Binge Fringe
Visiting Thessaloniki Fringe is an experience like no other. From the moment you arrive at any event, you’ll see the festival’s motto plastered everywhere ‘Please Stay Weird’ – and they sure deliver. Over an arresting and fascinating programme of shows, we saw form-breaking, ground-breaking, and experimental work from across the globe arrives on the shores of the Aegean Sea, in the comfortable surrounds of Greece’s festival city.
But for us, there was one show that stood out as choosing to dare the most daringly, weird the most weirdly, and above all, provide an experience that specifically resonated with Binge Fringe’s values of platforming unheard marginalised voices. So, without further ado…
Winners – Le Fratelle della Perpetua Indecenza for SmaDragdus
Queer art collective Le Fratelle della Perpetua Indecenza arrived at Thessaloniki with a unique offering – the canonisation of an under-recognised 5th century saint as a certified LGBTQIA+ icon. Following in the footsteps of the legendary Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who canonised American filmmaker Saint Derek Jarman, this order of Drag King monks’ site-specific practice has taken them across Europe to create a piece specifically surrounding a local figure.
Smaragdus was given the name Euphrasyne from his parents as he was born in the city of Alexandria, expected to follow in the footsteps of 5th century Egyptian AFABs, be married to a wealthy man, live a life of servitude and mediocrity. Le Fratelle take our hero’s story and locate it to the fictional island of Mount Psicopathos, inhabited exclusively by monks and where women were barred entrance.
Frivolity of the highest order ensues, with the audience getting involved with prayers and consuming communion wafers, whilst the brothers take the greatest pleasure in dashing up and down the aisle to perform legendary tracks that roughly trace the outline of Smaragdus’ life. The DIY aesthetic of the piece re-enforces the lunacy, but its scale is vast and impressive.
Queering Smaragdus’ story gives him voice beyond the walls of organised religion, taking it to the masses, chucking it around the stage and demanding it be heard. Synthesis is delivered in deploying pop culture, but it is by no means just a crutch for comedy, it vitalises the essence of queerness as something timeless, tangible, and essential.
We’re delighted to recognise Rome-based art collective Le Fratelle della Perpetua Indecenza with our Pick of Thessaloniki Fringe 2026 Award for their work on SmaDragdus.
Shay Mace
