Theatre and Live Performances to Build a Whole Night Out Around
Theatres, cabaret rooms and live-music stages across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, from new Australian drama to West End-scale musicals — plus where to eat before curtain.
Some of these venues specialise in new Australian writing and daring adaptations of classics; others run Broadway-scale musicals, or a tribute night stitched together from a decades-old back catalogue. A few seamlessly fold dinner into the precinct, so the only real decision left is whether you eat before or after curtain.
Sydney Theatre Company stages new drama with big-name casts, then sends you next door to the Wharf Restaurant and Bar for a contemporary Australian menu looking out over the harbour — or Aperitivo Hour beforehand for drinks. Across town, the Capitol handles major touring plays and musicals, ringed by enough restaurants that a post-show reservation is never more than a two-minute walk. In Melbourne, Trainscendence runs a resident improv troupe and live gigs through its rooftop train carriages, one of which doubles as Easey's burger restaurant. And in Brisbane, Queensland Ballet performs — and opens its rehearsals to the public, for free — at the Thomas Dixon Centre, where Layla, from chef Shane Delia, sorts the meal either side. Presented by Honda ZR-V, here are nine nights out where the show is only the start of the evening.
Read other guides in our A to Z with Honda ZR-V series:
Late-Night Cocktail Bars Made for Just One More Round Before Ubers
Independent Cinemas with Interesting and Unexpected Screenings
Galleries to Spend a Rainy Afternoon Wandering Around
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Things to DoClub Voltaire
14 Raglan Street, North Melbourne
A 50-seat room down a North Melbourne laneway, named for the philosopher, given over most nights to comedy, drag, burlesque and vaudeville acts too fringe for bigger stages.
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BarThe Toff In Town
252 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Tucked upstairs in Curtin House, this room splits into a band side and a cocktail bar built around a train carriage booth, running album launches, jazz and comedy nights until 5am.
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Things to DoTrainscendence
48 Easey Street, Collingwood
Two 30-tonne vintage train carriages craned onto the rooftop of this ten-floor Collingwood building anchor seven themed rooms and six bars behind a hidden laneway entrance.
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Things to DoBelvoir St Theatre
25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills
Saved from demolition in 1984 when a syndicate of theatre lovers bought the building outright, this Surry Hills venue still runs its bold new Australian work across two intimate stages.
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Things to DoCapitol Theatre
13 Campbell Street, Haymarket
Opened in 1928 as an atmospheric picture palace, its restored courtyard-style interior is the only one of its kind still intact in Australia, now given over to touring Broadway musicals.
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Things to DoSydney Theatre Company
Wharf 4/5, 15 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Based at Walsh Bay’s Wharf precinct and once the launching pad for Cate Blanchett, Mel Gibson and Toni Collette, its stages under Kip Williams still swing between comedy, drama and true crime.
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Things to DoBrisbane Powerhouse
119 Lamington Street, New Farm
A 1928 tram-network power station left derelict for two decades before its turbines made way for a 536-seat theatre, this New Farm riverside landmark still wears its industrial bones.
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Things to DoThomas Dixon Centre
404 Montague Road, West End
Built in 1908 as a West End boot factory and shuttered by 1973, this heritage building reopened in 2022 after a $62 million rebuild as home to Queensland Ballet.
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Things to DoTwelfth Night Theatre
4 Cintra Road, Bowen Hills
Privately owned and running in Bowen Hills since the 1960s, this 522-seat suburban stage stays true to its name with everything from local drama to touring Shakespeare and big names abroad.
This guide was produced in partnership with Honda ZR-V. To learn more about the ultimate car for urban discovery, click here.