4 Adelaide Fringe shows set in nature for you to see this festival season

The Gar­den of Unearth­ly delights is all kinds of awe­some, but it’s not the only city gar­den to get your fix of the Ade­laide Fringe this year. 

If you’re look­ing to get away from the crowds, there are some incred­i­ble shows set in Belair Nation­al Park, Mount Lofty Botan­ic Gar­den and Ade­laide Botan­ic Gar­den. Why not head to one of these beau­ti­ful spots and make the most of the fringe season?

There are heaps of shows to choose from – here are 4 that are not-to-be missed:

1. Yarnin Pan­gari (Talk­ing Spir­it) Festival

Join world-renowned per­former and cul­tur­al ambas­sador Ngar­rind­jeri Elder Major ​‘Moogy’ Sum­n­er for a unique fes­ti­val of shar­ing cul­ture and heal­ing the spir­it in the gor­geous nat­ur­al sur­rounds of Belair Nation­al Park (main oval and pavillion). 

Fol­low­ing a smok­ing cer­e­mo­ny, the day will con­sist of inspir­ing and inter­ac­tive dance per­for­mances, work­shops (weav­ing, paint­ing, wood carv­ing, boomerang and spear throw­ing), sto­ry­telling and yarn­ing circles. 

The fes­ti­val will con­clude with a spe­cial sun­set cor­ro­boree, which every­one is wel­come and encour­aged to join in for.

When:

• Sat­ur­day 26 Feb­ru­ary, 1 pm

Dura­tion: 8 hours 

Where:Main Oval and Pavil­ion at Belair Nation­al Park

Tick­ets: $25, book­ings via Ade­laide Fringe.

2. Late Night Celes­tial Gar­den Sound Bath

Head to the Ade­laide Botan­ic Gar­den for Sound Bath by Sacred Res­o­nance, where nature springs to life with­in the lush rain­for­est sanctuary. 

The show incor­po­rates the live sounds cre­at­ed by plants – a relax­ing and trans­for­ma­tive musi­cal performance. 

Sacred Res­o­nance weave a live per­for­mance using sounds and vibra­tions played by the plants as their live elec­tri­cal data is con­vert­ed into music.

The music is cre­at­ed by data streamed in real-time from the plants, infused and accom­pa­nied with cos­mic syn­the­sis­ers, crys­tal singing bowls, Tibetan singing bowls and oth­er celes­tial sounds to cre­ate a botan­i­cal symphony. 

When:

• Fri­day 25 Feb­ru­ary, 11 pm 
• Sat­ur­day 26 Feb­ru­ary, 1 pm

Dura­tion: 60 minutes 

Where: Bicen­ten­ni­al Con­ser­va­to­ry at Ade­laide Botan­ic Garden

Tick­ets: $64, book­ings via Ade­laide Fringe.

3. Memo­r­i­al for For­got­ten Plants 

At this show, you can move with the per­form­ers and be drawn into an inti­mate par­tic­i­pa­to­ry per­for­mance that reflects on the loss of native plants from our sub­ur­ban landscape. 

For the first time at Mount Lofty Botan­ic Gar­den, the show incor­po­rates art, dance and music in response to the chang­ing landscape. 

This par­tic­i­pa­to­ry per­for­mance engages the audi­ence and gives hope that with the right amount of care we can see some of these plants reap­pear again.

When:

• Sun­day 20 Feb­ru­ary, 10 am, 12 pm and 2 pm 

Dura­tion: 30 minutes 

Where: Mount Lofty Botan­ic Garden

Tick­ets: $22, book­ings via Ade­laide Fringe.

4. Celes­tial Gar­dens: The Secret Sounds of Plants

Celes­tial Gar­dens (not to be mis­tak­en with Late Night Celes­tial Gar­den Sound Bath that we men­tioned ear­li­er) fea­tures a large-scale inter­ac­tive plant music instal­la­tion. With a cho­rus of 12 singing plants, it utilis­es tech­nol­o­gy to trans­late bio­da­ta to music.

The expe­ri­en­tial instal­la­tion aims to assist in start­ing a dia­logue nec­es­sary to re-estab­lish a bal­anced rela­tion­ship between human­i­ty and the greater envi­ron­ment by giv­ing nature the voice to speak.

When:

• Fri­day 18 Feb­ru­ary, 7:30 pm
• Sat­ur­day 19 Feb­ru­ary to Sun­day 20 Feb­ru­ary, 8 pm each day
• Wednes­day 23 Feb­ru­ary to Sun­day 27 Feb­ru­ary, 8 pm each day

Dura­tion: 90 min­utes to 2 hours and 30 minutes 

Where: Bicen­ten­ni­al Con­ser­va­to­ry, Ade­laide Botan­ic Garden

Tick­ets: $40, book­ings via Ade­laide Fringe.

Can’t get enough of this March mad­ness in nature? Check out the full line-up of shows at the Ade­laide Fringe.