Queensland Performing Arts Centre

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View of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre from the Cultural Centre Busway Station

Poster for "The Marriage of Figaro" on the wall of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre

Queensland Performing Arts Centre, South Bank, Brisbane

Part of the Queensland Cultural Centre, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, also known as QPAC, is situated amidst the picturesque surroundings of South Bank on the corner of Melbourne and Grey streets, in Queensland, Australia, near the Brisbane Central Business District (CBD). The Queensland Performing Arts Centre was designed by local architect Robin Gibson in the mid 1970’s, after State Cabinet formally recognised the need for a new Queensland Art Gallery and also the want of a new major Performing Arts Complex, and a new location for the Queensland Museum and State Library, in 1972. It was opened by the Duke of Kent in 1985.

Though the building has only been in existence for some three decades, its historical roots run deep in that the entirety of the Queensland Culture Centre resides on the site of perhaps one of Queensland’s most illustrious theatres, the ‘Cremorne’. Established in 1911, this legendary theatre was owned and operated by John Neil McCallum, the father of distinguished Australian actor, John McCallum, who recalls the building originally as “an open-air theatre named the ‘Cremorne Gardens’, where the most famous vaudeville stars of the day played” (QPAC Corporate, 2003). Until 1954 when the structure was ravaged by fire, the Cremorne’s salad days spanning from the early 1920's were fashioned by the likes of Australian stage legends such as Roy Rene, Will Mahoney and Evie Hayes, George Wallace and the Cremorne Ballet girls (QPAC Corporate, 2003). Today, the centre’s traditionally acquired approbation remains appositely infused into the physical space, perpetuated most patently through the christening of one of the existing four main chambers, the Cremorne Theatre.

The Queensland Performing Arts Centre is a very large complex consisting of four theatre, or auditorium, venues for live performances. These theatre venues are:

The Lyric Theatre[1] is a horseshoe-shaped theatre which seats up to 2085. It is Brisbane's main venue for operas, ballets, musicals and the like. It has received critical acclaim for its design, and hosts many international performances. The premiere production at the Lyric Theatre was "La belle Hélène".

The Concert Hall[2] is a shoe-box style auditorium with a Pipe organ which seats up to 1986. It is the home venue for The Queensland Orchestra. It is where orchestral concerts, Proms concerts Pipe bands etc. and oratorios are held. Featured artists who have appeared at the Concert Hall include: Hoffnung concerts; The Seekers and The Hollies; opera singers Thomas Edmonds and Mary Martin; and comedians The Goodies and Pam Ayres; and The Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, .

The Cremorne Theatre[3] is a reconfigurable flexible performance space with six configurations (proscenium, theatre-in-the-round, concert, cabaret, cinema or flat floor) up to 302 seats in theatre mode. It is especially suited to one-man plays and revues. Dennis Olsen has appeared in one-man shows such as A Song to Sing 0 in 1991 (which was about George Grossmith of Gilbert and Sullivan D'Oyly Carte fame), as has also appeared in a special Gilbert and Sullivan / Noel Coward one-man show called Dennis Olsen in Concert in 1996. Dennis Olsen also appeared at the Cremorne Theatre in the Noel Coward production, "Marvellous Party!", with Amanda Muggleton.

The Playhouse[4] is now Brisbane's major theatre for plays and seats up to 850. Geoffrey Rush starred as Figaro in the play "The Marriage of Figaro" (the play on which Mozart's opera was based) for the Playhouse's opening production in September, 1998.

The Queensland Performing Arts Centre is an established place of significance in the physical, social, cultural and historical context of Brisbane City, through its importance as a gateway to the city, and as a key player in the entertainment sector and nightlife of Brisbane.