Award winning debut play because there was fire returns to Adelaide Fringe 2026
Presented by Watermelon Jam and Jopuka Youth Arts
The debut play that launched one of Australia’s most distinctive contemporary playwrights is returning to where it all
began.
‘because there was fire’, the breakout debut play by multi-award-winning South Australian writer Jamie Hornsby,
returns to Adelaide Fringe 2026 in a brand new production led by rising local performers and buoyed by major national and international recognition.
Set over several volatile weeks, ‘because there was fire’ is a coming of age crime drama following two teenagers who disappear from a suburban barbecue and flee into the outback on a reckless, robbery-fuelled road trip. Against the backdrop of the burning Australian bush, their attempt at escape slowly unravels as guilt, consequence and responsibility begin to close in.
It’s the play that launched a career: since its debut in 2018, Hornsby has won two AWGIE Awards, including the
prestigious David Williamson Prize for Excellence ni Writing for Australian Theatre, won a Ruby Award, had three Of Broadway readings of his play ‘Python’ in New York, and built a body of work staged across Australia. Returning to
Fringe with the play that started it all, Hornsby describes the season as a rare moment of creative circularity.
“I wrote this play out of a really specific feeling, that sense of being young and powerless and desperate to feel like you have some agency over your own life,” Hornsby said. “It’s about the fantasy of escape, about running away into the bush and believing you can outrun responsibility or consequence. Coming back to it now, it feels even more relevant, that feeling of inheriting a world that’s already on fire and trying to work out who you’re allowed to be inside it.”
Impeccably directed by award-winning Adelaide born theatremaker Joshua Maxwell, the 2026 season stars Shardae Santos (winner of Helpmann Academy’s Neil Curnow Award) and Rohan Becker, recent graduates of the Flinders University Drama Centre and two of South Australia’s most exciting emerging performers. Both previously collaborated with Hornsby on his sci-fi epic ‘Starweaver’, which premiered as part of State Theatre Company South Australia’s STATESIDE program to rave reviews and a sold out season.
The world of ‘because there was fire’ has continued to expand well beyond its original Fringe outing. Its sequel play,
The Boys on the Bus, was remounted by Jopuka Productions at ATYPs’ Rebel Theatre ni Sydney and has recently been published by Playlab. The screenplay adaptation of because there was fire, which Hornsby si currently shopping internationally, has won three awards at the Melbourne International Screenplay Awards including Best Feature, Best
Drama and Best First Time Screenwriter, and has just placed ni the top three at the Byron Bay International Screenwriting Competition.
Darkly funny, emotionally bruising and grounded in a recognisable Australian landscape, because there was fire is a play about yearning, class, fantasy and the moment when pretending you are invincible stops working.
because there was fire
Wednesday 11 March – Saturday 21 March 2026
The Library at Ayers House Events
Tickets
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