13 World-Class Theatre, Musicals and Stage Shows Coming to Adelaide in 2026

This year, Adelaide’s every-vibrant theatre scene welcomes a classic of Russian literature featuring a star of Squid Game, Oscar Wilde’s most famous farce, and contemporary works that deal with First Nations culture, gender identity and more. There’s also a one-woman production starring stage and screen legend Isabelle Huppert. 

South Australian talent is also under the spotlight in Mama Does Derby, which features actual players from Adelaide Roller Derby League. 

Here are our picks of the best theatre and stage shows coming up in Adelaide, in chronological order. 

The Cherry Orchard 

Anton Chekhov’s 1904 play, about an aristocratic family on the brink of losing its estate and beloved cherry orchard, has been reimagined by director Simon Stone, who sets the fast-paced drama within a powerful Korean family in Seoul. Park Hae-soo, who played Cho Sang-woo in the first season of Squid Game, stars in the Adelaide Festival show. 

The Cherry Orchard runs from February 27 to March 1 at Festival Theatre. Find tickets here.

Mama Does Derby

Adelaide Roller Derby League skaters circle a track-like stage in this action-packed show created by Clare Watson and Virginia Gay (Cyrano, Calamity Jane). It follows teenage Billie (Elvy-Lee Quici) and her mum (Amber McMahon) as they move house and try to make friends in quiet regional Australia. It’s about failing and getting back on your feet, being alive and free, and finding your community.

Mama Does Derby runs from February 27 to March 8 at Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

POV

There’s no dress rehearsal for becoming a parent, and this widely praised 70-minute show uses that anxiety-inducing premise to put two unrehearsed actors through their paces with one camera-wielding pre-teen. In this Adelaide Festival iteration, 11-year-old Bub is played by alternating actors. Her parents are played by two of a roster of adults, whose only task is to react in real time. It might be funny, it might be sad, but as the grown-ups are unprepared, no two shows could possibly be the same. 

POV runs from March 4 to 7 at Space Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Mary Said What She Said

Legendary actor Isabelle Huppert transports us to 1587 in a one-woman production – performed in French, with English surtitles – about the final moments in the life of Mary Queen of Scots. The 90-minute show, directed and designed by the late American playwright Robert Wilson, who died last year, is an Adelaide Festival exclusive. It garnered rave reviews in London and New York for its fragmented and avant-garde style, and for composer Ludovico Einaudi’s original score. Though some critics have said “it’s not for everyone”.

Mary Said What She Said is on March 6 to 8 at Festival Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Whitefella Yella Tree

Ty and Neddy – teenage boys from different mobs – meet for the first time under the branches of a lemon tree to talk about the recently arrived whitefellas. The adolescents slowly become friends, then lovers, and over various meetings they respond to the sudden and violent changes brought on by colonisation. This Griffin Theatre Company production features Pertame and Tiwi actor Joseph Althouse as Ty; and Barrd, Yamatji, Noongar, Bunuba and Ngadju actor Danny Howard as Neddy.  

Whitefella Yella Tree runs from March 12 to 15 at Space Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

The Chronicles

Choreographer Stephanie Lake is known for her distinctive and explosive ensemble dances, pulsing with vitality. In The Chronicles, 12 contemporary dancers move through the cycle of life, from an opening sequence representing birth to the closing dance of death. It’s sensual, dynamic and, at times, tender and quiet. Collaborator Robin Fox blends an electro-acoustic score with the songs of the Young Adelaide Voices youth choir and baritone Oliver Mann. 

The Chronicles runs from March 12 to 15 at Dunstan Playhouse. Tickets are on sale now.

Trophy Boys

An all-boys debating team is set to smash its sister school in the grand finale of a debating tournament. They’re locked in a classroom for their prep window, arguing “feminism has failed women”. Sounds simple, right? In Trophy Boys, the scenario is a funny and frightening look at adolescent boys and their place in the world. It’s performed by a female and non-binary cast in drag, and when the show ran in Sydney it took home the Sydney Theatre Awards prize for Best New Work (2024).

Trophy Boys runs from March 17 to April 2 at Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. Tickets are on sale now.

RBG: Of Many, One

Heather Mitchell is a powerhouse in any role, but as Ruth Bader Ginsburg she’s the walking, talking trailblazing “notorious RBG”. Mitchell embodies the US Supreme Court justice with a grace and quietness that makes you feel like the jurist is right there on stage. Written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Suzie Miller (Prima Facie), the one-woman play is an entertaining and emotional whizz through RBG’s pivotal moments, from her teen years to her death in 2020. 

RBG: Of Many, One runs from April 10 to May 2 at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre. Buy tickets here. 

The Importance of Being Earnest 

Promising a fast and furious production, with an entirely South Australian cast, State Theatre Company’s artistic director Petra Kalive brings Oscar Wilde’s story of two young men who adopt elaborate alter egos to Dunstan Playhouse in May. This version of The Importance of Being Earnest promises Wilde’s signature wit and chaos, radically reimagined for 2026. 

The Importance of Being Earnest runs from May 8 to 30 at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre. Tickets are on sale here.

Art

Richard Roxburgh (Rake), Damon Herriman (Better Man) and Ryan Corr (Packed to the Rafters) collide in a funny and chaotic comedy by French playwright Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton. Decades-long friendship is at stake when one of the men buys a ridiculously expensive painting. It’s not just a question of taste, it’s a matter of whether or not we truly know our oldest pals. 

Art runs from May 20 to 24 at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Pretty Woman: The Musical

Relive the innocence of the 1990s in a musical adaptation of one of the most unlikely rom-coms to be turned into a musical. Yes, a wealthy client still falls for the charms of a living-for-the-moment sex worker and promises to rescue her with the trappings of capitalism, but this time there are belting songs, such as I Can’t Go Back and Anywhere but Here. Samantha Jade and Ben Hall play Vivian and Edward, and you can guarantee the audience will chime in on “Big mistake. Big. Huge”.

Pretty Woman: The Musical runs from May 31 to June 28 at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Anastasia The Broadway Musical

Faithful to the 1997 animated film, Anastasia The Broadway Musical is touring Australia for the first time with Georgina Hopson (Titanique) in the lead role. Hopson honours the magic of the movie, especially in her renditions of Journey to the Past and Once Upon a December. Joining her on stage is Robert Tripolino as Dmitry. There’s romance, adventure and sparkle, and just a sprinkle of deception, rebellion and defiance.

Anastasia The Broadway Musical runs from August 1 to August 23 at Festival Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Aida

The late Franco Zeffirelli’s production of Verdi’s Aida was originally scheduled for this year’s Adelaide Festival, but the show’s extravagant costumes, which are coming from Verona, were delayed by shipping problems. The two Adelaide Oval shows are now taking place in February 2027. Set in opulent ancient Egypt, Aida has almost 600 performers, including more than 100 musicians from the Fondazione Arena di Verona Orchestra and 50 chorus members from State Opera South Australia.

Aida takes place on February 26 & 27 at Adelaide Oval in 2027. Tickets are on sale here.