Griffin Theatre Company has unveiled its 2026 Season – a tour-de-force of exquisite Australian theatre featuring five incredible plays, fourteen extraordinary actors and some of the best new works in Australia today.
In their final season outside of the SBW Stables Theatre, Griffin presents an unforgettable line up of intimate stories, including the revival of Steve J. Spears’ classic The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin starring Simon Burke, and the mainstage debut of Iolanthe’s cult smash-hit SISTREN.
Happy Feraren’s genre-melding debut play SAVIOR, Declan Greene & Zahra Newman’s acclaimed reimagining of iconic Australian Gothic horror Wake in Fright, and a brand-new comedy Mum Club by Budawang/Yuin woman Jorjia Gillis.
Alongside the main season is Griffin’s artist development program Griffin Lookout. Griffin Lookout provides Sydney’s most exciting independent theatre makers with a season at Griffin as well as producing and artistic support from the Griffin team.
Past Griffin Lookout shows include notable works such as SISTREN by Iolanthe, Birdsong of Tomorrow by Nathan Harrison, UFO by re:group, A is for Apple by Jessica Bellamy, Mother May We by Mel Ree and Jali by Oliver Twist.
The 2026 Griffin Lookout season continues with two groundbreaking new works: Afterglow by up-and-comers Sheanna Parker Russon and Lillian M. Hearne, and Iacuna by emerging Chinese Australian playwright Eric Jiang.
“In our final season before we return to the Stables we’re returning to what makes Griffin…well, Griffin. Compelling new plays, Incredible actors, all so close you can feel the heat of the stage lights. This year we are zooming in on moments of heartbreak, catastrophe, joy,” said Griffin’s Artistic Director, Declan Greene.
In 2026 that means Zahra Newman, Simon Burke, Miranda Tapsell alongside blazing next generation talent in plays that swing from the global scale of international aid to the intimate crisis of new motherhood. This is Griffin, up close and personal. Come squeeze in for our final year before we return home.”
Griffin Theatre Company and Belvoir have joined forces to announce a new partnership, where Griffin will undertake a year-long residency at Belvoir St Theatre’s Downstairs Theatre to present their full 2026 season of new Australian stories, while their home, the SBW Stables Theatre, undergoes a major redevelopment.
The iconic SBW Stables Theatre is currently undergoing a multi-million-dollar redevelopment supported by the NSW Government, Commonwealth Government, City of Sydney and Private donors and foundations after closing its doors to the public in April 2024. The project will see the theatre’s upstairs auditorium transform into a state-of-the-art, digitally enhanced theatre, opening to the public in 2027.
The collaboration cements a long-standing relationship between the two companies, reflecting their shared history and common values of risk-taking, inclusivity, and a belief in theatre as a social act.
Griffin Theatre Company 2026 Season:
The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin
21 February – 29 March
On its 50th anniversary, The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin is as urgent – and unsettling – as ever. Robert O’Brien is an elocution teacher whose career is going nowhere fast. Stuck in a dreary cycle of diaphragm exercises and She-Sells-Seashells, every evening he escapes into extravagant fantasies of seducing Mick Jagger. Then, a new student arrives. Benjamin Franklin. A 12-year-old acting prodigy with a stutter, a pack-a-day smoking habit and some unsettling curiosities about his middle-aged voice teacher. With half of Toorak already suspicious of their flamboyant neighbour, a ticking time bomb is lit. This riotous, razor-edged tragicomedy is a harrowing portrait of persecution is directed by Artistic Director Declan Greene (Naturism, The Lewis Trilogy) and stars Simon Burke.
SISTREN
9 April – 3 May
Isla and Violet are a ‘lethal combination’. Their self-righteous headmaster thinks that’s an insult. They think it’s a cute name for a girl group. Too-smart, too precocious and way too outspoken, it’s no surprise when these self-proclaimed soulmates are S E P A R A T E D until the end of the year. But the world outside their South London school is a divisive one for a cisgender Caribbean diva and her ‘Ethel Cain adjacent’ transgender bestie. As their cosmic connection is tested, one key question arises – will Isla and Violet be pulled apart, or will they reign supreme? The blazingly talented Iolanthe (seven methods of killing Kylie Jenner) shares the stage with her IRL bestie, the extra-ordinary Janet Anderson (Orlando, Overflow) under the sharp direction of Ian Michael (Stolen, Picnic at Hanging Rock). A Green Door Theatre Company production.
SAVIOR
16 May – 14 June
Saving lives. Sending aid. Swiping right. Just another day at SAVIOR International. A typhoon hits the Philippines and local project officer Michelle lands her dream assignment. It’s her first time coordinating a global relief effort for a sleek American NGO. A chance to change lives, to be the changemaker she always dreamed of! All she has to do is smash her KPI’s and avoid her chaotic bestie Janna – who’s just set Michelle up with her first ever Tinder profile: “nerd girl seeks fact boi for hot data sesh”. As the lines between charity and self-interest blur, Michelle is forced to choose between her ambition, her conscience and her country. Inspired by her own time working for NGOs in the Philippines, playwright/comic Happy Feraren brings first-hand insight and fearless wit to this whip-smart, Utopia meets The White Lotus satire.
Wake in Fright
17 June – 5 July
Welcome to Bundanyabba – the best little town in the world! You’ll never want to leave. And even if you did… You can’t. Well-heeled schoolteacher John Grant is en route to Sydney, when a layover in the mining town of Bundanyabba turns into a three-week freefall. Stranded and starving, Grant is forced to rely on the locals for survival. But as the beer flows and the nights wear on, he finds himself stripped of money, identity and sanity. In a ferocious solo performance, Zahra Newman delves into the twisted heart of Wake in Fright – Kenneth Cook’s cult Australian novel and, later, an iconic horror film. Directed by Declan Greene (Naturism, The Lewis Trilogy) with thrilling, bone-rattling score from friendships, this bold adaptation is a descent into a uniquely Australian kind of hell: full of booze, bravado and buried violence.
Mum Club
22 August – 20 September
Welcome to Mum Club. Rule One: Every mum is held with love and kindness, no matter who they are. Rule Two: Drink cow’s milk and you’re OUT. Sadie’s just moved to Sydney. She’s a young Yuin mum, completely fried from trying to settle a screaming baby in a rental the size of a change table. What she needs is a support network. Instead, she stumbles into the Inner West Mum Club. There’s Corporate Mum (took a Zoom call an hour after crowning), Antivax Mum (burns sage at sleepovers) and Well-Meaning Mum (acknowledges Country every time she enters a new postcode). They’re all Sadie’s got by way of friends. But as the pressure to “do motherhood right” cranks up to eleven, Sadie starts to question what she’s willing to compromise in order to find community. From the mind of the luminously funny Jorjia Gillis and director Shari Sebbens (Blaque Showgirls, Superheroes), Mum Club is a sharp takedown of modern parenting culture – and a love letter to the messy, funny, glorious resilience of Blak motherhood.
Griffin Lookout:
Afterglow
9 – 25 July
Every year after the Barbershop Singing National Championships, the men gather for the traditional “afterglow”. Whisky flows, dickie-bows are loosened and quartets sing booze-soaked harmonies into the small hours. At the 2012 afterglow, Michael meets Tom. One is a barbershop purist with something to prove. The other is a first-timer with a messy suit, a bass voice and a quietly radical outlook: Why aren’t women allowed to sing at barbershop competitions too? Over six years, their heated debate turns tender, sweet and as complex as a chromatic four-part harmony. Together, the two singers journey through their twenties and encounter some major awakenings. But barbershop has rules, both musical and social. And as Michael and Tom change, so might their place in the chorus. From the minds of Sheanna Parker Russon (No Love Songs for Lady Basses) and Lillian M. Hearne (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812), this touching musical rom-com will have you humming long after the lights go down. Directed by Cassie Hamilton.
Iacuna
30 July – 15 August
Claudia is jobless, cashless, and flailing – everything a good Chinese daughter shouldn’t be. Glued to her phone, scrolling and ignoring Centrelink notification emails, her mother’s frustration grows day by day and soon the two of them can barely be in the same room. So, Claudia is delighted when a plum job opportunity falls right into her lap. Location: The underworld. Employer: Meng Po, the Goddess of Oblivion. Job Description: Erasing memories from the living. Salary: $200 per gig (plus tips). The hours are long and there’s no superannuation, but Claudia soon discovers an unexpected side-perk: secretly tampering with her mother’s memory. Just small edits, at first. A softened word here. A forgotten fight there. But the Goddess of Oblivion isn’t one for nuance – and when a mortal meddles with the sacred, the punishment can be severe. Playwright Eric Jiang (Rhomboid, ORIGIN STORY) and director Nicole Pingon (Moon Rabbit Rising, werkaholics) join forces for an epic underworld dive into family, forgetting and the dire consequences of commodifying the divine.
For more information about Griffin Theatre Company’s 2026 Season, including subscription packages, visit: www.griffintheatre.com.au for details.
Image: Griffin Theatre Company presents Savior (supplied)