SA Playwrights

Creating and performing original South Australian plays

upcoming events

the dear australia monologues:
'flesh' & 'unconditional love'

In partnership with Playwriting Australia, SA Playwrights have produced two monologues, written by Lucy Combe and Matt Hawkins and filmed in isolation. These will be broadcast in July as part of Playwriting Australia's 'Dear Australia' program, which is a direct response to our changed and changing world, a way for playwrights to speak right now to what’s happening around us. It’s a collaboration with 25 small-to-medium organisations from across Australia.

In collaboration with the Auscast Network, the smash Adelaide Fringe hit, Bordertown, is now an audio series! Tune in HERE, or wherever you get your quality podcasts.

Basil Pepper is not ‘the man’. He’s not a doer, or a fighter. He’s not even much of a thinker. Besides his cruel name, Baz is average in every respect. World events pass him by, ideology makes him sleepy and the prime minister’s name eludes him. So, it comes as a surprise when Baz takes a sharp turn towards activism. The catalyst, as always, is a potential love interest...
Delia Dengel is sex in a muumuu, a self-proclaimed ‘flower grandchild’ who hands out copies of the Big Issue on Grote Street and lights a candle for any cause that tugs at her heartstrings. Baz is smitten, and it isn’t long before he begins to see the world through Delia’s eyes. That’s when the storm begins.
Coming in 2021

Recalibrate is the story of three generations of women: Carmel, a Women’s Studies academic in her late 60s holding on to her university position by a tenuous thread, her daughters, Mary and Simone and 13-year-old granddaughter, Eleanor. The four actors play multiple roles, and as they move between the present and past, Carmel’s history and ‘progressive’ choices are considered in relation to the changes within the women’s movement over the last 70 years. The character of Eleanor sees all. The new generation; the entrusted keeper of Carmel’s baton.
Coming 2021

A political satire about Jasper Coffey and Jasmine Oseii, two freed slaves who are sent to establish the colony of Liberia in West Africa. Their goal is to create a nation for all people of colour but to do so they need to convince the people who are already there to become citizens under their own benevolent control. This is production is a combination of art, music and theatre that reflects the dilemmas and diversity of the African diaspora throughout the world. Proudly presented in association with Insite Arts.
Featuring Stephen Tongun, Pontsho Nthupi and Shedrick Yarkpai
InStudio Gallery, 268 Pirie St, Adelaide
Coming in 2021

our AGENDA

It's time to tell our stories.

South Australian Playwrights Theatre is committed to developing and producing the works of local South Australian writers, both established and new. We seek to nurture a professional collective of playwrights, directors, actors and technical specialists to hone their craft and to network creative opportunities. Through this work we want to engage with our diverse communities and give them a voice on stage.
SAPT started with a bang after the critically acclaimed Frank Forbes and the Yahoo Boy in May 2018. It continued to develop great theatrical projects that year including the New Voices program, showcasing the work of twenty young writers. 2019 saw the production of The Middle Way and Bordertown at Holden Street Theatres; in addition to two seasons of staged readings, New Visions 1: Pushing the 4th Wall and New Visions 2: The Other.

OUR TEAM

Dr Matt Hawkins is a playwright, screenwriter and lecturer. He has spent the last twenty years not only writing and directing his own scripts but also developing the work of young actors and screenwriters. He has written extensively for the stage and television in Australia, UK and Ghana. His credits include Always Greener (7 Network), Life Support (SBS) and The Micallef Program (ABC). He was script editor, writer and show runner for the hit Ghanaian TV series Different Shades of Blue (GTV - Sparrow Productions)

Lucy Combe is a playwright, copywriter and teacher. She has been involved in theatre and performance since completing her bachelor of Drama Studies from Adelaide University in 1999. Subsequent production work included the founding of Newfangled Productions and the writing/directing of several plays including Searching for Solace. She completed a Diploma of Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London and spent many years in the UK working in Arts-based roles.

Dr Alex Vickery-Howe is an award winning playwright and director/screenwriter. In 2008 he made his writing debut with Once Upon a Midnight a bilingual, bicultural horror rock musical in Okinawa, Japan, where it opened the Kijimuna Festival (and played to rave reviews and full houses, before selling out again at the Adelaide OzAsia Festival. His latest show, Out of the Ordinary, was published by Currency Press. His feature screenplay Stupid Dead Boy won the Australian Writers’ Guild ‘What’s the story’ screenplay competition. Recently, he completed an internship at StudioCanal working in screen acquisitions and script assessment/development. He holds a PhD from Flinders University, where he specialises in writing internationally for younger audiences.

Pontsho Nthupi is an actor and voiceover artist, who has voiced various poetic works: 'New Girl', 'Do you believe in the spiritual' and 'I like hugs'. She is also a writer and avid media content creator, her material can be found on her youtube channel 'She's a Royal Priesthood. She has recently appeared in the feature film Never too late. She is currently working on new content that deals with the empowerment for women in her series 'The Worth of a Woman'.

Samantha Riley is a professional performer, voice/movement teacher and director. Samantha completed her Bachelor of Musical Theatre in Ballarat before heading to Melbourne to commence her theatrical career. Here she worked in independent touring shows such as The Best of Broadway and in independent plays including The Return. Her first professional show, The Boyfriend, was with The Production Company. She then went on the national tour of Annie with Anthony Warlow and Todd McKenney. In 2018, she launched her cabaret show, 'A Little Bit Extra' at the Adelaide Fringe. For South Australian Playwrights Theatre, Samantha directed Lucy Combe’s The Middle Way at Holden Street Theatres in January 2019.

Katie O'Reilly graduated from Flinders Drama Centre in 2000. Since then she has worked interstate, locally and overseas for both stage and screen. Most recently she performed with Irish Theatre Company, Sundays Child for the 2017 Adelaide Fringe. In Australian television, she has worked on Neighbours and Stingers. She also starred in hit Irish series Fair City for television station RTE. Film credits include Caterpillar Wish as well as numerous short films.

Dr Lisa Harper Campbell is an actor, director, broadcaster, writer and academic. Highlights since graduating from Flinders Drama Centre include writing, performing and touring her own comedic solo show A Bee’s Dick Away, directing The Double Bass featuring Eddie Morrison, performing as Julie Bishop in the national tour of Abbott! The Musical, assistant directing Zabou Breitman’s Foolz, producing Foul Play Theatre’s production of Holly Brindley’s Julie, performing in numerous shows with Joh Hartog Productions and of course winning Hard Quiz on the ABC with her special topic, the French Resistance. She has obtained a doctorate in French Cinema from the University of Adelaide and lectures in French Studies, Screen Studies and Drama Critical Studies.

PREVIOUS SHOWS

AN EVENING WITH A VEGETARIAN LIBRARIAN
She might be a vegetarian, but she's also the Gen-X meat in the inter-generational sandwich of the modern workplace.

A mostly true, slightly made-up tale of thwarted ambition, underachievement, and a funeral in a library. A meditation on reading and an ode to life before the device.

“This is a stunning new work...Highly recommended”
John Ovenden - The Weekender Herald

“★★★★ - 8.7/10 We have a fun and feisty addition to the library of the South Australian Playwrights Theatre”
The Adelaide Show Podcast

“★★★★ Beautifully choreographed…Bordertown is an entertaining and funny show, with strong and convincing performances all round”
Michael Coghlam – The Clothesline

“Engaging surrealist tone full of dreams and demons”
Peter Burdon - The Advertiser

“An absolutely wild ride… memorable characters, some good streaks of humour and a nice sharp barb pierced into the world’s tedious obsession with celebrity. Well-honed in production, it is a very nice night’s entertainment”
Samela Harris - The Barefoot Review

“The play is well-produced and acted, but perhaps equally important it is a great contribution from the South Australian Playwrights Theatre, which offers a refreshing take on local stories and places”
Global Media Post

“Lots of laughs and some deeper issues in a play which moves briskly and is delivered with flair”
Broadway World

“New theatrical works by local writers are always a welcome commodity… especially when a play as fine as ‘The Middle Way’ makes it to the stage…it is a strong and highly satisfying work.”
Anthony Vawser…Adelaide Theatre Guide

“This team is very experienced…The Middle Way is as a delightful evening at Holden Street Theatres that I thoroughly recommend.”
Pamela Watts…Broadway World.

‘It's a tremendous night out, with a sharp and witty script... Every now and then, a brilliant actor emerges...Such is the case with Stephen Tongun.’
John Ovenden ....Hills Magazine

‘...this is a genuinely funny play... A great show...An entertaining and funny story that deserves to be told…’
Michael Coghlan...The clothesline.com.au

‘…a heart-felt play… a beautiful story, well executed by cast and crew, which will leave you with a smile and a tear.’
Nicola Woolford…Glam Adelaide

'Deftly played, and directed by the writer with a light touch, Frank Forbes and the Yahoo Boy is a delight...'
Peter Burdon. The Advertiser

‘“Frank Forbes and the Yahoo Boy” is blowing the cobwebs away from the dark and dusty corners of Adelaide theatre and bringing us delightfully into the modern day.
Stephen Tongun is an absolute standout as Ishaku. His performance is electric and endearing…’
Maggie Wood… Adelaide Theatre Guide

‘...writer/director Matt Hawkins brings mature insight and a perceptive eye to his multi-dimensional story. He also regularly manages to make us laugh – sometimes uproariously!
Can a piece of theatre cross cultures and manage to entertain audiences all along the demographical spectrum? Can it do so by combining elements of serious drama and character detail with almost-farcical comedy? This one certainly can.’
Anthony Vawser...Stage Whispers

The SA PLAYWRIGHTS PODCAST