Winner of the 2024 Sydney Theatre Award for ‘Best Production for Young People.

Would you risk breaking bail for a packet of Mi Goreng? Would you snitch on a mate to save your own skin? Around here, ordinary days can turn on you so fast you’ve still got a smile on your face as your hopes die in your hands.

Yani wants to go to the Easter Show, Kai wants a sense of home, Shanika wants her Mum back, and Lachlan…well, he just wants his bowl of noodles. But when the justice system is all that stands between these young people and what they want, it raises an important question—how do young people grow when the system keeps cutting them down?

Yuwaalaray playwright Hannah Belanszky and Kalkadoon director Abbie-lee Lewis bring their exceptional talent to the stage for Saplings, a collection of hilarious and heartbreaking stories born from workshops with young people experiencing the youth justice system from Marrickville to Moree. Four talented young actors take on multiple roles in this poetic, personal, and unexpected production that will leave you asking who’s really to blame.

Set to a soundtrack of rap and hip-hop music made by young people in the youth justice system, Saplings gives an honest, raw look into the adult consequences faced by some of our most vulnerable. Join us at The Rebel Theatre for a night of laughter, tears, and celebration of the survival instincts of young people.

Writer // Hannah Belanszky
Producer // Hayden Tonazzi
Director // Abbie-lee Lewis
Dramaturg // Jane FitzGerald
Co-Set & Costume Designer // Angela Doherty
Co-Set Lighting Designer // Morgan Moroney
Composer & Sound Designer // Michael Weir
Associate Sound Designer // Gryffyn Long
Fight Director // Tim Dashwood
Production Manager // Harry Dowling
Stage Manager // Milly Grindrod