Review by Markus Hamence – Upside Down Fantasyland – Performance date: Sunday 22 February 2026. Holden Street Theatres, Hindmarsh, South Australia
Upside Down Fantasyland is not your typical Fringe night out. Nup, no way. It’s raw, confronting and unexpectedly tender – a one-man piece of work that strips away performance polish in favour of truth and, ultimately, triumph.
Troy Rogers steps onto the stage not as a character, but as himself, a survivor, a storyteller and poet of lived experience. Through spoken word, music and dramatic storytelling, he unpacks a childhood shaped by trauma, growing up in out-of-home care and navigating the ripple effects of addiction and abuse.
This is theatre that sits close to the bone.
“…he unpacks a childhood shaped by trauma, growing up in out-of-home care and navigating the ripple effects of addiction and abuse…”
Markus Hamence
From the opening moments from a blackened out Holden Street Theatre (The Studio), the audience is invited into a deeply personal world. Troy’s. Rogers’ delivery is disarmingly and confrontingly honest – sometimes fragile, sometimes fierce – and his ability to balance heavy subject matter with flashes of humour and warmth prevents the performance from becoming emotionally overwhelming.
The structure flows like memory itself: poetic fragments, songs and monologues layered into a narrative that feels both intimate and universal. One phrase you’re holding your breath in silence; the next, you can breathe and you’re released into a gentle ripple of shared laughter. That emotional rhythm is where the show finds its power.
What makes Upside Down Fantasyland resonate and engage the audience is its refusal to sensationalise pain. Instead, it explores resilience – the messy, nonlinear path from survival to healing. The show doesn’t offer neat answers (that’s not life to be honest), but it offers something more valuable: connection.
“The show doesn’t offer neat answers (that’s not life to be honest), but it offers something more valuable: connection…”
Markus Hamence
The minimalist staging in the Holden Street Theatres theatre space works in its favour tremendously too, keeping the focus on Rogers’ presence and voice. There are no distractions here – just a performer brave enough to revisit the past and an audience willing to walk beside him. At times Troy broke with a tear here and there either welling in his eyes or trickling down his cheek/s – this only made the performance stronger and connective.
This is not ‘easy’ viewing, but it is essential viewing. Expect to feel challenged, moved and quietly changed.
Verdict:
An emotionally courageous Adelaide Fringe work that transforms personal history into powerful theatre. Honest, poetic, and deeply human.
Side note: He’s a HUGGER, so meet and greets after the show keep the emotions flowing.
Upside Down Fantasyland
Friday 20 February – Sunday 15 March 2026
Holden Street Theatres, The Jade & Arthur Art Bar
Tickets
Follow Troy Rogers on Facebook
