Latest news with #MelbourneTheatreCompany
Sydney Morning Herald
12-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney Theatre Company still in the red despite record touring box office
A box office boom and success on London's West End have delivered the Sydney Theatre Company a $10 million sugar hit, recording its highest revenue figures in its 45-year history. A calculated risk by STC to launch interstate tours of RBG, of Many, One, as well as Julia and The Dictionary of Lost Words to Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide as well as royalties from this week's Tony award-winning The Picture of Dorian Gray, helped bring in a record $47 million to the flagship company last year. The haul served to soften the impacts of a $1 million drop in philanthropy to $3.5 million (after deduction of expenses) triggered by three actors' onstage pro-Palestine protests in November 2023 which prompted a donors' boycott. But it was not enough to put the company back into the black, with STC posting an $8.7 million operating deficit at the end of 2024 or an overall loss of $565,759, after accounting for investment returns, philanthropic donations and government funding. Despite the company's stellar stage success, STC's chief executive Anne Dunn said her company was 'not quite out of the woods'. Loading The company is in discussion with its government funders for additional investment to help it become more financial sustainable and take more risk on new works necessary for the creation of future hits and income. Dunn has also called for tax breaks on preproduction expenses to fund new stage works, as occurs in London. 'There's a deficit still, and we do need to keep working to get the company to a break even or a surplus position going forward,' she said. 'No company can operate forever with deficits. We know we need to take that responsibility seriously, and we do.' It was a tale of contrasting fortunes for the Melbourne Theatre Company, which posted a modest overall surplus of $193,790 in 2024, with about half the revenue and audiences of STC.
The Age
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Age
Sydney Theatre Company still in the red despite record touring box office
A box office boom and success on London's West End have delivered the Sydney Theatre Company a $10 million sugar hit, recording its highest revenue figures in its 45-year history. A calculated risk by STC to launch interstate tours of RBG, of Many, One, as well as Julia and The Dictionary of Lost Words to Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide as well as royalties from this week's Tony award-winning The Picture of Dorian Gray, helped bring in a record $47 million to the flagship company last year. The haul served to soften the impacts of a $1 million drop in philanthropy to $3.5 million (after deduction of expenses) triggered by three actors' onstage pro-Palestine protests in November 2023 which prompted a donors' boycott. But it was not enough to put the company back into the black, with STC posting an $8.7 million operating deficit at the end of 2024 or an overall loss of $565,759, after accounting for investment returns, philanthropic donations and government funding. Despite the company's stellar stage success, STC's chief executive Anne Dunn said her company was 'not quite out of the woods'. Loading The company is in discussion with its government funders for additional investment to help it become more financial sustainable and take more risk on new works necessary for the creation of future hits and income. Dunn has also called for tax breaks on preproduction expenses to fund new stage works, as occurs in London. 'There's a deficit still, and we do need to keep working to get the company to a break even or a surplus position going forward,' she said. 'No company can operate forever with deficits. We know we need to take that responsibility seriously, and we do.' It was a tale of contrasting fortunes for the Melbourne Theatre Company, which posted a modest overall surplus of $193,790 in 2024, with about half the revenue and audiences of STC.
Sydney Morning Herald
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The thing that made Hamish Blake fall for his wife, Zoë Foster Blake
This story is part of the June 8 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories. Hamish Blake is best known as one half of comedy duo Hamish and Andy, and for hosting shows including Lego Masters: Grandmasters of the Galaxy. Here, the 43-year-old reveals what made him fall in love with his wife, writer and beauty industry figure Zoë Foster Blake, as well as details of his first heartbreak. My maternal grandmother was affectionately known as 'Moosie'. Not only was she very loving, but she was also a lot of fun. We went to her house in [Melbourne's] Wheelers Hill for dinner weekly, as she and Pop lived 10 minutes from our house in Glen Waverley. Moosie wasn't the greatest cook, but her meatloaf was presented to us like it was our favourite. I have no recollection of saying that it was, but it was made with such love that you just played along. Her favourite drink was Mateus Rosé. It came in this flat-shaped bottle. Moosie would have a few glasses and get a bit rowdy. She'd often take her shoes off because her feet had swollen up. Moosie died in 2019, but she's always with us. My mum, Kerry, took her love for us to the next level. She was an English literature teacher, and so we were a big reading family – not every kid in suburban Melbourne had a mum who was interested in exposing them to Shakespeare. Later on, she worked for the Melbourne Theatre Company and Opera Australia and I would go to opening nights. I recognise these as a formative experiences. My parents separated when I was 17, but there were no hard feelings from my older brother, Lachlan, younger sister, Sophie, and me. We just thought it was something they needed to do. I get on really well with my stepmother, Kriss. She and my dad, Noel, have been married for nearly 20 years. She is terrific and they make a great team. Growing up, my crushes were on people who made me laugh, rather than those I viewed as romantic, but I do have this memory of taking note of Carmen Electra when I was 15. My first real relationship was in year 11 with Anne, who had just finished year 12. She had a car, so that was a fast ascension into adult freedom. It was also the first time I'd explored the idea of being in a team and having a partnership with someone.
The Age
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
The thing that made Hamish Blake fall for his wife, Zoë Foster Blake
This story is part of the June 8 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories. Hamish Blake is best known as one half of comedy duo Hamish and Andy, and for hosting shows including Lego Masters: Grandmasters of the Galaxy. Here, the 43-year-old reveals what made him fall in love with his wife, writer and beauty industry figure Zoë Foster Blake, as well as details of his first heartbreak. My maternal grandmother was affectionately known as 'Moosie'. Not only was she very loving, but she was also a lot of fun. We went to her house in [Melbourne's] Wheelers Hill for dinner weekly, as she and Pop lived 10 minutes from our house in Glen Waverley. Moosie wasn't the greatest cook, but her meatloaf was presented to us like it was our favourite. I have no recollection of saying that it was, but it was made with such love that you just played along. Her favourite drink was Mateus Rosé. It came in this flat-shaped bottle. Moosie would have a few glasses and get a bit rowdy. She'd often take her shoes off because her feet had swollen up. Moosie died in 2019, but she's always with us. My mum, Kerry, took her love for us to the next level. She was an English literature teacher, and so we were a big reading family – not every kid in suburban Melbourne had a mum who was interested in exposing them to Shakespeare. Later on, she worked for the Melbourne Theatre Company and Opera Australia and I would go to opening nights. I recognise these as a formative experiences. My parents separated when I was 17, but there were no hard feelings from my older brother, Lachlan, younger sister, Sophie, and me. We just thought it was something they needed to do. I get on really well with my stepmother, Kriss. She and my dad, Noel, have been married for nearly 20 years. She is terrific and they make a great team. Growing up, my crushes were on people who made me laugh, rather than those I viewed as romantic, but I do have this memory of taking note of Carmen Electra when I was 15. My first real relationship was in year 11 with Anne, who had just finished year 12. She had a car, so that was a fast ascension into adult freedom. It was also the first time I'd explored the idea of being in a team and having a partnership with someone.
AU Financial Review
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- AU Financial Review
Call to action put Melbourne Theatre Company in the black
Melbourne Theatre Company defied an 11 per cent fall in box office receipts to post a small surplus in 2024, thanks to an unusual fundraising campaign instigated by its outgoing chair Jane Hansen. But there was no such philanthropic rescue at Victoria's second-largest theatre maker, Malthouse, which annoyed some donors in February 2024 when it hosted a show by anti-Israel activist Clementine Ford, at the same time as Jewish musical Yentl played at its main theatre.
