SCARRED FOR LIFE is a Musical Testament to Life in all its Scarred Beauty

With original songs in the style of Tim Minchin and Eddie Perfect, emerging singer/songwriter Josh Belperio will make his cabaret debut at the 2017 Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival, in Scarred for Life, from 22 to 24 June at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm) in the Carclew Ballroom, 11 Jeffcott St, North Adelaide.

Josh Belperio received a Helpmann Academy grant for mentorships with the award winning cabaret artists Michael Griffiths and Amelia Ryan to help develop Scarred for Life.

When Josh survived flying over the handlebars of his pushbike, rupturing his spleen and nearly bleeding to death, he did the only rational thing an artist would do - wrote a show about it.

In Scarred for Life Josh attempts to make sense of the experience, along with the broader ways in which trauma has altered shaped and redefined who he is.

With songs that strike a delicate balance between comedy and pathos, Josh recalls his finer moments in hospital, from his partner watching him pee into a bottle, to hallucinating that he was a hexagon.

Beneath the surface, Josh explores how we endure our most painful moments, the people we rely on when we are at our most vulnerable, and how they help us through adversity. Ultimately, Josh asks - what does it mean to be scarred? And how do we rebuild ourselves, stronger, wiser and more hopeful than before?

Prior to his accident, Josh regularly accompanied comedy and cabaret artists, across all major Adelaide Festivals. This included David Gauci in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2015, for which he composed the title song It Was Worth the Weight. Josh completed a Bachelor of Music Composition at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, learning from esteemed composers Graeme Koehne AO and Anne Cawrse.

Scarred for Life is produced and directed by Matthew Briggs of new independent Adelaide theatre company Under the Microscope. The company which aims to discover and collaborate with emerging local artists, develop and cultivate unconventional staging ideas, and design and create innovative and intimate theatrical spaces. Matthew brings thirteen years of theatre practice and a love of science to his producing and directing initiatives. He is currently completing his PhD in biochemistry with a focus on ovarian cancer and osteoarthritis research and as he likes to say (quoting Albert Einstein ) "The greatest scientists are artists as well" .

Scarred for Life has in-kind support from Carclew and 3 Rings Wine but, with more expenses to cover, they are engaging in some crowd funding via the Australian Cultural Fund Campaign @ https://australianculturalfund.org.au/projects/scarred-for-life/

All donations will help fund the production costs including the hire of the Carclew Ballroom and Steinway grand piano.

Tickets to Scarred for Life are $25 and may be purchased online at http://www.cabaretfringefestival.com/scarred-for-life/ Duration: 50 minutes.

With an audience capacity of just 40 people per performance patrons will be invited to sit on bean bags and couches around the grand piano.