The Roundhouse Theatre is a theatre-in-the-round located in the Kelvin Grove Urban Village,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is Australia's only purpose-built theatre in the round. The building is owned by

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

and used by the La Boite Theatre Company. Roundhouse Theatre 20150508 160713 dsc 0029 17264920589 o

History

The La Boite Theatre Building was Australia's first purpose-built theatre-in-the-round, constructed for the Brisbane Repertory Theatre which then renamed itself La Boite Theatre Company. The La Boite Theatre Building could seat 200 at its fullest configuration. The La Boite Theatre Building was deemed to be of such significant cultural and architectural significance that it was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 2004. However, it struggled to be commercially viable and was eventually redeveloped as commercial offices. In 1998 the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

decided it no longer required its heritage-listed Gona Barracks and wished to sell the land. This led to a partnership being formed between the Queensland Department of Housing, the Brisbane City Council and the

to redevelop the site as the Kelvin Grove Urban Village as a mixed use precinct combining educational, residential and retail use of the site. The urban village had a strong arts and entertainment theme as the university was placing its Creative Industries Faculty in the village. This was complemented by the

Queensland Academy for Creative Industries The Queensland Academies Creative Industries (QACI) is a selective entry senior state high school in Queensland, Australia which offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The school aims to provide a platform for academic like-m ...

, a selective public senior high school for students wishing to specialise in the arts and entertainment. The university constructed the Roundhouse Theatre in 2004 to meet its needs for a theatre for training students in the performing arts, but wanted the theatre to be used commercially as well to generate income and to be consistent with the philosophy of the urban village of integrating the university with the community. By constructing the university's theatre as a theatre-in-the-round, it enabled the La Boite Theatre Company to sell the La Boite Theatre Building and lease the Roundhouse Theatre instead, a commercially viable arrangement for both the theatre company and the university.

Facilities

The Roundhouse Theatre can seat 400 people for central staging (audience on four sides) or 336 people for

thrust stage In theatre, a thrust stage (a platform stage or open stage) is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performers and the ...

(audience on three sides). The La Boite Theatre Company (Queensland's 2nd largest theatre company) perform at the Roundhouse Theatre. Queensland University of Technology also own the QUT Gardens Theatre on their Gardens Point campus. That theatre was originally built for the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

References

{{coord, -27.4552, 153.0135, type:landmark_region:AU-QLD, display=title Theatres in Brisbane Kelvin Grove, Queensland Queensland University of Technology