Anna Thomas to Debut New Show SHADOWS OF HERSELF at Adelaide Fringe

After seven sell-out seasons at the Adelaide Fringe for her one-woman show How To Drink Wine Like A Wànker, and receiving an award for best theatre in 2026, award-winning playwright, performer and producer Anna Thomas will debut her latest production, Shadows of Herself, at Holden Street Theatres 2026 Adelaide Fringe.

The production will run Wednesday 18 February to Sunday 22 March 2026 at The Barbara Hardy Garden at Holden Street Theatres. Tickets are available here.

Shadows of Herself was first launched in the 2025 Adelaide Fringe as a work in progress and was a finalist for the 2025 Holden Street Theatres’ Adelaide Fringe Award. Thomas has remounted ‘Shadows Of Herself’ under the masterful direction of multi-award-winning theatre maker, Hannah Maxwell, from London, UK.

“Shadows of Herself was borne from an energy rising inside of me, a feeling of being old, tired, grateful and enraged all at once," said Thomas. "I was reading Emery Hall’s poem ‘I have been a thousand different women’ and I realised that underneath the exhaustion there was an anger and a passion brewing inside of me, deep in my soul. A realisation that half the population have untold stories, many of which are not extraordinary, but by the sheet success of their existence, the women who hold these stories are extraordinary."

Mornings are chaos. The vision of a poised businesswoman mocks her in the rear mirror. A new mother strolls past, baby nestled in a pram more valuable than her car. A seasoned mother leaps from the lofty heights of an SUV. She isn’t a stay-at-home mum; she's a domestic engineer. A young woman parks abruptly, no ring, suit and flip flops, heels in bag, an apologetic smile permanently plastered on her face as they race past. A battle of identity under the weight of her own expectations. She is surrounded by Shadows of Herself.