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Nelson Fringe Festival 2026
We are welcoming the return of the Nelson Fringe Festival for 2026 with a tonne of events for everyone!
Tickets
The Nelson Fringe Festival is back to make everything better for 2026!
57 shows from Nelson, New Zealand and around the world… You can check out cabaret, theatre, stand-up comedy, improv, music, kids' shows and even a pretend volcanologist
There really is something for everyone!
And the best part? Most tickets are only 18 dollars!
Nelson Fringe Festival 2026
5th March 2026 - 1th March 2026
TICKETS
Get your tickets via nelsonfringe.co.nz
WIN
Win a double pass to a show of your choice. Just enter below:
OUR PICKS:
Fri 13 March at 6:00pm & Sun 15 March at 11:00am | Red Door Theatre
A wordless puppet and circus show where hand-crafted puppets meet mesmerising juggling. Two performers unpack a suitcase of surprises: a flamenco dancer puppet with LED poi, a playful marionette with floating juggling balls, and a cheeky juggler puppet who invites audiences into a world of imagination, illusion and wonder. The Bell celebrates the power of imagination, captivating both children and adults without a single spoken word.
Opera’s Bad Girl: Anna Bishop, the World’s First Daringly Defiant Diva
Mon 9 & Tue 10 March at 6:00pm | Red Door Theatre
Seduction, shipwrecks, scandal and soaring arias. Anna Bishop was opera’s original rebel. Opera’s Bad Girl brings Anna's wild, untold story to life, blending the music with a fearless celebration of a woman who dared to defy her time. A Victorian-era trailblazer, Anna left her famous composer husband to ran off with her harpist lover, embarking on a globe-trotting adventure so wild it reads like fiction: shipwrecks, tiger attacks, hostage-takings, war zones and epidemics. And through it all, she sang. To royalty. To rebels. To packed houses on every continent.
Wed 11 & Thu 12 March at 7.30pm | Refinery ArtSpace
One woman, seven characters: an explosion of political satire and hilarious farce. A top secret, future-defining meeting is about to take place. Everything falls on an overworked cleaner, three bumbling PAs, and a paranoid secrete agent... Come along to a night of clowning, laughter and wit! “Suddenly [she] bursts out, capturing the audience with her vibrant energy” Lisa Allan, Flat City Field Notes. Subversive and snappy, the circus of civil affairs in Aotearoa is brought to life with humour and vitality in this farcical one-woman political satire.
Sun 8 , Mon 9 & Tue 10 March at 6:00pm | Refinery ArtSpace
Ali is wanted dead by a vicious London Gangster and is placed under police surveillance for protection of him and his family, yet for some reason, on one night, Ali decides to sneak out into the night and leave his family behind, sparking a bloody domino effect that ricochets through the sleepy streets of Norwich. Described as ""like watching a Tarantino film onstage"" its cinematic style and bold and punchy soundtrack took over the Prague festival with an electric buzz.
Tue 10 & Wed 11 March at 7:30pm | Yaza Comedy Club
What happens when a comedian walks into a volcano? In 2023, US comedian Ben Miller was the Artist in Residence at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, the first comedian ever selected. This was probably a terrible idea on their part. Watch this scientist turned comic tell an hour of volcano jokes. Come watch this show where scientist turned stand-up comedian Ben Miller explores volcanology, entomology, Hawaiian history, space volcanoes, cats, cookies, and more.