FIFTY! Exhibition

Originally exhibited during the season of The Holidays (14 November to 12 December 2020) the exhibition includes over 120 photographs of productions from the archives and a screen presentation of interviews with audience members and artists who have been part of our 50 year history.

We hope you enjoy the online version of the exhibition and continue to share your stories with us.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following content contains images of deceased persons.

The making of this exhibition began with an open call out to audiences and artists to answer the following questions:

- What is your most memorable show?

- Is there anyone you have come to know during your time associated with Queensland Theatre Company?

People could submit their responses in writing, aurally or be filmed. The answers we received ranged from the heartwarming to the hilarious, and offered insight into the moments and people that have stayed with us through the years.

While most respondents shared their memories in writing, 39 artists and subscribers came forward to share their memories on film. We recorded over 15 hours of footage and had the very difficult task of cutting it down to less than an hour for the screen presentation.

The exhibition’s 120 photographs were selected from mainstage shows, featuring at least one photo from every year of the Company’s history. Some of the photos from the archives have not been seen for many years and are held at the QPAC Museum, who have our warm thanks for loaning us some of these images to scan. We hope we can share more photos from the archives in the years ahead.

Thank you to everyone who came forward and took the time to share their stories with us. We look forward to continuing to gather more stories over the coming years. Here’s to more memories and stories, and the next 50 years of theatre to come.

We’re excited to be able to share these stories and memories with you. We value everyone’s contribution and recognise that we may not have captured everyone. If you see any errors or any names missing please contact Rod Ainsworth: rainsworth@queenslandtheatre.com.au

We would like to continue the conversation, if you have any stories or memorabilia you would like to share please contact us here: 50thstories@queenslandtheatre.com.au

Big thank you to all the contributors who were interviewed and/or sent us their memories. Thank you for sharing your stories:

Bruce Clark, Marianne Kostellar, Geneive Maher, Robyn Elphinstone, Jennifer White, Shirley Nichols, Emily Hendra, Robyn Doyle, Ben Warren, Lafe Charlton, Merrilyn Rylance, Jason Glenwright, Carmel Harris, Samantha Lovejoy, Kym Halpin, Gregory Gesch, Peter Biggs, Miriam King, Jennifer Cooper, Julanne Shearer, Toni Risson, Wendy Armstrong, Helene Gassman, Kerry Latimer, Margaret Dakin, Joy Marshall, Louise Raben, Wendy O’Meara, Denise Arnold, Lesley Hutley, Susan Prince, David Megarrity, Jamie Henson, Steven Tandy, Sandra Robson, Elizabeth McKenna, Pauline Bound, Natasha Hayes, Hugh O’Neill, Leanne Austin, Susan Musgrave, Maggie Goodfellow, Lynne Ferguson, John D Cooper, Catherine Eadie, Tony Hallett, Wanda Hayes, Cornelia Cassimatis, John and Kip Jones, Troy Ollerenshaw, Sally Robertson, Tom Yaxley, Stephen Thomas, Sue Kennedy, Lindsay Fairman, Egan Sun-Bin, Fiona Lowes and Kartini Oei, Kathleen Blum, Gayle MacGregor, Dr John Nightingale, Maxim and Aija Wilson, Lynda Buckland, Margi Cruikshank, ESally Vickery, Lauren Clair, Tony Thurnbon, Bettina Morphett-Savage.

Screen Presentation (in order of appearance):

Helen Radley, Gregory Gesch, Robert Kingham, Kate Wilson, Richard Fotheringham, Tess Rowley, Leo Wockner, Paul Bishop, Veronica Neave, Elise Greig, Jan Huggett, Sally McKenzie, Aubrey Mellor, David Walters, Barbara Lowing, Troy Ollerenshaw, Robyn Nevin, Roxanne McDonald, Lafe Charlton, Ruth Hamlyn-Harris, Michael Gow, Penny Everingham, Melissa Agnew, Laurel Collins, Gwenda Organ, Sam French, Jason Glenwright, Wesley Enoch, Todd MacDonald, Colin Smith, Tony Brumpton, Ben Hughes, Egan Sun-Bin, Sam Strong, Jane Smith, Kaye Stevenson, Sonya Dewar, Chris Dewar, Bettina Morphett-Savage.