Description

Southbank Theatre is the principal performance home of Melbourne Theatre Company, Victoria’s state theatre company. Since opening in 2009, it has played host to thousands of performances and been at the forefront of ground-breaking new work that has shaped artists, audiences and the country.

Designed by ARM Architecture, Southbank Theatre’s distinctive façade features a matrix of glowing white tubes in angular geometric shapes that seem to hover around the black box of the building. The shapes repeat inside as if a giant theatre light has been shone onto the façade to cast a shadow of itself on the interior walls.

Southbank Theatre features two performance venues: The Sumner, a single-rake proscenium arch theatre with 559 seats suited to theatre, musical and dance performances; and The Lawler, a 163-seat flexible black box studio utilised for small performances, workshops, rehearsals and events.

In conjunction with adjoining venue the Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank Theatre received the 2009 Victorian Architecture Medal, the Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design, the Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture and the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture.

What's On

Explore behind the scenes at the home of Melbourne Theatre Company and hear from the creative minds behind the design.

On Saturday, join representatives from ARM Architecture, Arup and Lendlease for a fascinating discussion about the design and construction of Southbank Theatre. Part two of this discussion will take place in the neighbouring Melbourne Recital Centre from 1pm and will focus on the design of that building. Before and after the talk, explore the public spaces of Southbank Theatre.

On Sunday, explore backstage spaces on a self-guided tour path to view actors’ dressing rooms, technical operations, the time-capsule of signed walls in the loading dock and other spaces not usually open to the public.

Note: self-guided tours will not be possible on Saturday due to the matinee performance of ‘Mother Play’ by Paula Vogel starring film, theatre and television legend Sigrid Thornton alongside Yael Stone and Ash Flanders.

This site is mobility-friendly and neurodiverse considerate. Find out more on our new Access Map.