You’d be forgiven for thinking Wollongong looks more like Melbourne during the month of April with a raft of top class comedians, cabaret artists and theatre performers arrive with their big top.
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It’s a real sign it’s not just a future idea, that the city’s really growing up.
- Simon Hinton
The full list of acts scheduled for the much anticipated Spiegeltent season was announced on Monday with star names on the comic circuit like Wil Anderson, Rove McManus, Dave Hughes, Frank Woodley lead the charge alongside renowned musicians like Archie Roach and children’s entertainer Peter Combe.
It’s the first time a Spiegeltent (an extravagant, travelling venue) will setup in Wollongong, hammering down tent pegs from April 7 to 30, with a free public event on opening day.
Merrigong theatre has brought the big top to town and artistic director Simon Hinton believes it’s a real sign the city has grown up.
He said for years people have talked about the potential for Wollongong to become a city like Sydney or Melbourne or many others.
“It’s a real sign it’s not just a future idea, that the city’s really growing up and having some rally fantastic cultural offerings,” Hinton said.
Other artists on the lineup include the production of Velvet with Marcia Hines; comedians Hannah Gadsby, Tom Gleeson and The Kransky Sisters; musicians Felix Riebl (The Cat Empire), Paul Capsis and Emma Pask; and family entertainer Justine Clarke.
“The Spiegeltent has almost this almost Tardis like quality that you walk inside and you enjoy yourself, and because I’ve been in there so many times I’ll forget I’m in Wollongong,” Gleeson said.
“This is going to be the disorienting thing, I’ve performed in that Spiegeltent in Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Sydney, Edinburgh. I’ve been inside that tent in New York watching someone else’s show.”
Gleeson said for anyone who’s never experience the tent should do so as just sitting inside the structure was quite pretty.
“It’s not a tent like in the Ray’s Outdoor sense,” he joked.
“It’s not canvas, it’s wood paneling and beautiful glass … and its got all these little birds around the side.”
Gleeson will be performing his new stand-up show, “Cheer Up”, which is partly made up.
He said one of the fun parts was getting the audience to pick which parts of the show are true and which are fiction.
“I invite the audience to correct the show, because a lot of comedians tell lies,” he said.
“The show’s around about 93 per cent true.”
Tickets are on sale 10am Monday February 20 from www.spiegeltentwollongong.com