Mars Missions and Meditation Retreats: 11 Brisbane Stage Shows to Catch Before Christmas

Brisbane’s cultural map just got bigger, with the $175 million Glasshouse Theatre officially open. Although the powers that be didn’t take any naming suggestions (sorry, Theatre McTheatreFace), it’s still got an exciting program of shows to look forward to – including The Book of Mormon and Into the Woods. Beyond the city’s newest stage, Roundhouse has a dark but funny play that imagines a space-age Noah’s Ark, and Playhouse has the world premiere of Suzie Miller’s follow-up to Prima Facie and RBG: Of Many, One.

Here are 11 stage shows to catch in the final months of 2026.

Second Coming

If our time on Earth is running out, where next? It’s the year 2065, and this La Boite production is boarding an enterprising mission to start over again on Mars, with a cargo of two of every kind of creature. The spaceship is named Ark Mark II, landing the play somewhere between the Book of Genesis and Elon Musk’s dream to-do list. Geneticist Evie and her crew are humanity’s last hope, but their mission is funded by a corporate superpower. The dark but funny play looks at who we’re entrusting to make decisions and asks, if we are going to save the world, shouldn’t we make it better?
Until August 22, 2026 at Roundhouse Theatre. Tickets are available online.

Do Not Go Gentle

Aged care and Antarctica aren’t often used in the same sentence. But playwright Patricia Cornelius looks at the dignity and defiance of ageing in her celebrated play about aged care residents who imagine themselves in an icy, barren landscape, as if they are South Pole explorers - specifically, the 1911 expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, who never returned from the trip. In the two-hour play, the frost-bitten setting becomes a metaphor for ageing bodies and minds, all desperately trying to keep going in as spirited a way as possible. August 11 to 30 at Bille Brown Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

The Book of Mormon

If you’ve somehow missed the posters, the Mormons are back. The outrageous Tony-winning musical comedy from the creators of South Park returns for its biggest local run yet, taking over QPAC’s brand new Glasshouse Theatre for more than two months. The story: two young and earnest missionaries are sent to a remote village in Uganda, whose inhabitants have more pressing matters to address, like famine, disease and the warlord General Butt Naked. The pair have a lot more to learn about the real world than they have to teach about Mormonism. Until October 4 at Glasshouse Theatre, QPAC. Tickets are available online.

Strong Is the New Pretty

With Prima Facie, playwright Suzie Miller made actor Jodie Comer cry on a West End stage every night in a jolting and Olivier Award-winning performance. She had another hit on her hands with RBG: Of Many, One. Her latest work trades the courtroom for the footy field: the untold story of how the AFLW went from a 2010 government report to a fully fledged league by 2017. It was seven years of politics, persistence and pushback before a single ball was kicked. September 1 to 19 at Playhouse Theatre, QPAC. Part of Brisbane Festival. Tickets are available online.

Koreaboo

Actor-turned-playwright Michelle Lim Davidson looked back at her own life to find inspiration for her play Koreaboo. It tells the story of Hannah, who was adopted from Korea as a baby and now she’s flying back to Seoul to meet the mother who gave her up. It’s a reunion powered by Google Translate, K-pop and kimchi that’s funny where you don’t expect it, and gutting where you do. Originally produced by Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company in 2025, it lands in Brisbane as one of the more purely personal works on this list. September 2 to 19 at La Boite Theatre. Tickets are available online.

Fiddler on the Roof

Tradition! It’s the word that opens the show and the thing the whole plot interrogates: how much of what we inherit is worth keeping, and what happens when the world stops agreeing with you (which is when you might start shaking your fist at clouds). The acclaimed production is making its way to Brisbane fresh off rave reviews, and gives the Glasshouse its first real run at a classic musical rather than a new commission or a touring blockbuster. October 9 to 25 at Glasshouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.

Small Mouth Sounds

Six strangers arrive at a silent meditation retreat and, being human, cannot actually stay quiet. They just have to get louder without words: sighs, snores, the occasional stifled sob, all piped straight into your ears via headphones and an immersive soundscape from Brisbane’s Counterpilot. It’s a comedy that never lets anyone speak, which somehow makes it funnier. October 13 to November 1 at Bille Brown Theatre. Tickets are available online.

Keep Sleeping, Beauty

Sedated women are everywhere: in fairytales, in art, in psych wards, in group chats, and it’s apparently kept performer Leah Shelton up at night. The mind behind hit one-woman show Batshit turns her theatrical, high-camp fury on a culture that loves a woman who’s out of it but, conveniently, still into it at the same time. Directed by Olivier winner Ursula Martinez, the production promises dark humour with real teeth behind it, and a fairytale that’s less interested in happily ever after than in who benefits from keeping women asleep. November 4 to 14 at Metro Arts. Tickets are available online.

Into the Woods

Three of the state’s biggest cultural institutions, Queensland Theatre, Opera Queensland and Queensland Symphony Orchestra, join forces to close the season and christen the Glasshouse’s with a work by Stephen Sondheim. While the characters are familiar (Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella), Into the Woods spends its second act on the part fairytales usually skip: what happens once you get the wish, and who ends up paying for it. November 11 to 21 at Glasshouse Theatre, QPAC. Tickets are available online.

Bangarra Dance Theatre – Horizon

Consider this your advance warning. This November, Bangarra Dance Theatre is coming to Hota for one night only with its cross-cultural collaboration, created by Māori choreographer Moss Te Ururangi Patterson and Bangarra alum Deborah Brown. It’s an ensemble dance work about the forces that bind us across waters and across time. Before the main piece, audiences will also be treated to a dance by another Bangarra alum, Sani Townson, called Kulka, exploring his Torres Strait heritage. November 21 at Hota. Tickets are on sale now.

Ballet International Gala: Christmas Spectacular

Derek Deane built his name on turning ballet into spectacle at scale, most famously staging Swan Lake in the round for 6000 people a night at the Royal Albert Hall. He’s now reimagining a full Christmas program for the Glasshouse’s first festive season, working alongside set and costume designer Lez Brotherston, whose credits run from the Royal Ballet to Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. December 9 to 19 at Glasshouse Theatre, QPAC. Tickets are available online.

Past Events

Antigone

How does an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles in 440 BC play in contemporary theatre? If you ask La Boite’s Courtney Stewart and Nigel Poulton, the story of Antigone is as relevant today as it ever was. Starring Maddison Burridge, their interpretation centres on a fearless young woman who refuses to stay silent. The play explores themes of protest, conscience and defiance. You’ll be left asking: Who gets to decide what is just? Where does loyalty lie? And what price are we prepared to pay for the truth?

Antigone runs from March 5 to 21 at La Boite Theatre. Tickets are available online.

Art

Richard Roxburgh (Rake, The Correspondent, Elvis), Damon Herriman (Better Man, Mr Inbetween, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Toby Schmitz unite on stage to bring French play Art to Australian stages. It’s a comedy about friendship, ego and the chaos that a single opinion can cause – the production is lauded for its biting wit and pitch-perfect timing.

Art runs from March 11 to 22 at Playhouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.

The Last Ship

Musical icon Sting is the writer, composer and star of The Last Ship – a theatrical tribute to the people and the place that shaped his childhood in Wallsend, UK. Sting gets personal playing the leading role of Jackie White. The story explores what happens when a shipyard closes in a small community. The score features original arrangements, as well as songs borrowed from his back catalogue.

The Last Ship runs from April 9 to May 3 at Glasshouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.

Footloose The Musical

Kick off your Sunday shoes at this brand-new production of Footloose: The Musical featuring Queensland’s Gabriel Tiller as outsider Ren who brings the beat back to the town of Bomont, where dancing has been outlawed. It’s a big ol’ excuse to sing along to 1980s classics, including Holding Out for a Hero and Let’s Hear It for the Boy, as well as the title track. Whether you’re a fan of the 1984 movie, or just want an uplifting night out, this popular musical has been known to get the whole theatre moving.

Footloose The Musical runs from April 24 to May 3 at the Royal International Convention Centre. Tickets are on sale now.

The Sapphires

The Sapphires by Tony Briggs is back. The latest production of this iconic play features next-gen First Nations stars, including Aurora Liddle-Christie and Taeg Twist, and is directed by former Queensland Theatre Company artistic director Wesley Enoch. There’s still plenty of sequins and a soundtrack to match the story’s ’60s mood – even if you’ve seen it on screen, it’s worth checking it out again.

The Sapphires runs from April 28 to May 24 at Bille Brown Theatre. Tickets are available online.

Steel Magnolias

Director Lee Lewis (Prima Facie, The Bleeding Tree, Rice) is reviving Steel Magnolias for a 2026 audience. Heavy on sass and Southern charm, the production plays out in Truvy’s beauty salon, as six women share in the highs and lows of life. The cast includes Blue Heelers’ Lisa McCune and Mandy Bishop, Home & Away’s Belinda Giblin, Debra Lawrance and Jessica Redmayne, and Lotte Beckett from The Election Monologues. It’s a reminder of the unbreakable bonds of friendship.

Steel Magnolias runs from April 30 to May 10 at Playhouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.

Duck Pond

Circa’s ever-impressive ensemble is back with an exhilarating 2023 circus production that combines Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling, featuring a burlesque-style black swan and a cute parade of waddling (human) ducks. It’s got daring aerials and acrobatics, and, of course, an entertaining storyline about finding your place in the flock.

Duck Pond runs from May 13 to 16 at Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are on sale now.

The Drover’s Wife – The Opera

Leah Purcell’s spirited story of Molly Johnson – a lone pregnant mother in the Snowy Mountains, holding down the fort – was first a play, then a film and a book. Now it’s been transformed into an opera. Award-winning First Nations soprano Nina Korbe is in the lead role, with Marcus Corowa (Bran Nue Dae) as Yadaka, the Aboriginal man who finds himself hiding out on Molly’s property.

The Drover’s Wife – The Opera runs from May 13 to 22 at Glasshouse Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Eat Slay Zombie

Described as “a darkly comic First Nations work,” Eat Slay Zombie is brought to life by playwright, multidisciplinary artist and Githabul–Migunberri–Yugumbeh woman Alinta McGrady, alongside co-director Lisa Fa’alafi. Turning a zombie apocalypse into a story of friendship, resistance and found family is no easy feat, but somehow these two manage it. The play takes place in a world where Tiktok is the only form of communication, and follows the story of two Blak women navigating a doomsday reality, bunking down in a bowling alley without even a flamethrower.

Eat Slay Zombie runs from May 14 to 30 at La Boite Theatre. Tickets are available online.

Macbeth

The Scottish play gets a thoroughly modern update from Shake and Stir Theatre Company, who have reimagined Shakespeare’s tragic general as a rising war hero of contemporary times. He’s a public figure in the age of clickbait and doomscrolling, and his ruthlessly ambitious partner is poised and polished in the knowledge that perception is power. But, as we all know from year 9 English, that power can be short-lived.

Macbeth runs from June 6 to 21 at Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are on sale now.

Beetlejuice The Musical

Get get your body in line for a riotous time with Eddie Perfect, who plays the lovable demon Betelgeuse in this musical adaptation of Tim Burton’s 1988 film. It’s loyal to the original with striped suits, crude jokes and a ghoulish set. Perfect wrote the music and lyrics, and his performance has been celebrated for being even more vulgar than Michael Keaton’s. Those two calypso songs, Banana Boat Song (Day-O) and Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora), are guaranteed, as is a suitably sulky teenage Lydia, played by Karis Oka.

Beetlejuice The Musical runs from June 7 to July 19 at Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are on sale now.

Pride & Prejudice

Queensland Theatre Company’s retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice is returning for a second season. Elizabeth Bennet is once again at odds with her husband-hunting sisters and dithery mother as she seeks to find her own path in life. The talented Queensland cast includes Gael Ballantyne, Maddison Burridge, William Carseldine, Courtney Cavallaro, Daphne Chenl, Chenoa Deemal and more. The creative team – co-adaptors Wendy Mocke and Lewis Treston and co-directors Bridget Boyle and Daniel Evans – had the audience on their feet in 2025, and their second spin around the block is set to be just as good.

Pride & Prejudice runs from July 10 to 26 at Playhouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.

Assembly

Find it hard to sit through a two-hour play? La Boite Theatre has the solution for depleting attention spans. In two performances, seven brand-new bite-sized works of theatre will be shown – with each story lasting only 10 minutes. It’s an opportunity for fresh-faced writers, directors and actors to showcase their skills, all while keeping things fast-paced and entertaining for the audience.

Assembly runs on June 19 & 20 at Roundhouse Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Heathers The Musical

Heathers walked so that Clueless and Mean Girls could run. If you haven’t seen the 1988 film, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, the dark comedy satirises teen movies of the time. The off-Broadway version, which debuted in 2014, has been touring for over a decade with minor tweaks. It has a pop-rock score by screenwriter Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, behind the music of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Veronica Sawyer is played by newcomer Emma Caporaso, and New Zealand-born Calista Nelmes – who was a finalist on The Voice – is queen bee Heather Chandler.

Heathers The Musical runs from July 30 to August 9 at Hota, Gold Coast. Tickets are on sale now.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 11, 2025 but was substantially updated on April 22, 2026 and then again on August 19, 2026 to include new musicals and plays in Queensland in 2026.