His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth
His Majesty’s Theatre — Perth’s Edwardian opera house
His Majesty’s Theatre on Hay Street in the Perth CBD is believed to be the only remaining working Edwardian theatre in Australia. The theatre opened on Christmas Eve 1904. The state government bought it in 1977 and restored it, reopening it in May 1980, and its original 1904 street balconies, removed in 1953, were reinstated in 2023. It is the principal Perth home of West Australian Opera, West Australian Ballet, and Perth-based touring drama and musical theatre productions.
The room
1,253 seats in a horseshoe over three levels: stalls, dress circle and gallery. The intimacy of the building is its principal selling point. The proscenium opening is narrower than the modern mainstage opera houses in Sydney and Melbourne, which constrains the kinds of productions that work in the room (large-scale spectacle opera doesn’t sit well; chamber-format and mainstream Italian repertoire does).
The orchestra pit was expanded during the 1977 to 1980 restoration and is large enough for most mainstream opera and ballet repertoire, although Wagner and the larger Strauss operas remain a tight fit. The acoustics are warmer and more enveloping than the Sydney Joan Sutherland Theatre, with the dry-clear sound balance that suits Italian opera, Mozart, and the early-Romantic operatic repertoire.
Acoustics and seat selection
Front-half stalls and dress circle middle are the high-value seats. Unlike many heritage opera houses, the gallery (the upper level) holds up very well — the room is small enough that gallery-level audiences sit close to the action and the sightlines are surprisingly clear. The cheapest reliable strategy is the gallery front row — significantly cheaper than the stalls, with surprisingly good sightlines for the price point.
Avoid the side dress circle at the very edge of the proscenium — the heritage architecture means a few seats on each side have view obstruction.
Getting there and what to do nearby
Walk from any Perth CBD hotel — His Majesty’s sits at 825 Hay Street, on the corner of King Street. Perth station is about five minutes’ walk, or take the train to Elizabeth Quay (10 min). The free Red CAT bus stops at “His Majesty’s” on Hay Street, but only in the daytime (until about 6.20pm on weekdays, and hourly to 5pm at weekends). There is undercover parking close by at His Majesty’s car park (entry from Murray Street) and off King Street; street parking depends on availability.
Pre- and post-show dining: the on-site Crew & King bar and restaurant opens two hours before the show. There are plenty of places to eat within walking distance, around King Street, at Brookfield Place and at the State Buildings on St Georges Terrace.
Good to know
The Museum of Performing Arts in the building runs theatre tours for school groups. Wheelchair access is to the stalls (ground level) and Downstairs at the Maj; a hearing loop covers most of the auditorium, and Auslan, audio-described and captioned performances run for selected shows. The building is the cornerstone of Perth’s classical performing arts calendar; pair an evening here with a daytime visit to the Art Gallery of Western Australia or the Perth Cultural Centre (10 min walk). The decorative interior alone is worth arriving thirty minutes ahead of curtain to take in.
Correction, 9 November 2026: We corrected factual errors in this article, including details such as dates, figures, names and venue information, after an editorial review.