Brisbane-based La Boite Theatre celebrates its 100th birthday in 2025 with the same youthful curiosity, courage and trailblazing creativity that punctuates the colourful history of Australia’s longest, continuously-running theatre company.
Revered as one of the nation’s oldest and boldest arts organisations, La Boite marks this auspicious milestone with a year-long celebration of storytelling, special events, surprise guests and sojourns down memory lane.
The party starts with the announcement of La Boite’s anticipated 2025 Season, a daring program of reimagined classics, cross-genre productions, powerful performances and striking cultural contributions.
La Boite’s four major productions are a spirited adaptation of Macbeth, the world premiere of Dead Puppet Society’s We’re All Gonna Die!, the world premiere of Congratulations, Get Rich!, co-presented with Sydney Theatre Company and Singapore Repertory Theatre, and the Queensland premiere of a Griffin Theatre production, WhiteFella Yella Tree.
La Boite Artistic Director Courtney Stewart said it was a privilege to steer the company into its centennial year. “The dual themes of legacy and longevity were front of mind even before I was appointed as La Boite’s Artistic Director, a position that has been filled over the past 100 years by luminaries and legends of Australian theatre,” said Stewart.
“I keep returning to a quote I read in Christine Comans’ book, La Boite: The Story of an Australian Theatre Company, which recounted the ethos on which the company was founded. It was about ‘presenting serious drama and aspiring to cultural awareness, social improvement, discussing moral and spiritual values and collective responsibility’ and it’s become a guiding light.”
“It’s what La Boite’s founders were trying to do 100 years ago and it’s what we’re still striving to achieve – how do we set ourselves up for another century of legacy?” said Stewart.
The next 100 years begin with a Shakespearean subversion: a retelling of the 400-year-old Macbeth (6 to 22 March) where the three witches reclaim the narrative. The Weird Sisters step off their heath and into the spotlight in this hybrid production that blends dance, movement, text and sound.
Opening on International Women’s Day, this brand-new Macbeth breathes at the intersection of spirituality, philosophy, power, ambition and fate. The production is co-directed by Stewart and Lisa Fa’alafi (Polytoxic, Hot Brown Honey), with La Boite favourite Roxanne McDonald leading a powerful local cast. Former Artistic Director (1993-2000) Sue Rider also returns to La Boite as Macbeth’s dramaturg.
We’re All Gonna Die! (29 July to 16 August) by Maddie Nixon is a high octane, premiere work of scale from Brisbane-based, globally renowned darlings Dead Puppet Society, collaborating with La Boite for the first time since the 2017 smash-hit, Laser Beak Man.
Part climate change play, part schlock horror, part live comic book, We’re All Gonna Die! is a wholly enjoyable romp about monsters, real and metaphorical. The provocative production features an Australian all-star cast including La Boite stalwarts Anthon Standish and Ngoc Phan.
Making its world premiere in September is Congratulations, Get Rich! (4 to 20 September), a major international collaboration created by Merlynn Tong and directed by Stewart. The explosive ghost story is set in a karaoke bar with a thematic playlist that spans transformation, legacy, family, hope, traditions, laugh-out-loud comedy and the ecstasy of being alive.
The brand-new Asian-Australian work stars Tong alongside Singapore’s Seong Hui Xuan, Zachary Boulton and Kimie Tsukakoshi, returning to La Boite’s stage after her critically acclaimed performance in 2023’s The Poison of Polygamy. Congratulations, Get Rich! will tour Sydney and Singapore after its debut in Brisbane.
La Boite’s final mainstage production for 2025 is a sweeping 19th-century coming-of-age saga about love, mob and Country, WhiteFella Yella Tree (23 October to 8 November). It chronicles the fragile friendship that blossoms into love between Ty and Neddy, two First Nations teenagers poised on the brink of a world that is about to change forever. The heart-warming and heartbreaking queer love story was written by Dylan Van Den Berg and La Boite is proud to host its Queensland premiere season.
Complementing the mainstage program is La Boite Encores, a three month play-reading series that brings to life 10 celebrated hits and fan favourites from the company’s 100-year-old archives. The series will dive into La Boite’s box office hits and ground-breaking productions as it celebrates 100 years of theatrical excellence. The La Boite Encores line-up will be announced in October 2024.
La Boite’s 2025 season is the first to benefit from its inclusion in Creative Australia’s National Performing Arts Partnership Framework. The Framework provides joint, multi-year investment from state and federal governments and recognises La Boite as Queensland’s seventh major arts organisation alongside Queensland Ballet, Opera Queensland, Queensland Theatre, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Circa and Dancenorth.
Stewart said La Boite’s entry into the Framework was a testament to the company’s significant contribution to Queensland’s arts sector and influential position within the national arts and cultural ecology.
“As a leading arts organisation, La Boite holds sacred the privileged responsibility we have to support Queensland’s arts sector and deliver exceptional performances and cultural experiences,” said Stewart.
“I invite everyone to join us in our 100th year as we begin another century of changing the world, one story at a time.”
For more information about La Boite’s 100th year, to view the full 2025 Season program and to purchase tickets, visit: www.laboite.com.au for details.
Image: Joseph Althouse stars in WhiteFella Yella Tree (supplied)