(Image: Daily Melbourne)

Melbourne’s 31st Fringe Festival opens today with a three week extravaganza of visual, live, digital and performing arts, comedy, circus, cabaret, dance and music. Over 2000 artists are expected to take part, showcasing the best of local and foreign alternative talent across 100 venues.

The opening night will be celebrated with a party at the Fringe Club at North Melbourne Town Hall, promising “an array of bite-sized acts from this year’s Festival program.” Melbourne Fringe’s website also encourages patrons to “stick around to celebrate the things that make Melbourne Fringe great and dance up a storm”.

Next Friday night will see the Fringe Club taken over by Shut Up and Dance 5, which will be “an evening of excess dance pageantry, life changing dance tuition and record-breaking fun”. Included as part of this year’s program is the Darebin Music Feast Songwriters Awards on 29th September, featuring over 100 local artists from and and around the northern Melbourne district.

It’s a horror film, but not as you know it; Wolf Creek the Musical (Image: Glam Adelaide)

Wolf Creek: The Musical is a parody of the successful 2005 Australian horror film, and will play at the Fringe Hub at the Lithuanian Club in North Melbourne. Solo Act: Part One: 1 + 1 = 1…? is a comedy performance by Kimberley Twiner on five nights at The Tuxedo Cat – The Urchin.

Melbourne Fringe begins today and runs until the 6th October. For more information, or to reserve a spot to ticketed events, go to Melbourne Fringe’s website.