Queensland Theatre Company's 2027 Season: Big Swings and Bold Productions

Queensland Theatre Company's 2027 season has been announced, featuring highly anticipated adaptations of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and a new Romeo + Juliet from First Nations theatre-makers Isaac Drandic and Kamarra Bell-Wykes.

A New Take on a Classic

Brisbane-based actor and playwright Kathryn Marquet is co-adapting Little Women for the stage, alongside fellow Brisbane playwright Maxine Mellor. Marquet says she identifies with Jo March, the second-eldest of four sisters, who yearns for a creative life while rejecting the constraints of her gender and the expectation of marriage.

"If anyone had told me at 18, 'You have to get married now', I'd have been like, 'What are you talking about?'" Marquet says. "I had other stuff to do first."

Marquet and Mellor's adaptation of Little Women explores themes of feminism, choice, and the challenges of being a good person in a complex world. The production will be directed by Brisbane director Bridget Boyle, with Brisbane actor and playwright Courtney Cavallaro playing Jo.

Breaking New Ground

The idea for an all-Indigenous Romeo + Juliet came from Drandic, the company's Head of First Nations Theatre. The production will be a reimagining of the classic tale, with the two lovers divided by a broken songline in the earth.

"You can't understand through a Western European dramaturgical lens the way a First Nations culture experiences time, love, fraternity and connection," says QTC artistic director Daniel Evans. "That wrestle is where the bravery and excitement of that project is for me."

A Season of Ambition

QTC's 2027 season also includes the Brisbane premiere of An Iliad, starring David Wenham, after its sell-out season in Sydney this year; producing a musical, Sweeney Todd; and bringing Counting and Cracking to Queensland for the first time.

Evans says the season is about dreaming big and creating pathways for local artists. "The best thing I can do for Queensland artists, technicians and audiences is just to punch and swing big," he says.

The season also includes a new Australian play, My Roman Empire by Alberto Di Troia, which won the $30,000 Queensland Premier's Drama Award.