Review: Naughty, and whole lot of fun – Something Wicked sums up Sydney Fringe Festival 2025

• The Sydney Fringe Festival’s lights dim tonight as the 2025 events come to a close.
• We took in one last show, Something Wicked, which personifies this year’s festival.
• Next year sees new leadership, building on a strong foundation.

 “Something Wicked” is a burlesque show under a tent in Sydney’s Entertainment quarter. And like the rest of this year’s Sydney Fringe Festival, which sadly comes to an end tonight, it delivers on its promise.

There were lots of naughty bits. A wicked sense of humour. And a huge sense of fun. The sell-out crowd at The Bunker in Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter loved every minute.

The show won Best in Circus at last year’s festival.  We can see why.

The cast run down prepares you for something different:
Porcelain Alice swallows swords and sunlight.
Gemima Jones dances through love and ruin.
Bella Babydoll is sweetness, blooming and bewitched.
Jordan Adams hangs by secrets and silk.
Miss Fury feeds the fire.

All of this comes with a bit of a health warning: Strobe Lighting, Haze, Sudden Loud Noises, Sexual Themes, Depiction of Sexual Acts, Nudity. Our show has a lot of fire arts and sideshow elements.

There is indeed lots of fire. And lots of nudity, too. And in a way it was the perfect show to see out this year’s festival, which was brave in scale and courageous in spirit.

The 2025 program featured more than 460 events, showcasing the work of over 2,900 artists across ten festival hubs and four city precincts. From the return of the Eternity Playhouse to immersive new works like When Night Comes, the 2025 Fringe reimagined spaces and re-energised Sydney’s cultural map.

Never Mainstream

As a fringe festival, the goal has never been to imitate the mainstream. Instead, this year’s Fringe leaned into its outlier identity, foregrounding First Nations voices, queer storytelling, new Australian writing, and immersive experiences.

Works such as She Threaded Dangerously won acclaim for their fearless exploration of teenage girlhood, while the Queer Hub delighted audiences with comedy and cabaret that refused to play safe.

Free street performances, laneway activations, and accessible ticket prices ensured that the festival was not only ambitious, but inclusive.

In a year marked by rising costs across the arts sector, this commitment to affordability gave more people the chance to experience the joy and surprise of fringe theatre, music, dance, circus, and visual art.

Social media has been alive with enthusiasm from audiences and artists:

• “So much energy everywhere — every corner has a surprise. Sydney feels alive again.” — Instagram post from a Fringe audience member.
• “Being part of Fringe this year felt liberating. The freedom to experiment is what makes this festival special.” — X (Twitter) post by a performing artist.
• “She Threaded Dangerously is a triumph. Raw, unsettling, and absolutely unmissable.” — Sydney arts blogger on Threads.

The reactions reflect what many in the arts community have noted: Sydney Fringe 2025 has been a reminder that risk and experimentation are vital to a healthy cultural landscape.

Courage and Challenge

Festival organisers deserve particular praise for their courage in going beyond the expected. Yes, there is an expected in fringe these days.

They expanding into new precincts, reopened long-shuttered venues, and curated a vast, risk-embracing program.

These days, when cultural icons like the MCA are forced to charge and Opera Australia is burdened by debt and is forced to play safe, the Fringe expanded.

That ambition, combined with the accessibility of cheap tickets and free events, has given independent artists the visibility they rarely receive in larger, commercial festivals.

Next Year

This year also marks a turning point in leadership. Long-time Festival Director Kerri Glasscock steps down after 12 years, handing the reins to Patrick Kennedy.

Kennedy inherits not a cautious institution, but a festival in creative flux — one that is proving its relevance and daring even in uncertain times.

Kennedy is lucky. The Minns Government has made great strides to bring back Sydney’s nightlife, with a Ministers like John Graham changing the environment to try and encourage the arts and entertainment industry back onto the streets and into the theatres.

As the lights go down on Sunday night, the legacy of 2025 will be clear: a festival that dared to go beyond, and a new leadership ready to build on that success.

For last minute tickets: https://sydneyfringe.com/daily-diary/

Otherwise, see you next year!