Theatre Royal Hobart

Theatre Royal Hobart — Australia’s oldest continuously operating theatre

The Theatre Royal sits on Campbell Street in central Hobart, a five-minute walk from Salamanca Place and the Hobart waterfront. The theatre opened on 8 March 1837 — making it Australia’s oldest continuously operating theatre, predating the Adelaide Festival Centre by 136 years and the Sydney Opera House by 136 — and has operated continuously since, with the exception of brief refurbishment closures. The most recent major refurbishment was completed in 2022 and addressed structural issues, modernised the back-of-house and orchestra pit, restored the heritage interior, and added accessible seating provision.

The room

700 seats across stalls, dress circle and gallery. The intimacy of the room is the principal selling point — the dimensions are smaller than any modern Australian mainstage opera house, and the proximity to the stage from any seat in the building is the closest in the country. The acoustics are warm and forward, well-suited to spoken-word performance, chamber-format opera and the small-orchestra repertoire.

Getting there

Walk from any Hobart CBD or waterfront hotel — the Theatre Royal sits in the heritage Battery Point/Salamanca district and the Hobart CBD is walkable. Pair the production with the Salamanca Place dining (Frank, Aloft) or the Battery Point heritage precinct. The Theatre Royal is one of the venues used during the Dark Mofo festival each June and the connection between the heritage architecture and the festival’s contemporary art programming produces some of the festival’s most distinctive evenings.