Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own
Bille Browne Theatre and the
Queensland Performing Arts Centre's Playhouse.
The company was founded in 1970 by British actor and director
Alan Edwards with a full company of performers. It was granted the prefix "Royal" in 1984. It is currently headed by executive director Amanda Jolly and artistic director
Lee Lewis
Lee Lewis is an Australian theatre director.
Early life and education
Lewis trained as an actor at Columbia University in New York. Returning to Australia, she completed a Masters of Directing at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) ...
.
History
The company has a strong history of development programs and has always aimed to encourage artistic growth across the state. There is an emerging artists program, writing program, including the Queensland Premier's Drama Award, and regional partnerships program.
Emphasis is also placed on developing and inspiring young people through the company's education and youth program, with programs including The Scene Project, Youth Ensemble, Theatre Residency Week, Young Playwrights and other
master class
A master class is a Class (education), class given to students of a particular Academic discipline, discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are b ...
es. The company is principally supported by the
Queensland Government
The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...
through Arts Queensland and the Major Performing Arts Board of the
Australia Council
The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...
.
People
Actors
Actors who began their career with the original Queensland Theatre Company include
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy ...
,
Bille Brown
William Gerald Brown AM (11 January 195213 January 2013) professionally known as Billie Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor and acclaimed playwright.
Early life
Brown was born in Biloela, Queensland and studied drama at t ...
, Kate Wilson (Foy) (former Chair of the Board of the Queensland Theatre Company and Honorary Professor of Theatre at the
University of Southern Queensland
The University of Southern Queensland (branded as UniSQ and formerly branded as USQ) is a medium-sized, regional university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, with three university campuses at Toowoomba, Springfield and Ipswich. It offe ...
),
Carol Burns
Carol Ann Burns (29 October 1947 – 22 December 2015) was an Australian actress, theatre director and patron of the arts, with a career spanning 50 years. She worked extensively in theatre and television serials, as well as telemovies and min ...
and
David Waters. Many Queenslanders including
Babette Stephens
Phyllis Babette Stephens AM MBE (née Fergusson) (26 April 1910 – 28 February 2001) was an Australian actress, director, artistic director, TV game show panelist and acting teacher. A leading theatrical pioneer, she also appeared in film and t ...
and
Diane Cilento
Diane Cilento (2 April 1932 – 6 October 2011) was an Australian actress. She is best known for her film roles in ''Tom Jones'' (1963), which earned her an Academy Award nomination, '' Hombre'' (1967) and '' The Wicker Man'' (1973). She also r ...
have worked with the original Queensland Theatre Company during their careers. A large number of
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
- and
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
-based actors have performed with the company, which some considered controversial as it reduced the number of opportunities for Queensland-based actors within the state-funded professional theatre.
Artistic directors
The foundation
Artistic Director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...
was Alan Edwards. He was succeeded in 1988 by
Aubrey Mellor
Aubrey Mellor is an Australian theatre director, dramaturge and teacher.
Mellor has had a multi-disciplinary practice, having also worked as a writer, adapter, set designer, translator, producer, and stage manager.
Early life and training
...
, who was followed by Chris Johnson,
Robyn Nevin
Robyn Anne Nevin (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress, director, and stage producer, recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Austra ...
and director/
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
Michael Gow
Michael Gow is an Australian playwright and director most famed for his 1986 work '' Away''.
Early life
As a student at Sydney University, Gow acted and directed with the Dramatic Society from 1973-1976. After graduation, Gow went on to act pr ...
.
From July 2010,
Wesley Enoch
Wesley James Enoch (born 1969) is an Australian playwright and artistic director. He is especially known for ''The 7 Stages of Grieving'', co-written with Deborah Mailman. He was artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company from mid-2 ...
took over as Artistic Director, firstly on a part-time basis and then full-time in January 2011.
becoming the first
Indigenous person to head a state-funded theatre entity in Australia. Enoch left Queensland Theatre to become director of the
Sydney Festival in October 2015, handing over to
Sam Strong, former Associate Artistic Director at the
Melbourne Theatre Company
The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...
.
Other directors have included
Gale Edwards
Gale Edwards (born 14 November 1954) is an Australian theatre director, who has worked extensively throughout Australia and internationally. She has also directed for television and film.
Professional career
Edwards began her career at Adelaid ...
, Joe McCallum, Rodney Fisher, Arnie Neeme and
Murray Foy
Murray Foy (1935–1998) was an Australian teacher, actor, and theatre director. He was born in Quirindi, New South Wales, and died in Toowoomba, Queensland.
He was educated at St Laurence's College Brisbane, and trained as a teacher at Kelvi ...
.
In 2019 it was announced that Artistic Director
Sam Strong would be stepping down and that Lee Lewis would succeed him.
Chairs
The current chair of the company is Elizabeth Jameson.
Venues
For almost thirty years the Queensland Theatre Company used the purpose built 600 seat
SGIO Theatre
The State Government Insurance Office Theatre (also known as the SGIO Theatre or Suncorp Theatre), was a 600-seat proscenium theatre built within the SGIO office building at 179 Turbot Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
History
The Quee ...
in
Turbot Street
Turbot Street runs parallel to Ann Street and is on the northern side of the Brisbane central business district, Brisbane CBD in Queensland, Australia. It is a major thoroughfare, linking as a three-to-five lane one-way street with the Riversid ...
, Brisbane, as their chief venue for productions. In 1996 they moved to the
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre (also known as QPAC) is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank, Queensland, South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it ...
at South Bank. Queensland Theatre is based in its own complex at South Brisbane. It performs in the much smaller venues than the original SGIO Theatre, named after two well known Brisbane theatre actors,
Bille Brown
William Gerald Brown AM (11 January 195213 January 2013) professionally known as Billie Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor and acclaimed playwright.
Early life
Brown was born in Biloela, Queensland and studied drama at t ...
and
Diane Cilento
Diane Cilento (2 April 1932 – 6 October 2011) was an Australian actress. She is best known for her film roles in ''Tom Jones'' (1963), which earned her an Academy Award nomination, '' Hombre'' (1967) and '' The Wicker Man'' (1973). She also r ...
. It has in the past performed in the Playhouse Theatre, Cremorne Theatre and at one time in the Lyric Theatre, all part of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
Productions
Productions have included: many
Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
plays presented in the
Roma Street Parkland Amphitheatre (formerly called the Albert Park Amphitheatre), as well in the Lyric Theatre, Cremorne Theatre and the Playhouse at the
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre (also known as QPAC) is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank, Queensland, South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it ...
. Other productions have included: ''Black Diggers'', ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'' (directed by
Michael Attenborough
Michael John Attenborough (born 13 February 1950) is an English theatre director.
Background
Attenborough was born on 13 February 1950 in London, the only son of actress Sheila Sim and actor-director Richard Attenborough. He is the nephew ...
), ''
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...
'', ''
The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
'' by
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
, ''
The Alchemist
An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy.
Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to:
Books and stories
* ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho
* ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Be ...
'' by
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
, ''
That Face
''That Face'' is a two- act play written by Polly Stenham. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 26 April 2007, directed by Jeremy Herrin. The play was revived at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in 2008, opening on 1 ...
'' by
Polly Stenham
Polly Stenham (born 16 July 1986) is an English playwright known for her play ''That Face'', which she wrote when she was 19 years old.
Background
Stenham was born and raised in London. She attributes her love of theatre to her father as he to ...
, ''
God of Carnage
''God of Carnage'' (originally in French ''Le Dieu du carnage'') is a play by Yasmina Reza that was first published in 2008. It is about two sets of parents; the son of one couple has hurt the son of the other couple at a public park. The paren ...
'' by
Yasmina Reza
Yasmina Reza (born 1 May 1959) is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter best known for her plays '' 'Art and ''God of Carnage''. Many of her brief satiric plays have reflected on contemporary middle-class issues. The 2011 bla ...
, ''
25 Down'' by Richard Jordan, ''The School of Arts'' by
Bille Brown
William Gerald Brown AM (11 January 195213 January 2013) professionally known as Billie Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor and acclaimed playwright.
Early life
Brown was born in Biloela, Queensland and studied drama at t ...
, ''Ninety'' by
Joanna Murray-Smith
Joanna Murray-Smith (born 17 April 1962) is a Melbourne-based Australian playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist.
Life and career
Murray-Smith was born in Mount Eliza, Victoria; her father was the literary editor ...
,
''
The Year of Magical Thinking
''The Year of Magical Thinking'' (2005), by Joan Didion (1934–2021), is an account of the year following the death of the author's husband John Gregory Dunne (1932–2003). Published by Knopf in October 2005, ''The Year of Magical Thinking'' wa ...
by''
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an ...
, ''
The Crucible
''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as a ...
'' by
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...
, ''
And A Nightingale Sang
''And a Nightingale Sang'' is a play by British playwright C.P. Taylor (1977) and commissioned by Newcastle upon Tyne's Live Theatre Company. The play was made into a TV program in 1989 by Jack Rosenthal for Tyne Tees Television.
Described as a ...
'' by
C.P. Taylor
Cecil Philip Taylor (6 November 1929 – 9 December 1981) usually credited as C. P. Taylor, was a Scottish playwright. He wrote almost 80 plays during his 16 years as a professional playwright, including several for radio and television. He also ...
and ''
Toy Symphony'' by
Michael Gow
Michael Gow is an Australian playwright and director most famed for his 1986 work '' Away''.
Early life
As a student at Sydney University, Gow acted and directed with the Dramatic Society from 1973-1976. After graduation, Gow went on to act pr ...
.
In 2017 the company staged a production of
Ingmar Bergman's ''
Scenes from a Marriage
''Scenes from a Marriage'' ( sv, Scener ur ett äktenskap) is a 1973 Swedish television miniseries written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Over the course of six hour-long episodes, it explores the disintegration of the marriage between Maria ...
'' starring Sydney-based actors
Marta Dusseldorp
Marta Dusseldorp (born 1 February 1973) is an Australian stage, film and theatre actress. Her television credits include ''BlackJack'', ''Crownies'' (and its spin-off '' Janet King''), ''Jack Irish'' and '' A Place to Call Home''.
Early life an ...
and her husband Ben Winspear.
In May 2021, the company staged an adaptation of William Shakespeare's ''
The taming of the shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
'' in the Bille Brown Theatre, Brisbane, directed by Damien Ryan.
Petruchio was played by
Nicholas Brown, and Katharina by
Anna McGahan
Anna McGahan (born 2 May 1988) is an Australian actress and playwright, who has appeared in Australian television, film and theatre.
She is best known for playing the roles of Nellie Cameron in the Australian television series, '' Underbelly: ...
. This year the company was also using the
QPAC Playhouse.
References
External links
*
* (plays presented until 2001, list incomplete)
* (plays presented from 2001, list incomplete)
{{authority control
Theatre in Brisbane
Theatre companies in Australia
Companies based in Queensland
Australian companies established in 1970
Performing groups established in 1970