Reuben Kaye’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2026 Is Dark, Funny And Very Queer
When: 4 to 21 June 2026
Where: Adelaide Festival Centre
Website: cabaret.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au
The 2026 Adelaide Cabaret Festival has a new boss, a provocative theme, and a lineup stacked with queer talent, international headliners, and homegrown favourites. Reuben Kaye, the Melbourne-born cabaret star and comedian, takes over as artistic director with a programme he’s calling Delicious Revolution. Tickets and the full programme went on sale on 1 April.
What Reuben Kaye is cooking up
Kaye, who won the festival’s Icon Award in 2024 and played King Herod in the Australian tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, has built a programme of 79 performances across 12 nights. Artists are coming from the United Kingdom, the United States and Cuba, alongside a strong Australian contingent.
He told Glam Adelaide the theme came to him immediately. “It embodies what my cabaret is. It is seduction and hedonism, but it’s also steely, and it’s about revolution,” Kaye said. “The best part of cabaret for me, the intrinsic part, is the social commentary. It is about an urge to repair.”
The festival opens on Thursday 4 June with the 2026 Variety Gala at the Festival Theatre, hosted by Kaye, with a surprise lineup of local and international performers.
The acts worth planning your winter around
One of the biggest draws is What’s The Buzz, a one-night-only event reuniting the Australian cast of Jesus Christ Superstar. Kaye, Mahalia Barnes, John O’Hara, Javon King and others will perform songs from the show and share backstage stories. “Make backstage the show,” Kaye said. “We’re going to hang out, we’re going to chat. There’s gonna be a table on stage where we get to have our last supper.”
From the UK, the festival has landed Jordan Gray, the Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated comedian and first transgender person to headline the London Palladium. Alfie Boe performs with Amy Manford, and Lime Cordiale take the stage with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Casey Donovan returns with This Is Me, and Postmodern Jukebox bring their signature retro-pop treatment.
Have you heard of Ursula Yovich? Kaye reckons she should be a global superstar. “She is classy, so distinct, intimate, beautiful,” he said of the acclaimed First Nations singer, who will perform a set of Nina Simone’s music.
New works and queer stories on stage
South Australian performer Baylie Carson, who is openly queer and nonbinary, has been awarded this year’s Frank Ford Commission, worth $25,000. Carson, known for their West End roles in Six: The Musical and Mean Girls, will premiere Baylie Carson Is Handsome(ish), a darkly funny and deeply personal queer story of identity and self-acceptance.
The festival’s Work In Progress programme, which has previously supported works like Cassie Hamilton’s A Transgender Woman On The Internet, features Lincoln Elliott’s Artefact (or. Repatriation: The Musical).
“Where do we develop? Where are the incubators for new works?” Kaye asked. “Having a space in the Cabaret Festival to nurture and develop new works is crucial.”
We love that the programme also includes Bettie Bombshelle, David Mills, Dylan Adler and Po Po Mo Co in the lineup. Kaye specifically flagged Adler and Po Po Mo Co as acts audiences might not know yet, but will leave obsessed with.
Late nights and cabaret packages
Festival Late Nights return with rotating hosts including Gillian Cosgriff, Frankie McNair and Isaac Haigh, Tina Del Twist, and Kaye himself. The Class Of Cabaret program, now in its 17th year since its 2009 launch by David and Lisa Campbell, continues to spotlight emerging talent with support from the Nathaniel O’Brien Scholarship.
Not sure where to start? Cabaret Packages let the festival curate your night out. Kaye expanded the package options this year specifically to help audiences take a risk on acts they haven’t heard of.
“I want people to leave feeling changed,” Kaye said. “I want them to feel like they can change the world and start a revolution.”
For full details and tickets, visit cabaret.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au.
