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Melbourne Fringe Festival 2023 XS Family Program
The eagerly awaited 2023 Melbourne Fringe Festival program has been revealed, promising an exhilarating lineup of 475 events set to illuminate Melbourne from 3 – 22 October 2023. The 2023 XS program, specifically tailored for younger audiences, presents experimental and contemporary performance art. And for families seeking shared experiences, there is no shortage of family-friendly shows, immersive encounters, and engaging activities to enjoy throughout the festival.
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The Little Nests
The Little Nests project at ArtPlay is an enchanting immersive experience where kids are invited to build their own little nests as part of a magical and evolving landscape of shadow puppetry, performance and other-worldly soundscapes, bringing to life stories of climate refuge and safety in evocative, playful ways.
Date: 14 – 15 October 2023
Time: 10 am, 12.30 pm, 2.30 pm (30 minute show + 60 minute exploration)
Location: ArtpPay
Price: $15
Guái
The science-meets-art-and-music installation Guái is a fun exploration of the possibilities of AI with an interactive musical game rooted in fate and ancient myths. The free, immersive installation uses biometric facial analysis and mixed reality to assign kids an amazing, digital monster ‘avatar’ and simultaneously produces a unique individual soundtrack that reacts to their movement.
Date: 5 – 15 October 2023
Time: 10 am – 8 pm (30 minute sessions)
Location: Footscray Community Arts – Performance Space
Price: $20
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Swing
Every great adventure playground has a swing. Melbourne’s is eight metres tall. Chase that giddy rush of wind in your hair as you hop aboard this playful interruption of the everyday. Kids rule here, buckling you in and setting you soaring – and from way up there, you’ll see the city from a whole new perspective.
Come for a swing or come to play spectator of this seriously playful public art event.
Date: 3 – 22 October 2023
Time 12 pm – 7.15 pm (15-minute sessions)
Location: State Library Victoria – Forecourt
Price: FREE
CIRCUS – The Show
Roll up! Roll up! Prepare to enter a world of whimsy, wonder and amazement where your imagination will soar like never before, in this completely re-imagined family circus spectacular! CIRCUS is the latest trailblazer in children’s entertainment – featuring world-class illusions, tumbling acrobats, highly skilled jugglers, breath-taking and elegant aerialists, an endearing clown with his GIGANTIC 6ft balloon, and enough side-splitting comedy to send any grown man running for the toilet!
Date: 14 – 29 October 2023
Time: 2 pm (60 minutes)
Location: Festival Park – The Vault
Price: $29
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KABOOM!
The maddest of mad scientists, Magnus Danger Magnus, is headed to Melbourne for the very first time with a brand new, all-ages electromagnetic extravaganza in KABOOM! He’s exploded his way across the country, lighting fires on stage and setting kids’ curiosity ablaze; now he’s built a fascinating new set of gizmos and gadgets guaranteed to electrify! Utilising a fascinating array of scientific gadgets, join this Perth fan-favourite and multi-award-winning entertainer for this incredible conglomeration of explosions, experiments, hilarity and audience participation in a 60-minute science spectacular!
Date: 14 – 29 October 2023
Time: 12.30 pm (60 minutes)
Location: Festival Park – The Vault
Price: $27
Peek-a-Butoh! Kooks & Spooks
Come and dance and make masks and objects as we create playful rituals to summon Kooks and Spooks through Butoh! Step inside an imaginative world and experience the Japanese art form of Butoh. Get ready to move, shake and make funny shapes with your body, as we jump headfirst into a world of imaginative spirits.
Date: 7 – 8 October 2023
Time: 10 am (75 minutes)
Location: Abbotsford Convent – Industrial School
Price: $6
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Prehysterical
Families are in for a treat when Head First Acrobats bring ‘PreHysterical’ to the Melbourne Fringe Festival Park this October. A hilarious circus show for children and parents of all ages, following three foolish Neanderthals as they struggle to survive the harsh natural world. Avoiding predators, navigating harsh environments, and learning to work together are explored through marvellous circus skills and hilarious slapstick comedy.
Date: 14 – 29 October 2023
Time: 3.30 pm (55 minutes)
Location: Festival Park – The Vault
Price: $29
The Listies presents ROFL – the final season!
For over a decade and a half the award-winning Listies have toured the world doing shows for literally gazillions of kidults (that’s kids and their adults). It’s a double-act sketch comedy for kids about bedtime. It’s funny for all ages.
ROFL sees The Listies tackle the most terrifyingly tortuous family situation of all: BEDTIME. Rich, the exhausted parental proxy, is trying to get an early night while his hapless, hopeless housemate, Matt, deploys every trick in the book to stay up late.
Date: 14 – 29 October 2023
Time: 11 am (55 minutes)
Location: Festival Park – The Vault
Price: $24
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Valuing A Young Audience
Abbotsford Convent and Melbourne Fringe warmly invite children 12 and under and their families, to join us for three performance showings and activities where you will enjoy new work, meet artists, and provide feedback directly to the artists about the performances.
As part of the Convent’s Valuing a Young Audience program, talented performance makers, Sam Gaskin and Johnny Hamilton from Beat Entertainment, Hannah Vrijenhoek, and David Williams have each been developing a new performance work, supported by project facilitator Sue Giles and a bevy of experts in the field.
Date: 21 October 2023
Time: 10 am (2 hours)
Location: Abbotsford Convent – Oratory
Price: $7.50
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We try our best to provide accurate information on kid-friendly events around Victoria but do recommend parents check details directly to confirm dates, times, prices as some details may be subject to change.
Recent Posts
- Melbourne Summer School Holiday Guide 2024-2025
- Must-See Christmas Shows and Performances in Melbourne 2024
- Top Spots for Santa Photos in Melbourne for 2024
- REKOSPECTIVE: The Art of Reko Rennie at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
- Explore the World of “Cats & Dogs” at NGV’s Latest Exhibition
- Australia’s Largest Yayoi Kusama Retrospective Debuts at the NGV in Melbourne
- Van Gogh Returns to THE LUME Melbourne
- Explore Victoria’s Best Orchards for Fruit Picking
- Pick Your Own Cherries at CherryHill Orchards Annual Cherry-Picking Festival
- Explore a Galaxy Far, Far Away at The Fans Strike Back® Exhibition in Melbourne
We try our best to provide accurate information on kid-friendly events around Victoria but do recommend parents check details directly to confirm dates, times, prices as some details may be subject to change.
Looking for fun things to do with the kids?
Explore our kid-friendly directory
