Looking forward to 2025 and the slate of shows announced to tour mainstage Australia, should artists and audience members begin to think that the theatre industry is finally listening?
Written by Justin Clarke
Looking at the current 2025 slate of productions either currently touring, or in the pipeline for Australian audiences this year, the question I want to ask is this: Is the Australian Theatre Industry finally listening? Not just to little old me tapping away at his keyboard, but to the creatives, artists and, most importantly, those who will end up paying to see yet another revival of Chicago, the audiences.
The answer to this isn’t something simple and a quick, yes. Instead, it’s a much broader discussion that reaches many corners of the industry as a whole. So I present to you a few options to consider when tackling the survival of the Australian theatre industry.
Option 1: Possibly!
The mainstage shows coming to Australia in 2025 show a definite shift in the 2021-24 phase of returning musicals to help recover lost funds.
At the end of the banana bread baking times, the voices among the theatre community waited for a wave of “lockdown plays” to emerge. Surprisingly – and thankfully? – there were very few, even on the silver screen. Of course, a few exceptions did appear that will surely enter a teacher’s toolbox for an analogy in classrooms when discussing cultural context – The Bubble (2022), Locked Down (2021), The Show Must Go Online etc.
What came instead was a clear renaissance style boom of creation in the independent scene. Long gestating pieces of work suddenly came to fruition after their creators were, forcibly, locked inside to work (the award-winning production of Zombie! The Musical being a clear example). Meanwhile, on the mainstages, the loss of income from the lockdowns meant that the theatres producing shows that were either in the middle of, in the birthing of, or the end of being staged were very much out of pocket. Hence, the start of the “Covid Recovery Phase” of post-lockdown mainstage theatre.
Now, with shows such as Beetlejuice and Dear Evan Hansen for Melbourne, Hedwig and the Angry Inch for Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and Hadestown and Back to the Future for Sydney, there is a definite shift in the recovery phase of mainstage theatre. Within the larger markets of Australia (read: Sydney and Melbourne) we saw cookie-cutter, regular crowd pleasers adorn the stages for an assured buck with a few gems thrown in for good measure – it was no big surprise that Hamilton was going to sell well. But all signs now point to a more daring 2025 as new big-name shows get set to tour parts of Australia, thanks in no small part to commercial leaders such as the Michael Cassel Group (& Juliet, Hamilton, MJ the Musical).
Option 2: Not Quite
When it comes to casting, many productions still miss the mark in exploring diversity, hesitating to take bold steps unless the material itself explicitly calls for it.
It’s no secret that theatrical traditions often lean towards the familiar, creating a reluctance to challenge established moulds, even if opportunities for equitable casting would expand the reach and relevance of a production.
Big-budget productions such as Hamilton and Hadestown have set a standard for diverse casting, using representation as a core element to tell layered, resonant stories that aren’t exclusively targeted (shock horror!) at white audiences. Yet, when traditional “classic” musicals or stage plays return, the desire to stick to the mould of outdated casting patterns can miss the opportunity to engage wider audiences through inclusive representation.
Take, for example, the 2019 US revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! which ran for 328 performances on Broadway before transferring to the West End. Diverse casting and storytelling contributed to the overall success of the reimagining. Daniel Fish’s direction would eventually result in the show winning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as well as a slew of Tony nominations. Ben Brantley of The New York Times stated that this Oklahoma! was “for an era in which longstanding American legacies are being examined with newly skeptical eyes… This isn’t an act of plunder, but of reclamation. And a cozy old friend starts to seem like a figure of disturbing — and exciting — depth and complexity.”
Ultimately, equitable casting is not just about inclusion for its own sake. The opportunity for rich, dynamic theatre that mirrors the diverse experiences of the world can bring authenticity and relevance to the stage. For this to happen, producers and directors must actively choose to rewrite the rules, reframe what is a “classic”, and, most importantly, MAKE SPACE for the full spectrum of talent and voices that the Australian industry has to offer.
Option 3: Yes, in small ways
The efforts of inclusivity can be seen in some major theatre companies as a focused means of widening audiences in their seasons.
Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC), broke an industry first in 2023 by creating an advisory council of diverse artists, actors, directors, writers, designers and activists to assist in the programming decisions for the company. This initiative led to the successful staging of My Brilliant Career in 2024, a new Australian musical that featured actor-musicians from various backgrounds, offering a contemporary portrayal of Australia beyond traditional narratives.
Similarly, the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) has been proactive in promoting diversity. In 2022, STC launched the Rough Draft program, providing a platform for emerging playwrights to develop their works with a strong encouragement of script submissions from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse writers (CALD). This initiative resulted in several productions that resonated with a broad spectrum of audiences, reflecting the rich tapestry of Australian society.
Despite these advancements, the Australian theatre industry, as well as theatre internationally, continues to grapple with challenges in fully embracing inclusivity. In the recent West End production of Romeo and Juliet, actress Francesca Amewudah-Rivers received racial abuse and death threats over her casting as Juliet, highlighting the persistent challenges in achieving racial diversity on stage. Similarly, when touring the previously discussed revival of Oklahoma! in the US, the production received similar criticism when disrupting embedded narratives of society.
Closer to home, a 2020 report by the Australia Council for the Arts revealed that while First Nations and CALD Australians are deeply engaged with arts and culture, they remain underrepresented and under-resourced in the sector. This type of disparity significantly highlights and underscores the need for ongoing efforts to ensure that Australia’s arts landscape genuinely reflects the performers who support it.
Option 4: Slowly, with possible help from the Government
There is a shared hope that one day Australia could have a system modelled off that of the West End and Broadway.
One important part of this exploration – but by no means the entire cause of it – comes down to cold, hard cash. Theatre producers have already proposed a tax offset scheme modelled off Britain’s Theatre Tax Relief program. The proposed Live Theatre Tax Offset aims to attract private investment into Australian theatre by offering tax deductions for production expenses, including the development of new works, touring, staging, and copyright payments.
Across the pond, the TTR program has been instrumental in helping to revitalise the theatre industry post-Covid. Initially set at 20% for non-touring productions and 25% for touring productions, the relief rates were temporarily increased during the COVID-19 pandemic to support the struggling arts sector. As of April 2025, the UK government has permanently set the TTR rates at 40% for non-touring productions and 45% for touring productions, reflecting the program’s success in stimulating theatrical productions and economic growth.
Within our own context, implementing a similar tax offset could yield significant economic benefits. Under Labor, we know Albo is a keen audience member, known to chug a beer when prompted. Under a Dutton-led government, the chances of any tax offset could be next to none, as evidenced by debates surrounding similar schemes.
Let me throw some numbers at you – imagine they’re written by Jonathan Larson à la Rent. The LPA Proposal drafted in 2024 estimated that a 40% tax incentive for theatre productions could result in approximately 4,151 full-time equivalent jobs, 168 new productions, and a net tax benefit of $24.3million for the Australian government. Even better, increasing this to 50% results in a net tax benefit of $28.9million!
When it comes to the arts however, it’s no secret that it’s not very high on the government’s list. Despite such promising figures, the history of arts funding has been, sadly, limited. Nevertheless, the introduction of a Live Theatre Tax Offset could be a transformative step for Australia’s theatre industry, ultimately fostering innovation, diversity, and economic growth.
The overall question of where this leaves us is multifaceted. There are steps being taken to diversify productions and casting, as well as a slow but hopeful push for systemic change through government support. But the answer lies somewhere in between.
Yes, there are promising advancements with companies showing a commitment to inclusivity and diversifying the larger markets of the Australian theatre industry. Yes, audiences are finally getting a taste for new productions, breaking away from the “safe” choices of post-Covid programming in the standalone theatres. And yes, there is growing discussion around equitable casting which is gaining momentum in major productions in Australia.
But challenges, as always, remain. Progress is never something achieved overnight. It is slow, but it is important. So to survive, the Australian theatre industry must continue to reimagine what is possible, invest in diverse talent, and be a part of the change occurring in the theatre industry as a whole.
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