Salad Days Collective takes on the Brisbane Festival

“We didn’t want to wait around for auditions, funding bodies, or gatekeepers to give us permission,” Jasmine explains.

“We wanted to make the kind of theatre we craved as audiences - and we wanted to make it now.”

Drawing on their hands-on training at TAFE Queensland’s South Bank campus - particularly the mentorship of their industry veteran Lisa O’Neil, Anatoly Frusin, Dr Patrick Mitchell and Rosalind Williams - they founded Salad Days Collective.

“I owe my love, passion and dedication to the craft of acting and theatre to them and their sheer dedication to their art and students,” explained Jasmine.

The name, a nod to Shakespeare’s “salad days when I was green in judgment,” reflects the company’s unapologetic embrace of experimentation, risk, and youth-led vision.

Their early shows, including After the End, Scenes With Girls, and LOVE, tackled complex themes of isolation, intimacy, and identity with an intensity that quickly drew attention.

With class of 2022 TAFE Queensland graduate, actor and producer Georgina Sawyer joining the team in 2024, the collective sharpened its voice, deepening its commitment to creating theatre that speaks directly to a new generation.

“Even though we never trained in the same classes, I always admired Georgina’s talent. It wasn’t until Ava Rusch cast her as Fran in Scenes With Girls that I realised just how aligned our creative philosophies and work ethic were,” explained Jasmine.

“There was this immediate recognition that we both carried the same mix of passion and fearless drive - the willingness to leap into big, ambitious pursuits without knowing exactly where we’d land.”

“Out of that project came a deep creative bond and trust that has been a cornerstone for me ever since. Her voice has helped shape the identity of Salad Days in such a profound way, and together we’ve really grown into our own as artists and collaborators,” she said.

“That connection gave me the courage to keep going, led us to stage LOVE, and ultimately became a big part of why Salad Days won the 2024 Bille Brown Best Emerging Artist Matilda Award.”

Theatre With Teeth

At the core of Salad Days’ philosophy is a refusal to shy away from discomfort. Their works explore people on the edge - outsiders, misfits, survivors - and approach each production through a uniquely cinematic and absurdist lens.

That commitment has resonated with younger audiences, many of whom feel underrepresented in traditional theatre spaces.

“There’s a whole generation living through political, environmental, and cultural uncertainty,” continued Jasmine.

“We don’t want to offer escapism - we want to reflect that reality, validate it, and open space for dialogue, and in doing so, continue to revitalise the theatrical experience as a worthwhile and transformative art form for young, non-traditional audience goers”. 

Their boldest move yet, The Natural Horse, is an original dark comedy set to premiere at Brisbane Festival in September 2025.

“The Natural Horse is the Australian Premiere, Original writing by T. Adamson, a Texas-based writer we met through an online emerging artist portal, ‘The New Play Exchange’,” she explained.

The play centres on a dysfunctional family of Soviet immigrants grappling with love and loss and a feral horse named Goodboy - an absurd premise that profoundly masks human truths about identity and survival.

A TAFE Queensland Story, Through and Through

Though her training days are behind her, Jasmine admits that her TAFE Queensland training made all the difference, and she was awarded a prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) scholarship during their studies.

Her scholarship saw her attend the prestigious NIDA acting school in Sydney for a two-week immersion program during her Bachelor of Creative Industries (Acting and Performance) (ARB401) studies, in partnership with the University of Canberra, refining her performance craft.

“NIDA gave me incredible insights, but it also proved that what students do at TAFE Queensland is just as rigorous and powerful. I wouldn’t trade the three years I spent at TAFE Queensland for anything,” she said.

“TAFE Queensland helps actors find their voice - not just as actors, but as artists. The Norman Price Theatre is both a classroom and a testing ground. It’s where students learn how to take risks, and that’s what Salad Days is all about,” concluded Jasmine.

Their journey from acting students to festival-selected theatre-makers is a testament to the power of hands-on education and fearless self-belief.

From a classroom stage to Queensland’s biggest arts festival, Jasmine, Georgina, and Leo have proven that anything is possible with the right tools and the courage to make your own noise.

Catch Salad Days Collective’s The Natural Horse at the 2025 Brisbane Festival.
For updates, follow @salad.days.collective on Instagram or visit www.salad.days.collective