From the intimate to the epic, the classical to the radical and the playful to the political, State Theatre Company South Australia’s 2026 season – the first from new Artistic Director Petra Kalive – is a supercharged assortment of vivid theatre experiences.
Launched last week at the Adelaide Convention Centre, Kalive’s inaugural season is a collection of world premieres, modern Australian masterworks and new takes on classics from the Western canon.
Artistic Director Petra Kalive said:
“The works in 2026 are each vital in their own way. They hold a mirror to our cultural and political present; you’ll squirm, laugh, and question in the same breath.
This season celebrates the richness of voices shaping our stages today, the clarity of early-career writers breaking through with bold new perspectives, the craft of Australia’s most celebrated performers, the tender, necessary stories of South Australian artists weaving culture and memory into the present and the thrill of international works that bring the world to our doorstep.
This program signals not just a project, but a way of working that will shape the company for years to come.
What excites me most is the opportunities for SA artists in this season and the range of works: from the intimate to the epic, the classical to the radical, the joyful to the tragic. Each work asks us to gather, to think, to laugh, to be moved, and to walk back into the world seeing it just a little differently.”
Season 2026 overview:
Trophy Boys
17 March – 2 April | Space Theatre
Off the back of a sold-out national tour, Trophy Boys performs in regional South Australia before arriving at the Space Theatre.
It is the biggest night of Melbourne’s academic calendar, the Grand Finale of the Year 12 Interschool Debating Tournament, and the all-boys team from the elite St Imperium College are ready to totally annihilate their sister school. Until…
Performed by a female and non-binary cast in drag, the show unfolds in real time as the boys are locked in a classroom for their one-hour prep window, and forced to argue that “feminism has failed women.”
This riotously funny satire looks at insecure adolescent masculinity, entitlement and the ego of Australia’s next generation of politicians and powerbrokers.
Winner of Best New Work (Sydney Theatre Awards 2024) and recipient of multiple Greenroom Awards Nominations (2024): Best Production, Best New Writing, Best Director (Marni Mount), Trophy Boys is “truly a joy to watch” (Time Out).
“This smash hit has sold out across the country. I didn’t want South Australian audiences to miss out. Bold, biting and riotously funny, this brilliant new Australian work will have you laughing, squirming and utterly gripped for its 70-minute ride. These are thrilling theatre makers, hitting the zeitgeist where it hurts.”
– Petra Kalive
Written by Emmanuelle Mattana, directed by Marni Mount. Cast includes Myfanwy Hocking and Fran Sweeney-Nash. A Soft Tread production in association with The Maybe Pile.
RBG: Of Many, One
10 April – 2 May | Dunstan Playhouse
After a triumphant and sold-out Australian national tour, the smash hit RBG: Of Many, One finally arrives in Adelaide.
The brilliant Heather Mitchell will be reviving her award-winning and critically acclaimed “virtuosic performance” (The Conversation) of the woman who changed the face of the American legal system: the indomitable Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The second woman to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was both a trailblazer in the American judiciary and a fierce advocate for gender equality and reproductive rights. This story chronicles Ginsburg’s wins and dissents, traces her steps forward and the steps back, and brings you right into the room with Ruth at the most pivotal moments of her life.
RBG is a once-in-a-generation theatrical event that continues to find resonances with the political landscape of the present day.
“This is a performance not to be missed. The phrase tour de force is often overused — but here, it’s entirely deserved. Heather Mitchell delivers an extraordinary portrayal that truly honours the remarkable legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”
– Petra Kalive
Written by Suzie Miller, directed by Priscilla Jackman. Performed by Heather Mitchell. A Sydney Theatre Company production.
The Importance of Being Earnest
8 – 30 May | Dunstan Playhouse
The Importance of Being Earnest is beloved for its wit, satire, and gleeful skewering of Victorian respectability. But beneath the dazzling dialogue lies something more radical: a world built on performance — of identity, class, and desire.
The play follows two young men, Jack and Algernon, who create elaborate alter egos — “Ernest” — to escape social obligations and pursue love. But when their deceptions unravel, chaos ensues in a world where truth is slippery, and appearances are everything.
This production is fast, furious and wickedly funny. With an entirely South Australian cast, we’re serving up the very best talent with teeth, sparkle, and a whole lot of nerve. Prepare yourself for a bold and joyful night at the theatre.
“I want to crack Earnest open — to revel in the satire, the barely veiled politics and work with a wildly talented, all–South Australian cast. I am so excited by this team and what we’re going to create together.”
– Petra Kalive
Written by Oscar Wilde, directed by Petra Kalive. Cast includes Carla Lippis, Caroline Mignone, Glenda Linscott, Nathan O’Keefe, Teddy Dunn, Anna Lindner, Connor Pullinger, and Pia Gillings.
ART
20 – 24 May | Her Majesty’s Theatre
Richard Roxburgh, Damon Herriman and Ryan Corr star together in the internationally award-winning play ART razor-sharp comedy about friendship, ego and the chaos a single opinion can cause.
When one friend buys a ridiculously expensive painting, the others don’t just question his taste — they question everything. Egos flare. Old wounds resurface. And a decades-long friendship begins to fracture. With biting wit and pitch-perfect timing, ART explores how the smallest things, especially the unspoken ones, can spiral into something much bigger.
This 90-minute modern classic is clever, stylish and asks: can we truly see and still forgive the people we’ve known the longest? Because everyone’s a critic. Especially your friends.
A 90-minute burst of brilliance. ART is witty, savage, and painfully recognisable — the kind of play that leaves you laughing and wincing at the same time.”
– Petra Kalive
Written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Lee Lewis. Cast includes Richard Roxburgh, Damon Herriman, and Ryan Corr. Presented by Rodney Rigby, Marriner Group and Paul Wheelton AM.
Uncle Vanya
But There’s ASMR Soap Cutting Videos Playing In The Bottom Right Corner
9 – 18 July | Adelaide College of the Arts, Main Theatre
A tragicomic overload in four unhinged acts.
What begins as a faithful production of Chekhov’s poignant, pastoral play, spirals into a meticulously crafted chaos engine — testing the limits of sincerity, concentration, and collective theatrical endurance.
In this deliriously overstimulating remix, Chekhovian despair is dragged kicking and screaming into our current attention economy. This genre-bending, gender-bending live performance collides classically constructed text with a riot of media interference — TikTok dances, puppet shows, and pro-wrestling smackdowns.
This Uncle Vanya is part experiment, part tragic farce, part viral hallucination. The interventions don’t mock the source text; they refract it — not dumbing it down, but hoisting it up.
A requiem for the naturalistic slow-burn. A eulogy for attention spans. An unruly, heartfelt act of theatrical resistance.
“These young theatre makers are the future — they’re radical, brilliant, and absolutely electrifying. If you want your mind blown by the next generation reshaping Australian theatre, don’t miss this.”
– Petra Kalive
Written by Mary Angley & Associates, after Anton Chekhov, directed by Mary Angley. Cast and co-devisers include Yoz Mensch, Poppy Mee, Ellen Graham, Arran Beattie, Lucy Haas and Dan Thorpe. Presented Paper Mouth Theatre. A SPARK production.
Logan St
24 July – 8 August | Space Theatre
A Kaurna story of friendship, faith and fierce resistance.
In the backyard of an Adelaide Mosque, an unlikely alliance takes root between Goolie, an Afghan cameleer and mosque caretaker, and Dulcie, a young Aboriginal woman navigating life, loss and love on Kaurna Country. As war, racism and bureaucracy press in from all sides, their bond — anchored in storytelling, cooking and kinship — becomes an act of survival.
Woven through this tender contemporary narrative is the haunting story of Munarto, a Kaurna girl who lives through the devastation of colonisation in 1836. As past and present echo and collide, LOGAN ST reveals the resilience of culture, the cost of silence, and a quiet revolution of friendship that begins in a garden where nothing will grow.
From the visionary Kaurna and Narungga theatre-maker Jacob Boehme comes a sweeping tale that honours the enduring strength of his female ancestors, the legacy of the cameleers, and the spirit of resistance etched into this place now called Adelaide.
“Where the scent of cardamom meets Kaurna songlines, there isn’t another story like it. LOGAN ST is a feast of memory, resilience and quiet revolution. This work will surprise you, move you, and stay with you long after the final bow.”
– Petra Kalive
Written and directed by Jacob Boehme, with a cast including Alexis West, Aunty Lynette Crocker, and Uncle Lewis O’Brien.
Commentary
21 August – 5 September | Dunstan Playhouse
Helpmann Award-nominated writer Ash Flanders’ Commentary is a sharp, provocative play that interrogates the ethics of artmaking, accountability, and memory in an era of public reckoning.
The story centres on Nick, played by Gyton Grantley (Underbelly, House Husbands), a once-promising filmmaker turned university lecturer, whose controversial debut feature Low is being resurrected for a retrospective screening at the local International Film Festival. The film, co-created with his former best friend Hamish (now disgraced and presumed dead), is dogged by allegations of abuse and exploitation linked to its production and content.
As Nick prepares a director’s commentary and public appearance, the past begins to resurface through a chorus of women — his student and lover Gen, his wife Mish, former muse Saskia, and a teenage girl named Frankie. Frankie’s re-emergence catalyses a chain of revelations, betrayals, and reckonings that culminate in Nick’s fall from professional and personal grace.
The play’s narrative cleverly mirrors the fragmented form of a DVD commentary track — non-linear, reflexive, full of contradiction, omission, and performance.
“Ash Flanders slices through ego, memory, and moral ambiguity with surgical precision — and just enough blood to keep you laughing. Commentary pulls no punches — and that’s exactly why it hits so hard.”
– Petra Kalive
Written by Ash Flanders, directed by Petra Kalive with a cast including Gyton Grantley.
Log Boy
1 – 10 October | Adelaide College of the Arts, Main Theatre
Log Boy is a deliriously dark, heart-stabbing, and hilarious queer ghost story about love, grief, and the demons we can’t quite exorcise — especially the leather-clad ones.
After the death of his fiancé, Anthony retreats to their country house to grieve, only to be haunted — literally and figuratively — by loss, lust, and a spectral Leather Daddy who won’t let him forget. Joined by two of his fiancé’s closest (and most inappropriate) friends, Anthony must navigate a weekend of memory, secrets, and unwelcome truths. As boxes are unpacked and identities are unpeeled, what emerges is a tender, twisted portrait of queer community, sexual subcultures, and the chaos of being left behind.
Camp, kinky, and emotionally ferocious, Log Boy is a riotous collision of horror, humour, and heartbreak — a love letter to leather queens, nelly bottoms, and anyone who’s ever been ghosted by grief.
“Straight from our Great Australian Bites program of new South Australian work comes an outrageous, unholy, and tender work. Log Boy is raw, raucous, and utterly unforgettable. Anthony Nocera is a South Australian writer to watch.”
– Petra Kalive
Written by Anthony Nocera, directed by Riley Spadaro. Cast includes Chris Asimos and Elena Carapetis. A SPARK production.
The Heartbreak Choir
20 November – 5 December | Dunstan Playhouse
From award-winning Australian writer Aidan Fennessy comes The Heartbreak Choir — a love song to kindness, courage and the humble community choir.
In a weathered CFA hall on the edge of town, five locals gather to sing. They’ve broken away from their old choir over a matter of principle — and now, with a new name, a last-minute gig, and a bottle of local Sangiovese in hand, they’re finding their harmonies once again. But this isn’t just about music. It’s about grief, community, and learning how to hold each other up when life strikes the wrong chord.
Set in a regional town, The Heartbreak Choir is a gently funny, deeply moving celebration of connection, second chances, and the small, defiantly hopeful ways we show up for one another. With its dry wit, big-hearted characters and unmistakable Aussie charm, this is a play that will leave you humming the high notes.
With a stellar cast of South Australian performers, The Heartbreak Choir promises a powerhouse of local talent.
“The perfect way to end the year — The Heartbreak Choir is tender, funny and full of heart. It’s a celebration of community, resilience and the simple act of singing together.”
– Petra Kalive
Written by Aidan Fennessy, directed by Shannon Rush. Cast includes Emma Beech, Genevieve Mooy, and Libby O’Donovan.
2026 will also plant the seed of new initiative Blak State, a bold and long-term commitment to First Nations theatre-making. An investment in long-term cultural change, the program – supported by Create SA – will begin with a statewide period of listening and consultation led by First Nations artists, Elders and cultural leaders, who will define the stories, structures and ways of working that reflect sovereignty, cultural futures and community priorities.
Subscriptions to State Theatre Company South Australia’s 2026 season are now on sale at the website.
Website: https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/statetheatresa/
Hero image: The Heartbreak Choir, photo by Claudio Raschella
