The Accidental Bride

written by Shoba Sadler

Welcome to the exciting world of ‘The Accidental Bride,’ a captivating new theatrical creation by the talented Shoba Sadler, a published writer, journalist, and emerging playwright of Indian heritage hailing from the Far North. As a proud graduate of JUTE’s Write Sparks script development program in 2022, Shoba brings her unique voice and cultural perspective to the forefront.

The script, a delightful comedy love story, follows the lives of Anil and Ashwin, two charismatic Indian brothers navigating the challenges of love, tradition, and cross-cultural misunderstandings in an Australian-based Indian Wedding Textile company.

This Bollywood-style rom-com explores themes of love at first sight versus learning to love after marriage, all set against the vibrant backdrop of the Indian festival of love, Holi. The narrative artfully blends traditional Indian culture with modern Australian Indian perspectives, offering a rich and colourful depiction that celebrates collective culture and individuality.

In this exciting collaboration, Shoba joined forces with JUTE Theatre Company and the Cairns Indian Community to further develop the script through a series of workshops in 2024 and again in 2025. Members from the Cairns Indian Community are engaged as project consultants, bringing their invaluable insights to enrich the cultural authenticity of the theatrical, choreographic, and musical aspects of the script.

2025 Creative Development video

2025 Creative Development workshop and showcase photos

Creative Development 2024 showcase photos

Funders 2025:

This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance.

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