FRINGE FOCUS: "SHARK!" returns with blood, bikinis, and ocean-based puns
It’s Fringe World Festival season in Boorloo Perth! To celebrate, we are running a series called “Fringe Focus”, a series of artist interviews that peaks behind the curtain of the unique, fun, and bizarre Fringe shows that will be happening from 21 January- 15th February 2026.
Following their splashy debut at the Blue Room Theatre last season, SHARK! swims its way back to Fringe World 2026. Featuring dance numbers, fake blood and a boat-load of ocean-based puns, this campy play takes you behind the scenes of a D-grade shark flick.
We speak to writer/performer/designer Lucy Wong ahead of their Fringe season, which goes from Fri, 30 Jan - Sun, 01 Feb at The Pleasure Garden:
Q: SHARK is back after it’s successful debut season at the Blue Room Theatre last year. What was the reception like last time, and what’s different this time around?
LUCY: We were so elated by the reception we got last time we did SHARK, and we are so excited to be back with a more chaotic 9:20 pm version! The script has had a facelift while still keeping the silliness and fun of the original. We have upgraded our camera set-up for a more dynamic quality in the filming and the use of greenscreen to create some really awesome images. We are also including the audience more in this version as our “extras”, they will get to enjoy being part of the movie. As always, expect blood, boobs, bikinis.
Sounds like the audience is in for a lot of on-set chaos! What can audience expect between the power struggle that ensues when GIRL meets SHARK?
The power struggle between ‘GIRL’ and ‘SHARK’ asks the age-old question…” Should you meet your heroes?”. ‘GIRL’, portrayed by Delaney Burke, is bursting at the seams with excitement about, what she believes, is the beginning of an exciting and prolific career. On the other hand, the aging ‘SHARK’, portrayed by Clea Purkis, knows this dog-eat-dog industry far too well and finds GIRL’s hopefulness and naivety irritating. This very meta dynamic is so interesting for the actors to play with and for audiences to observe.
The production pays homage to D-grade shark films, what have you learned or been inspired by, from the art of “trashy” film scenes?
The most inspiring quality of a D-grade disaster film is how seriously it takes itself. The CGI looks like an old video game, the fake blood looks like strawberry syrup and the torn-off limbs look like breadsticks dipped in strawberry syrup and yet, all of those decisions represent someone’s job and a collaboration to make something together. As Fringe artists, we can relate to the idea that success isn't about whether the end-product is any good, but about the work that went into trying to make it good.
Having said all that, this show is actually good. Come see it.
Any must watch disaster films you would recommend before heading into SHARK?
‘Malibu Shark Attack’ (2008). You can watch it on PLEX for free. It is about a tsunami that is rapidly approaching the shores of Malibu and with it, the ‘once thought extinct’, goblin shark. It has everything; 90-minute runtime, lines like “we’re gonna need more bullets” and the traditional porny quality of all the female characters in a disaster film. For example, a female construction worker wears denim booty shorts while lugging cement into a mixer *chefs kiss*
Sounds like Three Hot Girls have made strong bonds, and killer theatre from WAAPA, to the Blue Room and now Fringe Festival, what’s next for this trio?
Obviously Hollywood! But before then, we would love to take SHARK on tour nationally and a big goal is to get to Edinburgh Fringe in future.
SHARK! is back for three nights only! Head to The Hat Trick at The Pleasure Garden from Friday 30th Jan - Sunday 1st Feb at 9:20pm for a silly, gory, sexy night out. Tickets Here.
