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This show belongs to the Adelaide Fringe 2026 season. This season is now over.

Sweeties
Brynley and Ella
Brynley and Ella performing Sweeties at BATS Theatre
Adelaide Fringe 2026

Sweeties

Two women. One game show. No real prize.

Step inside a fever dream with this darkly comic, high-energy theatre show that fuses sketch comedy, surrealism, and physical theatre to explore the absurdity of female rivalry and our universal obsession with WINNING.

Somewhere between Squid Game and Toddlers & Tiaras, two women (Brynley Stent and Ella Hope-Higginson) face off through schoolyard challenges, unhinged choreography, and a haunting ‘Swimsuit Category’ - all in pursuit of victory, even though no one ever really wins.

“Honestly, you could do a thesis on this work—watch it 10 to 15 times and still get something out of it." - Duncan Sarkies, Radio New Zealand.

WINNER: Adelaide Fringe Tour Ready Award, Spectacular Organised Chaos Award - New Zealand Fringe, 2024

Presented by: Ella Hope-Higginson & Brynley Stent

Ella Hope-Higginson and Brynley Stent are award-winning performers and writers from New Zealand. Ella is an actor, writer, and improviser, with screen credits including The Power of the Dog, Rings of Power, and My Life is Murder, and theatre work including Lord of the Flies and Red Leap Theatre’s Kororāreka: The Ballad of Maggie Flynn. She is a multi-award-nominated playwright, a member of improv company Bullrush, and part of Auckland’s comedy collective Heartthrobs. Brynley is a comedian, writer, and actor known for offbeat, absurdist character comedy. A Toi Whakaari graduate, she has worked across NZ theatre and TV (Creamerie, Funny Girls, Shortland Street) and won the 2021 Billy T Award for her solo show Soft Carnage, later performed in London and Melbourne.
Theatre and Physical Theatre • Absurdist
New Zealand • Australian Premiere
 
Fringe Fund Recipient
Reviews
  •          

    Darkly comic, perfectly constructed and deeply important. - Upside Adelaide

  •          

    A masterful blend of physical comedy and disarming moments of existentialism. - The List

Suitability & warnings

Content rating: M
Target audience: High School (15-17)
Coarse Language: Occasional, Strong
Strobe Lighting
Depicts Violence: Occasional, Mild
Sexual References: Occasional, Mild
Loud Noises

Accessibility

 
Suitable for audiences who may not have a comprehensive understanding of the English language

Presenter

Presented by: Ella Hope-Higginson & Brynley Stent

Ella Hope-Higginson and Brynley Stent are award-winning performers and writers from New Zealand. Ella is an actor, writer, and improviser, with screen credits including The Power of the Dog, Rings of Power, and My Life is Murder, and theatre work including Lord of the Flies and Red Leap Theatre’s Kororāreka: The Ballad of Maggie Flynn. She is a multi-award-nominated playwright, a member of improv company Bullrush, and part of Auckland’s comedy collective Heartthrobs. Brynley is a comedian, writer, and actor known for offbeat, absurdist character comedy. A Toi Whakaari graduate, she has worked across NZ theatre and TV (Creamerie, Funny Girls, Shortland Street) and won the 2021 Billy T Award for her solo show Soft Carnage, later performed in London and Melbourne.

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