今日吃瓜

鈥淐ircus with attitude, drag with muscle, and burlesque with bite鈥�: artist collective Briefs is celebrating 18 years of their anarchic, fabulous shows.

鈥淪he鈥檚 of legal drinking age now, she鈥檚 off her learners, she鈥檚 on her P鈥檚, she鈥檚 hitting the town,鈥� jokes Fez Faanana, director and co-founder of Briefs Factory.听

To celebrate, they鈥檙e bringing their new show Briefs: The Works to Melbourne鈥檚 Spiegel Haus for the comedy festival. With The Works, they throw open their glittering archives and pay homage to their years of performance.

鈥淚t鈥檚 actually a retrospective. It’s a look back at those 18 years and it鈥檚 a combination of some of our favourite acts,鈥� says Faanana, who performs as the host and MC of the show.听

鈥淲e’ve got a string of artists that are bringing back some of our older acts and some of my favourite numbers to the forefront. It’s jam-packed full of artists that are just throwing down their best acts as a bit of a show-off and a showdown; of how far we’ve come.鈥�

Faanana explains that every Briefs show gives a cheeky nod to classic burlesque and old world showgirl performances by opening with a fan dance. He鈥檚 very excited that their most 鈥渋conic鈥� fan dance is making a return for The Works.

Briefs had its start 18 years ago in Brisbane, where a collective of friends in a a tight-knit, creative community, who Faanana describes as 鈥渢he naughty kids, the punk kids on the block鈥� put on warehouse parties, featuring a mixture of DJs, live performance, installation and film.

The name 鈥�Briefs鈥� was chosen as the party would be a series of brief acts, and as a joke, they decided that all the floor staff would therefore wear briefs.

鈥淪o everyone was just in ugly Y-front baggy dad underwear, and it was just a bit of a gag that became super successful.鈥�

From that original warehouse party, a 鈥渢ight collective of artists鈥� continued to run shows. Faanana took the lead, along with his brother Nathaniel and his partner Mark.

鈥淚t’s circus, it’s drag, it’s burlesque, it鈥檚 cabaret and it’s wrapped up in the tradition and the protocol of late night theatre. I guess specifically it鈥檚 punk 鈥� it sits in the world of art that doesn’t have a funding body,鈥� he explains.

鈥淎ll those art forms really come together and speak to each other for us, and the anarchy and the unapologetic 鈥榥o rules鈥� concept of artistry can really grow.鈥�

Faanana says Briefs has gone from 鈥渟trength to strength鈥�, turning into an artist collective that not only performs regular main stage shows, but has a touring party, a community engagement program, an outreach program for remote and regional centres, and regular tours around Australian and internationally.

鈥淲e still have the connection and the roots with our warehouse party and that kind of spirit still continues.鈥�

Faanana believes that Briefs is 鈥渦niquely and reverently Australian鈥� 鈥� there鈥檚 a real sense of Aussie humour and larrikinisms in every show, and each main stage show is grounded in some form of socially relevant, even political themes.听

鈥淲hat’s really exciting about it is that we’ve somehow managed to maintain our identity as these little punk kids.鈥澨�

Briefs: The Works is on at Spiegel Haus from March 18 鈥� April 19. Visit for more information.听