By arts editor HELEN MUSA

Sydney Fringe hit Gia Ophelia is coming to Canberra for a limited season at the Courtyard Studio.

Written by playwright Grace Wilson and directed by Canberra-born Jo Bradley, the one-woman show follows Gia, an actor who becomes determined to play Shakespeare’s Ophelia one final time.

But when an acting residency goes disastrously wrong, she is forced to confront questions of identity, ambition and authenticity.

Annie Stafford shows Gia travelling from the highs of acting school to the lows of womanhood and authenticity, in what is billed as a darkly comic exploration of sexism and ageism.

After winning the Emerging Artist Award and becoming a finalist for Best in Theatre at Sydney Fringe Festival in 2025, Gia Ophelia sold out seasons in Sydney and returned in February this year for a packed-out season at KXT on Broadway in Sydney.

Playwright Wilson is now studying for a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing at NIDA. At the age of 17, she was runner-up in the Queensland Theatre Young Playwrights’ Award with her work My Name is Tommy and won the same award the following year with Goodbye, Eli Anderson. At 21, she was runner-up in the Australian Theatre Festival NYC New Play Award with her work Bogqueen.

Presented by JB Theatre Co in partnership with Canberra Youth Theatre, the 75-minute solo work marks both Bradley’s and Wilson’s Canberra debut. Bradley, director and producer of JB says: “As someone born in Canberra, I can’t wait to return home for my first show here… it’s been really exciting to expand the team, filling it with emerging artists and learning about touring for the first time.”

Wilson, for her part, says: “Gia Ophelia has left its mark on the Sydney indie scene because we, frankly, put what theatre doesn’t want you to see on stage… It is that human experience of having the door slammed on your dreams.”

Gia Ophelia, Courtyard Studio, July 8-11.

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