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 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 Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia.

History

The Queensland Government purchased the site of the old

Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no governm ...

on Albert Street, a popular theatre venue, from the Methodist Church and the new theatre opened on 27 May 1969. It was designed by Conrad Gargett and Partners, with input from several of the Brisbane theatre companies. The exterior of the building reflected its function as an office building. The first production at the theatre was Peter Shaffer's

The Royal Hunt of the Sun ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' is a 1964 play by Peter Shaffer that dramatizes the relation of two worlds entering in a conflict by portraying two characters: Atahuallpa Inca and Francisco Pizarro. Performance history Premiere ''The Royal Hunt ...

for the new

Queensland Theatre Company 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 Performi ...

(QTC). The QTC used the theatre as its chief venue for 30 years.

Closure of the theatre

The government owned the SGIO and

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 Vi ...

theatres in Brisbane and following the success of the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and

World Expo 88 World Expo 88, also known as Expo 88, was a specialised Expo held in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia, during a six-month period between Saturday, 30 April 1988 and Sunday, 30 October 1988, inclusive. The theme of the Expo wa ...

in Brisbane, plans proceeded on the development of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre at South Bank. The theatre closed in June 1998 when the Queensland Theatre Company relocated. The Amalgamated Property Group took ownership of the theatre building. The state government of Labor Premier Anna Bligh gave approval for the demolition of the taxpayer funded theatre. A 35th anniversary commemoration of the theatre in 2004 for the

Brisbane Festival Brisbane Festival is one of Australia's leading international arts festivals, and is held each September in Brisbane, Australia. Its presence dominates the city for three weeks in September and its line-up of classical and contemporary music, ...

led to it being re-opened for three productions in that year.

Performers

Googie Withers and

John McCallum John McCallum (born 9 April 1950) is a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and former university professor. A former Liberal Member of Parliament ( MP), McCallum was the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2019. He was asked for ...

performed in ''

The Cocktail Hour ''The Cocktail Hour'' is a comedy of manners by A. R. Gurney. It premiered in June 1988 in San Diego, California at the Old Globe Theatre and, on October 20, 1988, in New York City at the Off Broadway Promenade Theatre. Like many of Gurney’ ...

''. Programmes and ephemera from productions that were performed at the theatre are held in the University of Queensland's Fryer Library.

References

External links

{{coord missing, Queensland Former buildings and structures in Brisbane Theatres in Brisbane Buildings and structures demolished in 2007 Demolished buildings and structures in Brisbane Turbot Street, Brisbane