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 classes. 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 f ...

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 Austr ...

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 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 Award, a Primetime Emm ...

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 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 te ...

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 Mounta ...

- 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 metro ...

-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 th ...

was Alan Edwards. He was succeeded in 1988 by Aubrey Mellor, 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 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 Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...

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 com ...

. 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. 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 in Turbot Street, 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,

and

. 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 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

. 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 Vi ...

'', ''

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 ...

'' by Polly Stenham, ''

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 pare ...

'' 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 blac ...

, ''

25 Down 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

'' by Richard Jordan, ''The School of Arts'' by

, ''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'' was ...

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 ...

, ''

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 ...

'' 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'' (1 ...

, ''

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

. 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 Mariann ...

'' 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 drunk ...

'' 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