Spare a Thought for Jana Wendt playwright Nicola Watson gives us the background to her comic response to middle class troubles of the modern era.
Spare a Thought for Jana Wendt emerges from lost hours doomscrolling climate news, realestate.com.au and the myschools website. It’s a response to the ubiquitous claws of Airbnb versus the worsening drought of affordable housing. It’s an expression of my most materialistic and altruistic selves, and all the versions that exist in between.
The main characters of this play are products of my inner critic, my wider circle, and my closest friends. They are fierce and flawed, funny and scathing, right and wrong. Representative of their time and context, they weave threads of real and imagined conversation from the vast Australian middle-class. But do they mean what they say? Can they hear one another?
Ultimately, I think people generally are good, or at least want to be good, or at least want to be seen as good. In this play, I’m trying to untangle these contradictions in hopes the audience might laugh, or at the very least: spare a thought.
So pour yourself a glass, put on DJ Shadow, and check your account balance while you lament the state of the world. Have a drink. Have a cracker.
Special thanks to the one and only Jana Wendt, who has lent her name in a demonstration of both her excellent humour and her creative sensibilities.
Nicola Watson
LA MAMA PRESENTS Spare a Thought for Jana Wendt
8-26 April 2026
FIND OUT MORE AND BOOK SPARE A THOUGHT FOR JANA WENDT
Moving from Melbourne to regional SA four years ago, Nicola Watson is a treechanger, educator, songwriter and emerging playwright living in Penola on Pinechunga land. She writes about socio-economic inequality, status anxiety, and the sometimes slippery space between allyship and tokenism. Attending Melbourne University some decades ago, she almost failed the Bachelor of Creative Arts. Shortlisted for the 2023 Patrick White Playwright Award and SA Jill Blewett Literary Award, ‘Spare A Thought for Jana Wendt’ featured in a public reading by STCSA in their 2025 season of Great Australian Bites. This is her first play.
This project has been generously supported by CreateSA, the Government of South Australia, the Independent Arts Foundation South Australia, and State Theatre Company South Australia.