South Australian Playwrights Theatre presents Typhoon, a new Australian play by Matt Hawkins about migration, care and crisis, at Nexus Arts from 2 to 5 December 2026. The work follows an Australian mining executive, her adopted teenage daughter and a Filipino domestic worker whose lives intersect as a typhoon devastates the Philippines, exploring labour migration, environmental crisis and diasporic identity through one intimate household.
New Australian play Typhoon brings a story of migration, care and crisis to Nexus Arts this December
South Australian Playwrights Theatre, in partnership with Nexus Arts and the Philippines Educational Theatre Association, presents the Adelaide season of Typhoon, 2 to 5 December 2026.
South Australian Playwrights Theatre (SAPT), in partnership with Nexus Arts and the Philippines Educational Theater Association (PETA), will present the Adelaide season of Typhoon, a new Australian play, at Nexus Arts from 3 to 5 December 2026, with a preview on 2 December.
Typhoon follows Lara, an Australian mining executive building an expat life in Hong Kong, and her fraught relationship with her adopted teenage daughter, Misha. When Filipino domestic worker Angela joins their household, she becomes both a challenge to the pair and the key to Misha finally understanding where she comes from. As a devastating typhoon tears through Angela's home in the Philippines, the quiet imbalances of power, care and belonging between the three women are brought into sharp focus.
Developed during OzAsia in 2024 and through an intercultural creative process with PETA in Manila, Typhoon explores the emotional and political weight of labour migration, environmental crisis and diasporic identity.
Through one intimate household, the work reflects on global inequality, cultural displacement and the bonds that form across borders.
Matt Hawkins, Writer
“Typhoon has been an amazing journey for me as a writer. Working in close collaboration with the Filipino community in Manila and Adelaide, I have had the honour of channelling the stories of some incredibly brave and resilient women into this new theatre work. I am so excited to be presenting its premiere at
Nexus Arts in Adelaide, the home of culturally diverse storytelling.”
Valerie Berry, Director
“I am drawn to the way Typhoon holds care and complicity in the same frame. It follows three women negotiating what they owe one another, what they have sacrificed to survive, and what it means to call a place home. I'm honoured to bring this story to an Adelaide audience.”
Typhoon is directed by Valerie Berry and written by Matt Hawkins (The Deep North, Frank Forbes and the Yahoo Boy), and stars Astrid Pill as Lara, Jelena Nicdao as Misha and Jennifer Trijo as Angela. Original music, sound design and imagery are by Manila-based artist Datu Arellano. The production is presented by SAPT and produced by Katherine Sortini, recipient of the 2025 Ruby Award (Frank Ford Young Achiever Award).
The season is supported by Creative Australia and presented in partnership with Nexus Arts, whose program champions culturally and linguistically diverse artists, and PETA, whose dramaturgical collaboration has grounded the work in authentic Filipino artistic practice.
SEASON DETAILS
Production - Typhoon, a new play by Matt Hawkins
Presented by South Australian Playwrights Theatre, in partnership with Nexus Arts and PETA
Venue - Nexus Arts, Lion Arts Centre, 68 North Terrace, Adelaide SA, 5000
Dates - Preview Wednesday 2 December; season Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 December 2026
Times - Preview Wed 2 December at 7pm; Thu 3, Fri 4, Sat 5 December at 2pm & 7pm
Tickets - Full $42, Concession $34, other ticket prices available
Bookings - https://collections.humanitix.com/typhoon-sapt2026
Running time - 80 minutes, no interval
