Five shows. Two world premieres. Two homecomings. Some of Australia’s finest theatrical talent. La Boite Theatre invites Brisbane to see things differently in 2027.
One of Australia’s most celebrated theatre directors, Neil Armfield AO, will return to La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre for the first time in 17 years to direct acclaimed actor Darren Gilshenan in a gripping new political thriller Calibre amongst a star-studded 2027 season.
Armfield leads an impressive assembly of Australian theatrical talent in a season featuring two world premieres, two much-anticipated homecomings and a major Queensland premiere.
The five-show program also brings together three of Queensland’s leading stage for Sue Smith’s adaptation of Charlotte Wood’s The Weekend, welcomes Naomi Price back to the Roundhouse with The Little Red Company’s smash-hit Lady Beatle a decade after its world premiere, reunites Steven Oliver and Michael Griffiths for a special NAIDOC Week season of Bigger & Blacker 2.0 and introduces a wickedly funny new work Offset from internationally acclaimed playwright Anchuli Felicia King.
La Boite Acting CEO Ian Prowse said the 2027 season reflected the company’s commitment to bringing ambitious theatre to Brisbane while looking ahead to its next chapter.
“This season brings together established Australian artists, emerging talent and bold new Australian writing, while celebrating the work and relationships that make La Boite such a special part of Brisbane’s cultural landscape.”
The season opens 6 – 27 March with the Queensland premiere of Sue Smith’s The Weekend, based on Charlotte Wood’s internationally bestselling novel, which has sold more than 58,000 copies worldwide.
Under the direction of Caroline Dunphy, three of Queensland’s most accomplished performers, Andrea Moor, Christen O’Leary and Carita Farrer Spencer, unite on the Roundhouse stage as lifelong friends Jude, Wendy and Adele. Gabriel Wighton joins them, making his mainstage debut as part of the Assembly Pathways program.
Reunited at the beach house of their recently deceased friend Sylvie, the women face an uncomfortable task: clearing out the home before it sells. It is Christmas, the temperature is climbing and, without the woman who held their friendship together, decades of assumptions and unspoken truths begin to shift.
The Weekend is a funny, fierce and unsentimental portrait of friendship, ageing and the layers of love built over a lifetime. The Queensland premiere has been made possible through the generous support of the Nelson Meers Foundation and arts philanthropist Lynn Rainbow-Reid AM.
Ian Prowse said:
“Sam Meers from the Meers Foundation and Lynn Rainbow-Reid have both been tremendous champions of Australian theatre. Their support makes it possible for La Boite to bring ambitious work to the stage, champion Queensland talent and continue creating opportunities for artists and audiences alike. We’re very grateful for their ongoing belief in La Boite and what we do.”
Next, one of La Boite’s biggest homegrown hits of the past decade returns, with The Little Red Company’s Lady Beatle coming home from 14 – 24 April, ten years after its world premiere on the Roundhouse stage.
Created by Adam Brunes and Naomi Price, the production follows the enigmatic Lady Beatle, a woman who seems to know John, Paul, George and Ringo, the stories behind their songs and what becoming The Beatles cost.
Green Room Award winner Naomi Price fronts a killer live band through Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Eleanor Rigby, Blackbird, Here Comes the Sun and more in a production that is part rock concert, part cabaret and part magical mystery tour.
Naomi Price said she was thrilled to bring Lady Beatle home to the theatre where it all began.
“Lady Beatle was made for the Roundhouse. There’s something about that beautiful, intimate space, with the audience wrapped around you and the band in full flight, that makes the show absolutely sing.
We’ve taken her to more than 50 venues nationwide since she burst onto the stage at La Boite, but nothing compares to performing the show on home ground. Ten years on, I can’t wait to bring her home and share that magic with Brisbane audiences all over again.”
The homecoming continues from 7 – 10 July, when Steven Oliver and Michael Griffiths return to the Roundhouse for a special NAIDOC Week season of Bigger & Blacker 2.0.
First seen at La Boite in 2021 before going on to the Sydney Opera House, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and a regional Queensland tour, Bigger & Blacker 2.0 puts the irrepressible Oliver, star and writer of ABC’s Black Comedy and self-declared Faboriginal, centre stage.
With Helpmann Award-winner Griffiths at the piano, Oliver moves between comedy, cabaret, music and spoken word to explore love, loss, sex, success and the complicated business of being “a minority within a minority.”
Spring brings the first of La Boite’s two world premieres, with internationally acclaimed Thai-Australian playwright Anchuli Felicia King turning her razor-sharp eye to Australia’s obsession with property in Offset, a La Boite and Seymour Centre co-production opening from 11 – 25 September.
Starring La Boite favourite Kimie Tsukakoshi (Congratulations, Get Rich!, The Poison of Polygamy), the wickedly funny two hander begins when a real estate agent calls an apprentice electrician to her home at two in the morning and receives a $1,060 bill.
One has a house she cannot afford and an offset account; the other longs for a home of his own. What begins as an unlikely connection becomes King’s sharp examination of property, power, class and the stories people sell themselves to get ahead.
La Boite closes its 2027 season from 6 – 27 November, with the world premiere of Brisbane playwright Paul Hodge’s Calibre, bringing together two formidable talents in Australian theatre.
Neil Armfield, whose celebrated career spans Belvoir Theatre, the Adelaide Festival, Broadway and London’s West End, will direct Darren Gilshenan in a one-man theatrical tour de force examining one of the most consequential episodes in modern Australian political history.
Six weeks into the prime ministership, John Howard decides the guns have to go. What follows is a pressure cooker of leaks, threats, backroom deals and political resistance as a new Prime Minister attempts to bring every state and territory with him, while facing some of the fiercest opposition from his own side.
Hodge (Joh for P.M., Clinton) spent close to 100 hours interviewing those who were there, including Howard, state premiers, gun-control campaigners, gun-lobby representatives and families who lost loved ones at Port Arthur, distilling their accounts into a gripping solo theatrical thriller.
Armfield, whose landmark productions include Cloudstreet, The Secret River and Exit the King, said Calibre presented an extraordinary opportunity to examine the human forces behind a defining political decision.
“Paul has taken an extraordinary moment in Australia’s recent history and found a deeply theatrical way into it. What’s fascinating is the collision of personalities, convictions and political pressures, and the sheer difficulty of achieving change when the stakes are so high.
To explore that through one actor is an enormous theatrical challenge and Darren is an exceptional performer to take it on. I’m delighted to be returning to La Boite with a new Australian work that has so much to say about leadership, tenacity and the choices that shape a country.”
The 2027 season announcement comes as La Boite progresses recruitment for its next Artistic Director and Co-CEO, with an appointment expected before Christmas.
Ian Prowse said:
“There’s a real sense of possibility about La Boite’s next chapter. We’re bringing remarkable artists together, investing in new Australian writing and creating work that we believe will resonate well beyond the Roundhouse.”
The incoming artistic leader will help shape the company’s future programming and artistic direction, building on a 2027 season that brings together some of Australia’s most accomplished theatre-makers and a new generation of Australian storytelling.
Tickets for La Boite Theatre’s 2027 Season are on sale now at the website.
Website: https://laboite.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/laboitetheatre/
Hero image: Steven Oliver stars in Bigger & Blacker 2.0. supplied.
La Boite Theatre 2027 Season at a Glance:
La Boite Theatre presents
THE WEEKEND
Based on the novel by Charlotte Wood
Adapted by Sue Smith
Directed by Caroline Dunphy
Queensland Premiere
6 – 27 MAR
La Boite Theatre and The Little Red Company present
LADY BEATLE
By Adam Brunes & Naomi Price
A Little Red Company Production
10th Anniversary Homecoming
14 – 24 APR
La Boite Theatre presents
BIGGER & BLACKER 2.0
By Steven Oliver & Michael Griffiths
NAIDOC Week Celebration
7 – 10 JUL
La Boite Theatre and Seymour Centre present
OFFSET
By Anchuli Felicia King
Directed by Monica Sayers
World Premiere
In association with Brisbane Festival
11 – 25 SEP
La Boite Theatre and Geelong Arts Centre presents
CALIBRE
By Paul Hodge
Directed by Neil Armfield
World Premiere
6 – 27 NOV
Venue: Roundhouse Theatre, La Boite Theatre, Kelvin Grove
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