PLAY: YOU’RE INVITED TO JOIN IN, GET WEIRD, HAVE FUN
Some festival moments are made for watching. These are made for jumping in. Cairns Festival is serving up 10 days, 10 ways to experience it all, and PLAY is where you become part of the action.
Welcome to PLAY. This is your permission slip to get involved. Answer the trivia question. Choose the wedding cake. Dance like the 80s never ended. Say yes before you have fully checked what you are saying yes to. Join in. Get weird. Have fun. WANDER, GATHER, IMAGINE, LAUGH, PLAY, ESCAPE, HONOUR, DISCOVER, DANCE and CONNECT your way through Cairns Festival with us.
Em Rusciano, Addicted To Love
Making her Cairns debut at Cairns Festival, Em Rusciano brings her Addicted to Love show to the stage for one night only. Part comedy, part live music, part beautifully chaotic life lesson, this sharp, funny cabaret dives headfirst into love, approval, validation, reinvention and what happens when life completely blows the doors off your plans. Expect powerhouse vocals, razor-sharp humour, unexpected stories and the kind of unfiltered honesty that makes you laugh, wince and nod a little too hard. Strong boundaries. Strong language. Very strong female lead. This show is for anyone who has left a relationship, a job, or a version of themselves. Or all three. Rated R 18+.
When: Sunday 30 August. 7.30pm.
Where: Tanks Arts Centre, Tank 5.
Tickets: $69.
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Disco Bingo Trivia - Get Your Team In The Game
Disco Bingo Trivia is your chance to stop watching from the sidelines and put that suspiciously deep music knowledge to work. Hosted by the Sassy Catz on the Esplanade Main Stage, this free festival night invites you to gather a team, listen closely, take a wild guess and play your way through Cairns' rich music history. Expect tunes, throwbacks, curly questions and at least one moment where someone at your table becomes extremely confident and completely wrong. No perfect score required. No cool points deducted. Just join in, have a laugh and see where the music takes you.
When: Tuesday 1 September. 6.30pm to 8pm.
Where: Cairns Esplanade, Western Lawn.
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Step Into A Sci-Fi Cowboy Fever Dream
Lack of Judgement Day is exactly the kind of festival moment PLAY was made for. Part offbeat cowboy film, part sci-fi fever dream and part live music concert, this wonderfully strange spectacle unfolds on the Main Stage with the action on the big screen and the soundtrack performed live by a band and choir. Is it easy to explain? Absolutely not. Is that part of the appeal? Completely. This is one for the curious, the brave, the easily intrigued and anyone who hears "genre-smashing cowboy sci-fi live music cinema" and thinks, yes, obviously, I'm in.
When: Wednesday 2 September. 6.30pm to 7.40pm.
Where: Cairns Esplanade, Western Lawn.
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Join The Wedding Planning Committee
One Hour Wedding is not the kind of show where you sit quietly and mind your own business. Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, chaotic wedding planners Rach and Roz have 60 minutes to pull off a full wedding and you're invited. More than that, you're involved. The audience will help choose the dress, flowers, first dance, song, cake and theme, because apparently that is what happens when you leave major life decisions to a festival crowd. It is fast, ridiculous, completely interactive and just risky enough to be brilliant. Roz is a legal celebrant, so choose wisely. Or don't. That might be more fun.
When: Thursday 3 – Saturday 5 September, every night at 6pm. Plus an extra show on Saturday 5 September at 8.30pm.
Where: Tanks Arts Centre, Tank 3.
Tickets: $49.
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Step Into The VOiiiD
VOiiiD Collective takes over the Esplanade Main Stage with a three-hour blast of creative chaos, fusing contemporary dance, sound, DJ sets, roving moments, visual theatre and wearable art into one hyper-sensory festival experience. Built from 80% recycled trash and 100% unapologetic energy, this is sustainability with serious main-stage attitude. Expect movement, madness and mayhem. VOiiiD Collective does not ask politely to be understood. It just arrives, shakes the space and dares you to keep up. Strange? Absolutely. Playful? Definitely. Step into the VOiiiD and let the festival get wonderfully weird.
When: Friday 4 September. 6.15pm to 9.30pm.
Where: Cairns Esplanade, Western Lawn.
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Let Your Inner 80s Movie Star Out
Dirty Fame Flash Candles Club brings the playful side of nostalgia to the stage, with cult movie references, big songs, dance routines, strange rituals and unapologetic friendship energy. Four Queensland women are juggling careers, kids, parents, friendships and the general business of holding it all together, then finding escape in each other and the Dirty Fame Flash Candles Club. It is relatable, ridiculous and ready-made for a night out with your crew. Expect dirty dancing, one-liners, fearless friendship and memorable freeze frames. Smack on the iridescent lipstick, kick off your Sunday shoes and let your inner 80s movie star out.
When: Saturday 5 September. 7.30pm.
Where: Cairns Performing Arts Centre.
Tickets: $55.
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That is the beauty of PLAY. It is not just about watching the festival happen around you. It is about jumping in, joining the game and letting the music, art and chaos pull you somewhere unexpected.
Cairns Festival 2026 is calling. Bring your curiosity. Bring your courage. Bring your crew. Say yes to the strange bit, the loud bit, the playful bit and the "why not?" moment. Join in. Get weird. Have fun.
The Fun Doesn't Stop Here
Cairns Fest isn't here for a long time, but it's here for a good time! Here's some more inspo to help you make the most of the 10 days.
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