Melbourne’s most delightfully strange arts gathering is back, with the Festival of Surrealisms celebrating its 10th year with a weekend of wonderfully weird performances at Temperance Hall in South Melbourne.
Running across two packed days on 14-15 March 2026, the festival brings together independent poets, theatre makers, comics, puppeteers, filmmakers and experimental artists for a rolling program that embraces the absurdities of life. Audiences can purchase a ticket for a single day or the full weekend, with the freedom to drop in and out of performances throughout the day.
Produced by Captain W.N. Fish, also known as award winning playwright Bill Marshall, alongside co producer Doctor Oculus, Marco Lawrence, the festival promises a creative mix of theatre, satire and offbeat storytelling. According to organisers, it is the only arts festival that has been running since 1978, although with a hiatus of more than 30 years along the way.
This year’s program features a range of short, sharp and imaginative performances. Among them is the global premiere of The World’s First Successful Mouth Transplant, a new play written by Bill Marshall and starring David Macrae, Jonathan Griffiths and Gerard Lewis-Fitzgerald, directed by Marco Lawrence.
Other highlights include The Writer and the Demon, written by Marshall and directed by Jacob Oberman, as well as The Adventures of Henry, another surreal stage work from the same creative team.
The festival also features B-Grade Monster Melodrama, written and directed by Eddy Burger, and One Ablution, a multimedia satire by comedian Helchild that imagines a chaotic live satellite interview between a fictional Australian senator and US President Donald Dump.
“The festival is a bit like unpasteurised milk….tasty, direct from the cow, so fresh you can taste the green of the grass. But not without risk. You’ve been warned.” Creativity’s Midwife
View the full program, book tix and find out more here: https://linktr.ee/FestivalOfSurrealisms
