Why it matters when professional theatre programming gets lazy.

She was angry and frustrated, pouring her words into my messenger feed. I didn’t answer immediately. I needed time to gather my own thoughts. This woman carries the integrity and respect that comes with years of experience in both the community and independent theatre spheres; someone who puts her time, skills and money where her mouth is.

To enter this conversation and not sound like an idiot required me to stop and think. I came to the conclusion that, while I have opinions here, this community leader does not need my input; she needs my platform.

Ros Johnson is a theatre director, producer and leader. I’m printing her message as she wrote it as it articulates her thoughts beautifully. Let it begin a healthy discussion. I trust you all but don’t let me have to smack anyone round the head with a wet fish.

Love you,

Sher.🌺

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Here is Ros Johnson's message to me:

Hi Sherryl-Lee.

I think I’m concerned about the pursuit of profit becoming so unscrupulous as to grab for low-hanging fruit (classic revivals and adaptations, broad comedies : staples on high rotation in amateur and community groups) that I start to lose respect for our ‘industry leaders’ and to worry for the future of theatre. Especially when hardly any new, topical or diverse work is offered to balance this low-brow, high-profit model.

I have sat on a range of theatre websites watching as the 2026 offerings roll out. This process is admittedly incomplete at the end of October, but QPAC and QT have their dance cards quite full. And I count only three new Australian works amongst the reruns, classic/movie/pop culture adaptations, revivals and parodies. This includes the offerings of touring companies, so I guess we are looking at a nation-wide scenario at the very least.

The richness and diversity in the 2026 music, opera and dance programs leaves theatre programming in the dust. I believe any attempt to justify this dearth of original theatre programming by saying ‘the work isn’t there’ would be completely disingenuous. If plays aren’t being written and performed, then why have I had to increase the number of nights the little old Beenleigh One Act Play festival runs for 2 years in a row? A significant number of the plays presented there are original, and the proportion is growing. This year it was 18 out of 33 – more than half were unpublished and not previously performed and were of excellent quality.

When I look at the list of professional offerings for Brisbane theatre-goers, there are very few shows that I have not personally either produced, directed or seen in community circles in the past three years. And I ask myself – would I pay $170 (yes, I checked the top price) to see Cluedo, when Footlights produced a delightfully fun version of the identical show which was designed, directed and performed by clever, talented friends and co-artists I adore working with only two years ago? The answer is a resounding NO.

I’m sure the touring UK set will be bigger and glossier, but the results will be less amazing because in QPAC people are being paid to make it work. I know exactly where my value for money is, and it’s not in professional theatre. In fact, no less than SIX of the QPAC offerings for the next 12 months have been performed on community and independent stages locally in the past few years. And, might I say, done WELL.

I’m sure some will cry ‘COVID’ and let that be the scapegoat for all the issues in current theatre programming. The 2020 pandemic was the scourge of every artistic organisation, and the recovery from it is every artist’s responsibility. I know I’ve taken drastic steps as Artistic Director of a tiny company in respect of programming, casting, and budgeting to try to address the wounds inflicted in financial and human resources as well as morale.

COVID was a bushfire which razed the theatre environment; scarring the tall timber, eliminating the lower layers of the forest and at the grass roots level leaving a multitude of green shoots, competing for scarce resources - many more than can possibly survive. How much harder is that survival made when the tall timber – the ones with bricks and mortar venues and corporate and government funding - siphon off the scarce resources? And why does it matter?

📌It matters because amateur, community and independent theatre matter.

📌It matters because outstanding artists, theatre-makers and technicians do not materialise fully-formed.

📌It matters because the tertiary courses which supported the industry have been completely gutted, making quality training in the performing arts hard to find.

📌It matters because there exists (or should exist) a continuum of respect and reciprocity between the spheres of community, independent and professional theatre.

When I see a former student/community artist from my small pond succeed in a larger pool like independent, touring, professional and mediated entertainment, I absolutely LOVE it. The ones with talent, luck and sass can really go far.

Would they have gotten there without their time on the small stages in the suburbs? Perhaps…perhaps not. But if professional theatre keeps taking the bread from the table of the community theatre artists, I’m afraid we might have to find out.

Thanks for thinking.

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