Welcome to The Jazz Age: a fever dream of dizzying excess where love, lies and liquor are in hot supply. Late to this glittering party arrives Nick Carraway, a blow-in from the mid-West, who’s immediately drawn to the enigmatic playboy next door: Jay Gatsby.

Every Saturday night New York’s Flappers, Freeloaders and Pleasure Seekers swill from Gatsby’s generosity while rumours swirl about their mysterious host. Is he a racketeer? A mobster? A bootlegger? A saint? Nick soon discovers the forlorn Gatsby is a man who has everything he wants – except the only woman he’s ever loved … Daisy.

Considered one of the greatest novels ever written, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary masterpiece comes roaring to the stage in a stylish and scintillating adaptation where dreams shimmer then shatter, hearts beat achingly out of time and everyone’s chasing their own green light.

Queensland Theatre Company and our nationally-acclaimed homegrown heroes Shake & Stir Theatre Co spirit you away to that elusive gin-soaked Summer of 1922, where love and longing is served on the rocks. From the creative teams that brought you Pride & Prejudice, Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol and GRIMM, alongside a cast of rising stars, this Gatsby is shaken, not stirred.

The Great Gatsby
12 Februray – 8 March
Playhouse, QPAC, Brisbane
www.queenslandtheatre.com.au

Long before Hollywood, this sizzling legal drama from the masterful Aaron Sorkin dominated Broadway, and now court is in session in the Playhouse for QPAC’s 40th Birthday celebrations. One misfit US Marine is dead, two others stand accused of killing him, and the whole corps is on trial as a team of young military lawyers uncover a sinister conspiracy in this gripping judicial thriller.

Inspired by actual events at Guantanamo Bay in 1986, this “brilliant, intelligent, cutting, shivering and even nasty script” (The Independent) sparkles with the signature quickfire repartee of Sorkin’s screen hits The West Wing, The Newsroom and The Social Network.

Turning a spotlight on the toxic internal culture of the United States military, A Few Good Men interrogates the idea that instilling unquestioning loyalty in a soldier has dark and terrible consequences, and that patriotism is the virtue of the vicious. Helmed by three-time Matilda Award-winning director Daniel Evans, a cast of rising stars go head-to-head with a swathe of stage legends in this courtroom tour-de-force.

Can you handle the truth?

A Few Good Men
22 November – 7 December 2025
Playhouse, QPAC, Brisbane
www.queenslandtheatre.com.au

Direct from its triumph in the West End where it won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is a unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s most iconic love story. Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance.

This “smart, laugh out loud funny” (Daily Telegraph) show features a string of pop classics including ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ and ‘You’re So Vain’.

Coming to Australia for the first time, five fearless women bring Austen’s world of love, class and chaos to life with heart, humour and unstoppable energy in this modern take on one of the world’s most adapted pieces of literature.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE* (*sort of)
Melbourne – Athenaeum Theatre, from 18th June 2026
Sydney – Sydney Opera House from 16th July 2026
Wollongong – Merrigong Theatre Company from 2nd September 2026
Canberra – Canberra Theatre Centre from 16th September 2026
Brisbane – Playhouse, QPAC from 30th September 2026
www.facebook.com/woodwardproductions/

Defying the thought that the theatre can occasionally lack vim and vigor, The 39 Steps blasts that adage to bits. The almost manic level of energy on stage keeps the audience on their toes and fully engaged with plentiful amounts of laughter. 

Based oh so loosely on the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name, this production features just four cast members, who between them play a dizzying number of roles. Sometimes these characters are delivered in such quick succession you have to really hustle to keep up.

The cast features TV stars Lisa McCune (Blue Heelers) and Ian Stenlake (Stingers) and those masters of vocal and physical comedy The Umbilical Brothers – David Collins and Shane Dundas. Together the create a maelstrom of humorist energy. This would be one tired cast at the show’s conclusion.

Feeling very British in its comedic ethos and timing as well as dipping into that countries penchant for sound effects hilarity, The 39 Steps crackles with comic intensity. The play is currently on at the QPAC Playhouse for a limited run until the 19th October.
Rob Hudson

The 39 Steps
7-19 October 2025
Playhouse, QPAC
www.qpac.com.au

In 2012, Julia Gillard gave a speech that sent shockwaves around the world as our first female Prime Minister thundered across the Despatch Box: “I will not”.

Over a decade later, one of Australia’s most esteemed playwrights, Joanna Murray-Smith, tells the human story behind the extraordinary speech in a stirring and inspiring re-examination of that moment and a revelatory portrait of the woman who made it happen.

Directed by Helpmann Award-winner Sarah Goodes, Julia is a critical and box office triumph, dazzling audiences across the country with its profound, wry and intoxicating exploration of gender, privilege and power.

The phenomenal Justine Clarke delivers a “heroic performance” (The Sydney Morning Herald) that takes us through key moments in Prime Minister Gillard’s life — from her childhood through to her foray into and across the battlefield of Australian politics — culminating in an “electrifying” (The Guardian) verbatim performance of the ‘misogyny speech’.

As women around the world continue to fight against oppression, Julia is a provocative rallying cry that is not to be missed.

Julia
15-30 August 2025
Playhouse, QPAC, Brisbane
www.queenslandtheatre.com.au

Brisbane-based ADC makes history with the ground-breaking production where drones are choreographed using movement patterns to mirror human emotions and personalities.

Conceived by ADC Artistic Director Amy Hollingsworth, Lucie In the Sky blends art and technology in an exploration of what it means to be human.

“Contemporary dance and technology push boundaries and connect people. I wanted to explore this through not only melding drones and dancers but, ultimately, humanising the drones,” Hollingsworth explains.

“I am deeply interested in how the relationship between humans and autonomous machines can transform when the drones are imbued with human-like behaviours.”

Lucie In the Sky pairs ADC dancers with five drone characters choreographed to emulate human emotions and interact in nuanced interpersonal relationships.

Each drone is encoded with a unique personality, from joyful to melancholic, and is identifiable by the colour of its light source, selected to represent that personality.

The drone characters are Lucie – the friend, M – the leader, Skip – the jester, Red – the rebel and Rue – the sage.

Unlike other drone performances that use coordinated swarming, Lucie In the Sky invites the audience to know and understand the individual drones as they create on-stage relationships with ADC dancers.

Technical adviser Dr Catherine Ball founded the World of Drones and Robotics Congress, connecting with Hollingsworth at the inaugural event in 2017 and jointly seeding the idea for Lucie In the Sky.

She says the performance uses art to spark conversations about how technology embeds itself in daily lives and how humans can protect their values of consent and choice.

“Lucie In the Sky is unique in terms of the technology being applied, the way dance is being used as the medium for conversation and the very audacity of trying to meld seemingly different parts of our worlds together,” she says.

“By physically mixing humans and agents – in this case, drones – provocatively, we can ask ourselves: is technology something we should have better control over or is it something we should allow to guide us over new horizons?”

ADC forged a partnership with Swiss-based Verity Studios – whose previous collaborators include Drake, Justin Bieber and Cirque Du Soleil – to create the cross-genre project named after a set of custom, trademarked micro drones called Lucie.

Funded through the Australian Government’s RISE Fund and philanthropic donations, Lucie In The Sky features lighting and stage design by Alexander Berlage, costume design by Harriet Oxley and an original score by Wil Hughes.

The project also incorporates a significant education and research program delivered in partnership with World of Drones Education and Australian National University’s School of Cybernetics, illustrating a future where the arts sit at the heart of Artificial Intelligence (AI) studies.

“Creative experiments intertwining arts and technology enhance our ability to imagine our place in our future,” Hollingsworth says.

“AI already permeates our lives but how humans and AI agents interact in the arts can be inspired and guided by projects like this.”

Lucie In the Sky is supported by the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund, an Australian Government initiative, and Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

ADC proudly welcomes two Principal Drone Partners for the world premiere season: Brisbane Airport Corporation supporting Lucie and The Calile Hotel supporting M.

“Our growing collaborative partnership with these two wonderful organisations highlights our collective ambition to create rich creative experiences and connections between people,” Hollingsworth said.

Lucie In the Sky
5 – 13 May 2023
QPAC Playhouse
www.qpac.com.au

Set in the dying days of 1965, the play pulls no punches is showing how difficult it was growing up in a small town where racial intolerance was the tone of the day and the grind of daily boredom was never far away. Into this environment Charlie, a boy who dreams large comes face to face with many of life’s ugly truths while he acts as the show’s narrator.

The play is presented in a brisk fashion, with the clever use of a revolving stage and having the actors play multiple roles to flush out the characters. The stage setting never lets you forget the small town origins while the score keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout with its ominous overtones.

Jasper Jones is an involving examination of the resiliency of the human spirit. It also makes a strong comment on the lack of progress that we as a society have made in the last fifty years.

Director: Sam Strong
Designer: Anna Cordingley
Lighting Designer: Matt Scott
Sounds Designer: Darrin Verhagen
Cast: Ian Bliss, Shaka Cook, Nicholas Denton, Rachel Gordon, Hayden Spencer, Hoa Xuande and Melanie Zanetti
Photographer: David Kelly

Jasper Jones is playing at the Playhouse, QPAC until the 18 August.
Rob Hudson

www.queenslandtheatre.com.au

Get ready to experience LA SOIRÉE’s potent cocktail of cabaret, new burlesque, circus sideshow and contemporary variety in a re-imagined QPAC Playhouse, where every audience member sits on stage within touching distance of the performers.

Ten years bold and fresh from a sold out world tour with their hottest line-up yet, LA SOIRÉE continues to be a theatrical phenomenon, showcasing the crème de la crème of the cabaret world in a unique and inspirational night of live entertainment.

So arrive early, get a drink and prepare for a night of thrills, shocks, laughter and disbelief as LA SOIRÉE – the original and the best – banishes the blues and leaves you wanting to see it all over again.

La Soirée
7-24 May 2015
Playhouse (In the Round), QPAC, Brisbane
www.la-soiree.com
www.facebook.com/LaSoiree