Rockingham to get a taste of Fringe with the new Rocky Fringe Festival setting up at My Little Bookshop

The fun of Fringe Festival will come to Rockingham from next week with a local bookshop set to transform into a theatre for a series of arty events. Rocky Fringe Festival will kick off at My Little Bookshop on the Rockingham Foreshore from January 19 to 25, featuring acts from comedy and cabaret to children’s entertainment. It’s the first time the festival has taken place in Rockingham and is led by producer Monique Boucher, founder of Hidden deTours, who has teamed up with the bookshop’s owner, Kerry Ridley, to host the mini festival at the shop, at 10/5-7 Railway Terrace. Ms Boucher said the bookshop will become the “Hidden Bookshop of Wonder” over the festival and will see a stage constructed inside to host events, with most of the shows to be held after business hours. Ms Boucher hopes this year’s inaugural event will be the first of many with plans to expand the festival to other venues in future years. “We’ve got all variety; we’ve got comedy, music, cabaret, children’s events, illusion, magic, you name it,” she said. “Because I’ve toured other shows around remote and regional WA, I’ve seen what shows work in different communities, and I thought, I’m just going to program a variety of genres, throw it all at Rockingham and say ‘what do you like?’ and then go from there.” Rocky Fringe Festival acts will make the trip down the freeway from Perth’s Fringe World, which is on from January 19 to February 18. WA comedy acts including ‘accountant turned mortgage broker turned comedian’ Shash Kapur in A Comedy of Financial Error$ and Gill Cordiner, who will tap into her Scottish upbringing for Pinky Swears. Interstate funnymen Ben Russell and Matt Harvey will also visit Rockingham for the festival, along with cabaret performer Marcel Cole for The Ukulele Man and UK comedian and ‘secret doctor’ Kirsty Mann in Skeletons. For the kids, two children’s events will also be on offer, with A Magical Dance Party at 10am on January 21 and magician Abra Da-Cameron presenting an interactive magic show at 10am on January 22. Singer-songwriter and Rockingham local, Tanya Stojanovic, will perform an acoustic set on January 21 as Hope on the Horizon, with guitarist David Wheeler. Stojanovic said she was looking forward to connecting over music and storytelling with the audience. “I absolutely love Rockingham and love sharing music in our community,” she said. “It’s exciting to have Fringe come to our hometown and a great opportunity to contribute to our vibrant local arts scene. “My music and reflections offer hope, connection and validation for anyone navigating their own challenges in life — it’s for anyone who enjoys good music and doesn’t mind a good old heart-to-heart.” Other local acts performing as part of the festival are Warnbro’s Tomas Ford, performing in his one-man show Camp Tomas Ford — which promises to put the ‘camp’ into camping — and Rockingham’s Trixie La Rose and Scarlett Bell in cabaret/variety show, Seductive Secrets: A Cabaret of Tease. Both performances take to the bookshop stage on January 20. For the full program and to book tickets visit: https://bit.ly/4aKbf8r