State Theatre Company South Australia 2023 Season

State Theatre Company South Australia’s 2023 season will feature the world premiere of an internationally best-selling South Australian novel, a musical homage to one of the world’s greatest singers and a Tony Award-winning classic tragicomedy that marks the return of one of Australia’s most beloved actresses.

Launching the season, Mitchell Butel says the 2023 season marks an exciting era for the company.

“Following on from our 50th birthday, State Theatre Company South Australia looks to our next 50 years with one of the most exciting and diverse seasons the Company has ever presented,” he says.

“Our shows will explore many different and incredible worlds, voices and stories but at the heart of the season we’re exploring the notion of family.

“Audiences will see families beginning, expanding, falling apart, hoping to heal and new families being formed beyond the biological - families and communities formed by experience, by resilience, by love, by language and by music.”

The season starts with Edward Albee’s Tony award-winning dark comedy The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?, marking Claudia Karvan’s return to the stage after 25 years, alongside Don Hany (Offspring, White Collar Blue), in this co-production with Sydney Theatre Company.

The creative team features director Mitchell Butel, set designer Jeremy Allen (The Normal Heart), Ailsa Paterson (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), lighting designer Nigel Levings (The Normal Heart) and composer Andrew Howard (Hibernation). The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? plays a strictly limited season at Dunstan Playhouse in February.

April brings a double bill of two one-actor productions, Every Brilliant Thing and Prima Facie, which will both play at the Space Theatre.

Jimi Bani (Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? and Queensland Theatre’s Othello) brings the interactive comedy Every Brilliant Thing, Duncan Macmillan’s award-winning play about one boy’s list of every little thing that makes life worth living, to the Adelaide stage.

Described by The Guardian as “one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see about depression – and possibly one of the funniest plays you’ll see full-stop”, Every Brilliant Thing also brings director Yasmin Gurreeboo back to the company (after her work on pandemic project Decameron 2.0) for her mainstage directorial debut.

Playing alongside the season is Prima Facie, a personal look at the justice system through the eyes of a barrister who finds herself on the other side of the courtroom, directed by David Mealor and starring Caroline Craig (Underbelly, Blue Heelers), who most recently performed with the company in Eureka Day.

Both shows will play at the Space Theatre and audiences will have the option to see both shows on the same night, if they choose.

June brings Nathan Maynard’s Belvoir St production At What Cost? to the Odeon Theatre, starring its original cast Luke Carroll (Black is the New White), Sandy Greenwood, Alex Malone and Ari Maza Long.

At What Cost? centres on soon-to-be-father and proud Palawa man, Boyd (played by Carroll), who is preparing for the return of stolen ancestral remains to Country. When an outsider claiming to be Palawa arrives at his door, Boyd’s world is turned upside down with tragic consequences.

In August, the company again joins forces with Belvoir St Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, starring Zahra Newman as the late jazz legend Billie Holiday.

This fictional account of one of Holiday’s final performances wil turning the Space Theatre into a cabaret club with a live jazz band. Newman becomes the woman affectionally known as ‘Lady Day’ to tell stories of hard times, happy times, addiction and survival while performing Holiday’s greatest hits such as “What a Little Moonlight Can Do”, “Strange Fruit” and “God Bless the Child”.

South Australian author Pip Williams’ international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words is adapted for the stage in September under the direction of Jessica Arthur, her first show as Artistic Associate at the Company.

Adapted by Verity Laughton, the co-production with Sydney Theatre Company about the compilation of the Oxford English dictionary – and its forgotten words - has its world premiere at Dunstan Playhouse.

Weaving fiction and real events, The Dictionary of Lost Words follows the story of young Esme, the daughter of one of the dictionary editors, who discovers the word ‘bondmaid’ missing from the dictionary, sparking a quest to uncover the other lost words dismissed by the men in charge.

Another SA book adaptation comes in November with Welcome To Your New Life, based on Anna Goldsworthy’s memoir of the same name.

With live songs, this charming but account of pregnancy and early motherhood comes to the Space Theatre under the direction of Shannon Rush, her first show as Artistic Associate at the Company.

Warm, candid and life-affirming, this world premiere production evokes the shock of plunging into a life-changing adventure and the kicking required to return to the surface.

In addition to the official 2023 season, State Theatre Company South Australia brings back sold-out shows Girls & Boys and Euphoria for a strictly limited time in August. Justine Clarke returns in 2022 Adelaide Festival hit Girls & Boys, playing at Dunstan Playhouse from Aug 2-5, while Emily Steel’s AWGIE-nominated Euphoria, starring James Smith and Ashton Malcolm, plays at Odeon Theatre from Aug 22-26.

Butel says he’s thrilled to bring back these productions alongside the seven shows of the 2023 season.

“We’re pumped to bring all these incredible shows to life and bring back some of our sold-out hits to satisfy those who couldn’t squeeze into their initial seasons,” he says.

“We are blessed in South Australia to have a community of artists and audiences who make magic together with their desire to create and witness phenomenal, transformative and inclusive theatre. I can’t wait to make more magic in 2023.”

Subscriptions to the 2023 season are now available at statetheatrecompany.com.au