When British comedian and actor Joann Condon was growing up, she was written off early. Body shamed, underestimated, and quietly steered toward what others considered her “place”, she was made to feel that a dull desk job was the limit of her potential.
Years later, standing on stage with an award-winning solo show, she’s doing exactly the opposite: inviting audiences to knock down the ‘little boxes’ that stop us seeing our true worth.
Little Boxes is a storytelling show that blends humour and sharply observed moments creating a richly personal journey. Audiences can expect a warm, emotionally honest performance that moves between laughter and reflection, tracing Joann’s story from childhood through to adulthood.
Cleverly written and beautifully performed, it’s the kind of show that draws you in completely, inviting you to laugh together, feel deeply, and walk away thinking about the stories we carry and the ones we choose to rewrite.
For Joann, the idea took on new urgency after becoming a mum. Watching her three-year-old daughter start to encounter expectations of who she should be (and who she shouldn’t) brought old memories rushing back.
“I never really thought about my ‘boxes’ until I saw my three-year-old starting to be put in them herself, especially when she said she wanted to be a boy not a girl,” Joann says. “There was no problem until other people started to make it one.”
That moment forced her to confront her own history. “This made me look at the boxes I have been put into over my lifetime and I knew I had to break out of those first to make sure she could be as free as possible,” she says. “For me it was my size, my working-class background and being female. People wrote me off.”
The spark that first showed Joann another way came decades earlier, watching Top of the Pops in 1982. Seeing Boy George confidently defy norms around identity and appearance was a revelation. “I remember seeing Boy George… and realising how important it was to feel that free,” she says.
Joann went on to carve out a successful screen and stage career in the UK, becoming known to millions through cult favourite Little Britain and appearances in The Office. But even success came with new limitations. “When you hit 50 you became invisible as a woman. And as an actress you simply disappear between 50 and 70,” she says.
Little Boxes brings humour, honesty, frustration, joy and a deep love of tea together, as Joann literally and figuratively rummages through a lifetime of boxes on stage. “I build them up, clear them out and search for the one marked ‘Me Box’,” she says. “We often forget that one, the really important one we have to find and make bigger.”
In 2026, with support from the Adelaide Fringe Fund, Little Boxes will also travel beyond Adelaide, bringing its message of freedom, self-worth and possibility to regional South Australia.
Little Boxes
When: 17th March – 22nd March, 6pm
Where: Gluttony at Tandanya (Tandanya Theatre)
Price: $27 to $32
Rating: M
Length: 60min
For regional dates and times, click here.
More News
