Raise the curtains – QPAC’s cutting-edge Glasshouse Theatre sets its official opening date
With the multi-million-dollar construction now complete, Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s new Glasshouse Theatre will open its doors in South Brisbane by early March. Here’s what we know about the theatre’s stacked 2026 lineup …
Back in July 2025, when construction was still under way, more than 5000 Queenslanders took part in a vote to name QPAC’s new transparent, curved-glass theatre. With 42.7 percent of votes swinging one way, there was a clear favourite – and so the Glasshouse Theatre was christened.
With a world-class contemporary design and state-of-the-art technology, the $184 million theatre will join the Playhouse, Lyric Theatre, Concert Hall and Cremorne Theatre to make QPAC Australia’s largest performing arts centre under one roof.
QPAC chief executive Rachel Healy said the Glasshouse Theatre’s opening was a momentous occasion for the arts in Queensland that biuilds upon QPAC’s 40-year legacy.
“This 1,500-seat theatre gives us greater capacity to attract world-class talent and Australian exclusives to Queensland and forges our reputation as one of Australia’s biggest and busiest cultural precincts as we move towards the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Healy said.
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The Glasshouse Theatre will host a 2026 lineup including Queensland Ballet’s Messa da Requiem, Sting’s The Last Ship, Opera Queensland’s Rusulka and Into the Woods, The Book of Mormon, The Drover’s Wife and Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Sheltering.
The 1500-capacity auditorium will be clad in sustainable Queensland ironbark timber, which offers superior acoustics and enhanced audience sightlines across its two levels, along with dark green carpeting in reference to Queensland’s rainforests.
Featuring a stage the same size as QPAC’s Lyric Theatre, the Glasshouse Theatre’s stage is a fully removable and customisable timber floor with a trap room beneath, which enables scenery to seamlessly move through and for performers to appear and disappear with ease.
The design also features a 24-m fly tower – the vertical space above the stage – which is more than 2.5 times the height of the proscenium, allowing for sets to fly upwards, out of view of the audience. The Glasshouse Theatre will also introduce QPAC’s first digital fly system, replacing the traditional manual ropes and counterbalanced pulleys with a cutting-edge system that can be operated with the push of a button. A flexible, three-lift orchestra pit featuring three adjustable floor sections will also accommodate up to 60 musicians and a conductor.
The QPAC team is now undertaking extensive training and testing to ensure the best patron experience before the theatre’s opening program of local and international productions commence from late-March 2026. Queenslanders will be able to visit the world-class venue at a free community day on Saturday March 7, where visitors can explore the dynamic new theatre and experience small pop-up performances in the stunning light-soaked foyers.