Queensland Theatre Company Announce 2016 Program

Artistic Director Wesley Enoch has revealed his final season at the helm of Queensland Theatre Company before taking up the role of Festival Director at Sydney Festival.

"Theatre is a sacred place where opposing ideas are argued out to create drama," says Enoch, "a place where audiences continue the discussion outside the theatre and where those ideas can take root in social movements. We all have examples of drama that changed our opinions, informed our positions or frustrated us. That is the joy of theatre; one of the last places where we can openly debate, be engaged and entertained."

To open the season, 30 January - 21 February at Playhouse, QPAC, Quartet by Ronald Harwood explores getting old, with a cast including Andrew McFarlane and Christine Amor. The production will go on to tour regional Queensland.

Sydney Theatre Company's The Secret River directed by Neil Armfield makes its Queensland premiere, 25 February - 5 March, Playhouse, QPAC.

New Australian play Bastard Territory by Stephen Carleton is a drama about identity that uses humour and a '60s and '70s soundtrack to elucidate its theme, 6 - 16 April, Billie Brown Studio.

Brisbane-based writer Katherine Lyall-Watson's Patrick White Playwright's Award Finalist Motherland explores the lives of three different women living in three very different times, 20 - 30 April, Billie Brown Studio.

Continuing Australian theatre's fascination with Shakespeare (see: Belvoir, STC) this year, Jason Klarwein directs Ellen Bailey and Tama Matheson in Much Ado About Nothing, 23 April - 15 May, Playhouse, QPAC.

After debuting at STC in 2014, Switzerland by Joanna Murray-Smith makes its way to Brisbane with a new cast which includes Andrea Moor. The play based on the reclusive writer Patricia Highsmith runs 21 May - 26 June, Billie Brown Studio.

The season also includes the world premiere of The Wider Earth, 9 July - 7 August, Billie Brown Studio, a collaboration with Dead Puppet Society, about a young Charles Darwin on the HMS Beagle.

David Burton's St Mary's In Exile tells the story of a priest excommunicated for preaching acceptance and equality, and plays Billie Brown Studio 27 August - 25 September.

Pulitzer Prize winner Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar makes its way from Melbourne Theatre Company up to the Playhouse, QPAC, 16 October - 6 November.

In a co-production with Black Swan Theatre Company in Perth, Justin Fleming's adaptation of Moliére's Tartuffe makes its way to Queensland, 12 November - 4 December, Playhouse, QPAC, to illuminate ideas of power and morality, and how they remain resonant in 21st century Australia.

For more information, or to subscribe, head to Queensland Theatre Company's website.