La Boite Theatre lights the fuse on a fiery and fearless 2026 season
La Boite Theatre is stepping boldly into its next century with a 2026 season that’s fiery, funny and fiercely human. Following its milestone 100th year in 2025, Australia’s longest-running theatre company will continue to push boundaries, exploring themes of power, protest and belonging through a line-up of inventive new works and reimagined classics.
La Boite Theatre’s artistic director and CEO Courtney Stewart said the 2026 season takes a fresh and exciting approach to addressing some of the complex, knotty issues facing the world today – power, politics, the environment, family, race and community.
“We want to have those conversations with our audiences in a way that holds on to the humanity, heart and even humour of what’s going on in the world,” Courtney says.
“Humour is not used in a way to undercut or take the heat out of the conversations but rather, it is akin to hope. If anything’s going to help us hold onto hope, to find the answers that we need to make meaningful change, we need to have that shared humanity and laughter to help us take in what’s happening, digest it, synthesise it, understand it and then act on it.”
Opening the season in the Roundhouse Theatre from March 5–21 is Antigone – a raw and physical retelling of Sophocles’ timeless tale of defiance. Adapted by La Boite’s Courtney Stewart and co-directed with acclaimed fight choreographer Nigel Poulton, this version stars Maddison Burridge as a bold young heroine who refuses to bow to tyranny – a story as relevant today as it was in ancient Greece.
From Friday May 14, audiences can sink their teeth into Eat Slay Zombie, an original work by emerging Queensland playwright Alinta McGrady. Co-directed with Lisa Fa’alafi, this darkly comic post-apocalyptic adventure uses the zombie genre as a sharp lens on issues like colonisation, community and state occupation – with plenty of heart and humour along the way.
The climate crisis takes a cosmic turn in Kathryn Marquet’s Second Coming (August 6–22), a thought-provoking blend of science fiction and eco-feminism starring Ash Lollback and Anthony Standish, in a co-production with Playlab Theatre. Set on Mars in the wake of Earth’s collapse, the story poses challenging questions about climate change, the environment and humanity.
Closing the season from September 2–19, La Boite presents the sell-out Griffin Theatre Company production Koreaboo, which marks the writing debut of performer Michelle Lim Davidson. Inspired by her own experiences as a Korean-born adoptee, the play is an intimate search for family, culture and identity.
Alongside its mainstage works, La Boite will continue nurturing new voices through the Assembly development program, which supports emerging writers, directors and actors, as well as education initiatives with schools.
Visit the La Boite website to view the program and book tickets.
This article was written in partnership with our friends at La Boite Theatre.