GREAT AUSTRALIAN BITES TO SEND OFF 2025
Audiences will have the opportunity to hear six new South Australian plays have their first public readings in State Theatre Company South Australia’s mini festival of plays, Great Australian Bites, this month.
Bringing together some of the state’s best writers, directors and actors, Great Australian Bites will see six plays rehearsed over several days and read script-in-hand at The Odeon Norwood over November and December.
These plays include Alex Vickery-Howe’s Triggered, Nicola Watson’s Spare A Thought for Jana Wendt, Alexis West’s Culture Slap, Sarah Peters’ Lost Socks and Polka Dots, Piri Eddy’s The Spoil and Anthony Nocera’s Log Boy – which has also been programmed for the Company’s 2026 SPARK program.
More than 20 actors will be cast across the six plays, with new and familiar faces including Elena Carapetis and Chris Asimos (Log Boy), Mark Saturno and Lizzy Falkland (The Spoil), Tiffany Lyndall-Knight (Lost Socks & Polka Dots), Caroline Craig and Chrissie Page (Spare a Thought for Jana Wendt) and Monique Hapgood (Culture Slap).
The final offering of State Theatre Company South Australia’s 2025 season, Great Australian Bites will be led by directors Yasmin Gureeboo, Nescha Jelk, Maeve Mhairi MacGregor, Anthony Nicola and Alexis West.
Artistic Director Petra Kalive says it’s a chance for audiences to feel the magic of being in a rehearsal room and hear a play in its infancy.
“There’s something really special about being in the room when a new play is heard for the first time—and that’s what makes Great Australian Bites such a joy. Six plays by brilliant South Australian writers, brought to life by some of our local greats. Writers learn so much from hearing their words land in front of an audience, and audiences get to be part of that magic—imagining the world of the play as it’s being born. It’s intimate, exciting and deeply local, and that’s what I love about it.”
Great Australian Bites is on from Nov 23-Dec 7, Odeon Theatre, Norwood
Performances:
Sun 23 Nov 2025, 1:00 pm (Triggered)
Sun 23 Nov 2025, 5:00 pm (Spare A Thought For Jana Wendt)
Mon 24 Nov 2025, 6:30 pm (Culture Slap)
Sun 30 Nov 2025, 1:00 pm (Lost Socks and Polka Dots)
Mon 1 Dec 2025, 6:30 pm (The Spoil)
Sun 7 Dec 2025, 1:00 pm (Log Boy)
Great Australian Bites – State Theatre Company
ABOUT THE PLAYS
TRIGGERED by Alex Vickery-Howe
An idealistic journalist is forced to confront his politics, his morals and his tribe when his savage takedown of a stand-up comedian leads to an onstage shooting. A bold, brave and black comedy about the cancel culture age.
SPARE A THOUGHT FOR JANA WENDT by Nicola Watson
Three old friends reunite for a weekend away at an Airbnb, only to discover that they are not the only people occupying the house. A biting black comedy that will test the oscillations of your moral compass.
CULTURE SLAP by Alexis West
A theatricalized adventure following a Black woman stomping, tripping, and fumbling her way through the often treacherous, healing process of protocol. You get it wrong culturally – you’re gonna get a Culture Slap!
LOST SOCKS AND POLKA DOTS by Sarah Peters
Based on interviews with people living and working in residential aged care and their families, a one-person verbatim play about ageing, care, and the memories we keep of the people we love.
THE SPOIL by Piri Eddy
When a nascent pathogen wreaks ecological havoc on the planet’s arable soil, the world’s food security is plunged into chaos. Working alone on her family’s old farm, a gifted biologist, sifts through thousands of seeds – and the memories of her family – in search of something that might grow.
LOG BOY by Anthony Nocera
Based on a lived experience of grief, Log Boy sees two generations of gay men come face to face with the ghosts of their past before they lay their friend to rest. A cut-throat horror comedy about contemporary gay life that’s a little bit Scream, a little bit The Boys in the Band and a little bit Cruising.
CONTENT
Frequent coarse language and adult themes.
