Photos/Video: First Look at WANDERLUST In Adelaide Fringe Festival

In a year when many people are wondering if and when we will ever be able to travel again, comes a story of longing for distant places and different lives.

'Wanderlust' is a cabaret written and performed by Adelaide singer Shelley Dunstone. It will run from 25 - 26 February at Nexus Arts.

The story begins in the early 1850s, when Shelley's ancestors migrated from Hamburg (in what would later become Germany) to Australia. She muses that but for a quirk of fate she could have been German, and reveals the aspirations of her youth.

She then recounts her own travels in Germanic parts of the world - experiences that are variously fun, embarrassing and sad - and brings us to the present day, when we can't travel at all.

Central to the story is the German concept of Sehnsucht - a deep yearning, often for the unattainable - perhaps for an alternative life you once imagined but never found.

There is an eclectic selection of songs, some in English, some in German and some with a bit of both. There are songs by Kurt Weill, Friedrich Hollaender and Peter Allen.

Over the past decade, Shelley has created and performed numerous original cabaret shows including 'The Confessions of a Wannabe Bond Girl', 'Adventures with a Brazilian', 'A French Romance', 'Non-stop from Brazil' and 'Paris, LA, Rio'. Having developed a repertoire of songs in French and Brazilian Portuguese, she now ventures into the world of German music.

'I learned German at school, and later spent time with German-speaking people in Europe,' Shelley said. 'Nowadays you don't really need foreign languages to travel in Europe, but I've enjoyed refreshing my memory in order to learn these songs.'

Shelley will be accompanied on piano by Edward Heddle, who trained in New York and is currently working towards his Ph.D in music.