2025 Season Launch | Queensland Theatre
From courtrooms to saloons, outback towns to the corridors of power, Queensland Theatre’s captivating 2025 program was enthusiastically welcomed with spontaneous, non-stop applause in celebration of reigniting our love for the power of theatre.
Our hot picks for BrisFest 2024
Spring is in the air and what does that mean for Magandjin / Meeanjin? It’s time for BrisFest! Running from 30 August to 21 September this year, we’re once again spoilt for choice with some epic offerings of theatre, circus, musicals, dance, cabaret, live music, installations and so much more. This is way too much goodness in the program for this year’s festival, so who better to turn to than the writers of NEHIB to let you know what you simply must see at BrisFest this year.
Scenes from a Yellow Peril : A hard-hitting minefield of contemporary identity politics through an Asian lens
“Theatre can only survive if we provide opportunities for the marginalised to be seen and heard. It's essential to develop platforms where artists can push boundaries and build careers, and cater to audiences who normally don’t get to see themselves represented and feel included … If we continue to invest in these spaces of access and inclusion, we will cultivate more artists and develop broader audiences, proving that theatre is for all. “ Co-Director and Producer, Egan Sun-Bin.
2024 Anywhere Festival Brisbane: Are you missing out?
Anywhere Festival is always a highlight of my personal year. The opportunity to visit unusual nooks and crannies across the city, and to see the imaginative ways in which local and visiting creatives transform each space. Sadly, there is just the final weekend to go, so here are my top tips of what to see before the Festival ends this year.
“Letting Disney loose on a future world is going to dredge up all sorts of chaos.” Oliver Gough on Disney Off Ice
The show is about a world we might live in and what a Disney can represent. It certainly plays with the figure of Walt, and is interested in his personality, history, and legacy… Disney’s a fascinating person; letting him loose on a future world post-cryonic unfreezing is going to dredge up all sorts of chaos from many places.
“The mission is to make art accessible to all” The Affordable Art Fair 2024
The Affordable Art Fair has arrived in Brisbane / Meanjin for the first time, showcasing artwork from over 40 galleries under one roof. Upon entering the fair the scale of the event is evident. I can confidently say that I have never seen so many different artists showcased commercially in one place.
So you got the grant, what’s next?
A while back I wrote an op-ed on how to prepare a grant and work with a writer on crafting a decent application. Now let’s talk about getting the first successful grant and what to do and what NOT to do. It feels like winning the lotto 100%, but stuff has just gotten real and you’re probably totally wigging out now.
Flying Arts Alliance awards record prize pool for regional artists
The QRAA exhibitions I have seen are a strong reminder that remote and regional communities regularly produce outstanding artists. The judges, Jonathan McBurnie and Fiona Foley have, through their selection, highlighted that Queensland as a whole is home to stunning contemporary art practice.
“Join us for an immersive celebration of the indomitable human spirit.” Sophia Hodych on ‘Art of Courage'.
Ukraine has an unbelievably rich and complex history, some of it horrific and heartbreaking, some fun and heartwarming. Immersive theatre provides audiences with an opportunity to choose which scenes to see, what knowledge to gain and what emotions to experience.
Observatory Theatre: ‘What does theatre do in a post-truth, post-pandemic world?’
The Observatory Theatre team launched their 2024 Season at Yeerongpilly’s Studio1. Lachlan Driscoll (Creative Producer), Lucy Rayner-Toy (Associate Producer) and colleagues certainly have much to celebrate. In developing what Driscoll describes as ‘big, bold, ambitious theatre that responds to today,’ the 2024 Season focuses on supporting and developing new works, centred on their successful Telescope new writing program.
Five BrisFest Shows for your next mother and child date
Why not make your next mother and child date a show at this year’s Brisbane Festival and consume some live entertainment that you can pour over with a glass of wine post-show.
"The Festival will showcase the best and most innovative comedians and performers." Rosa Sottile on the 2023 Brisbane Improv Festival
This week we have some killer shows in a huge diversity of formats from horror to musical to drama to classic improvised comedy - it’s something for everyone!
“Going camp”: Revelations on craft, cringe, and queerness with writer and theatre maker Esther Dougherty
I don't think there's ever a point in any of my plays where a character actually tells a joke. It’s not them cracking jokes with each other; we’re laughing at them. It’s clown, and everyone is invited to uncouple from the profundity, the seriousness, to cleanse the palette.
The Elephant in the Review
Shows like The Bigger Picture have value whether a white reviewer approves of it or not. As much as I enjoyed it, my review is ultimately an incomplete understanding of the work, because I will never have the lived experience that would allow that level of depth in analysis.
"Anywhere Festival is all about discovering shows, places and people you wouldn't expect, where you wouldn't expect." Paul Osuch on this year's Anywhere Festival
Anywhere Festival is about bringing artists and audiences closer together—and it’s about showing there is a way for artists to create and develop shows without having to rely on the bricks and mortar performing arts complex.
Looking back and looking forward: Reflecting on the Meanjin arts scene in 2022
2022 was a massive year for the live arts scene in Meanjin / Brisbane. Art had helped the city cope with so much during the pandemic, and as the city emerged from COVID bubbles and restrictions last year, the arts scene returned to their old stomping grounds and creatives launched new shows, new venues, new festivals and a whole lot of excellent art.
La Boite Season 2023: Bolder and braver
When introducing the season, Stewart shared that she hopes that La Boite’s four main-house new Australian works will be the theatre classics of tomorrow. Stewart noted that it is, “… an entire season of necessary, never-before-seen work, brought to the stage by talented Australian artists and local creatives. From morality and betrayal, relationships and grief, identity and displacement, and crushes and cosplay, there is a show for everyone.”
The Fifth Annual Brisbane Portrait Prize Launches
Now in its fifth year, the Brisbane Portrait Prize has officially launched for 2023, with entries now open until mid august. The prize has quickly become one of the must see art exhibits in Brisbane, as it showcases some of our city's greatest artists.
"Our biggest and boldest season yet!" Lachlan Driscoll on the launch of Observatory Theatre's 2023 Season
I think seasons are a fantastic way to involve audiences more deeply in what we do as a company and also the shows themselves. The season becomes an invitation to get a bit closer. The curation of a season of work around a core focus is a chance for audiences to gain more meaning than if the shows were just standalone.
"This is for anyone with a smart phone, feeling a little bit less than." Charli Burrowes on her debut play 'Bloom Girl'
It’s a story about wanting to be loved (and 'liked'). With a few heartbreaks in my back pocket, I have combined my experiences of the digital dating scene to turn them into something a little fun, just in time for Valentine’s Day.