love to NOT find you? The love game is one that Gabe has excused himself from; rather he lives by a set of rules that prevent him from finding it. But what happens when his anti-love quest leads him into dangerous territory? Event Details ▸
The Dead Ones 29 Jan-3 Feb Theatre Works Presented by Vitalstatistix, Margie Fischer & Theatre Works. Margie Fischer's solo show explores death, memory, family and the power of objects through storytelling and photography. Margie became fascinated with what is left behind when loved ones die and documented her feelings and the processes involved. Event Details ▸
The LOL Big Gay Comedy Night 17,24,26,31 Jan 7,9,14 Feb The Order of Melbourne Laugh Out Loud Comedy. It's back! The lights are on and the microphones are live as Midsumma's very own gay comedy club returns for its sixth fabulous year! A night of brilliant comedy from Australia's best gays. See your favourite gay comedy stars from radio, stage and screen. Event Details ▸
The Moulin Beige 17, 24, 31 Jan 7pm Burlesque Bar Outstanding Comedy Cabaret. Midsumma's hottest weekly fix of queer cabaret, sexy circus, vaudeville and burlesque. Hosted by the hilariously disturbed Dirk Von Danke and featuring special guests from Melbourne’s cabaret underworld, including cheeky naked accordionist Liz Skitch, WRONGTOWN and two ripped circus boys. Event Details ▸
The Prince's Quest - Adult Performance 18-26 Jan Tues-Sun 7:30pm Northcote Town Hall A fairytale romance like no other. A young prince sent by his parents on a quest to find his true love, discovers much more than he expected when he falls in love with another prince. A hilarious, slightly naughty and inspiring adult musical comedy, exploring the idea that a fairytale romance does not have to be heterosexual. Premier Event Event Details ▸
The Prince's Quest - Family Show 20,23 Jan Sun & Wed 2pm Northcote Town Hall A fairytale romance like no other. A young prince sent by his parents on a quest to find his true love, discovers much more than he expected when he falls in love with another prince. A hilarious, inspiring shortened musical comedy matinee designed to challenge stereotypes and promote positive messages to children. Premier Event Event Details ▸
Tom Sharah in It's Raining Me 25 Jan 7.30pm Chapel off Chapel Fasten your seatbelts - it's going to be a fabulous night! Winner of the Sydney Cabaret Showcase, and star of Ten's Priscilla-based entertainment show I Will Survive, Tom Sharah has an incurable case of charisma. Tom emerged from the womb with an extravagant finger-snap and a smart high-kick, and has barely drawn breath since. Event Details ▸
Transit 23 Jan-1 Feb Wed-Fri 7pm Gasworks Arts Park What's your travel story? Everyone has one... They can be wild and weird, funny and thought-provoking, entertaining and disastrous. 'Transit' is a live theatre production created especially for Midsumma using verbatim-style narratives to explore journeys in both a literal and a metaphorical sense. Event Details ▸
TWUNKS (Past tense of twinks) 1-2 Feb 7pm The GH Hotel Showroom A camp-as-tits comedy night. Gay comedy powerhouses Nath Valvo, Joel Creasey and Thomas Jaspers are teaming up for a night of stand-up, music and booze. No two shows will be the same as the lads have lined up some very special guest appearances. Event Details ▸
Va Va Boombah 2: Step Right Up! 18 Jan 7.30pm Thornbury Theatre Melbourne's only fat burlesque troop shakes it again! Get ready to be amazed, inspired, amused and titillated. Fierce, funny, flirty, sexy, nerdy, political and unrelentingly fat-tastic, Va Va Boombah is set to be a night to remember. We know you're ready for this jelly, Melbourne. Event Details ▸
Vieux Carré by Tennessee Williams 17 Jan-3 Feb Tues-Sun fortyfivedownstairs Sex, art and the search for connection. A young man leaves his family and hometown to broaden his horizons. Nothing unusual in that. But, when the young man is Tennessee Williams the result is a visceral and enthralling portrait of the formative years of one of the world's greatest queer artists. Premier Event   Event Details ▸