Canberra Theatre Centre

Canberra Theatre Centre — Canberra’s principal performing arts venue

Canberra Theatre Centre sits in Civic Square at the heart of Canberra’s commercial centre, five minutes’ walk from any CBD hotel and ten from the Australian National University’s Acton campus. The Centre opened in 1965 as the principal Canberra performing arts venue and has operated continuously since. It is the regular Canberra mainstage for Bell Shakespeare, Sydney Dance Company, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and the touring point for Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet and Bell Shakespeare’s Canberra programmes.

The rooms

• Canberra Theatre — 1,244 seats, the principal mainstage. Used for the touring opera, ballet, mainstage theatre and major concert programmes.
• The Playhouse — 612 seats, the second mainstage. Used for Bell Shakespeare’s Canberra residency, contemporary theatre and dance.
• The Courtyard Studio — small black-box space for chamber theatre and contemporary music.

Getting there

Walk from any Civic hotel — the Centre sits at the heart of the CBD. Pair the production with the Civic dining precinct (Bicicletta, Onred, Akiba, Sage) or the Braddon precinct ten minutes’ walk away. Pair a Canberra Theatre evening with a daytime visit to the National Gallery of Australia or the National Portrait Gallery on the parliamentary triangle.