Big casts are back again. The tight economics of subsidised theatre-making have meant that plays with small casts have been the go at the Queensland Theatre Company for many, many years. Next year, there'll be some big-budget numbers, thanks in part to coproductions with Sydney Theatre Company and Bell Shakespeare. Highlights include Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, Arthur Miller's The Crucible* and Bille Brown's The School of Arts. Brisbane audiences will also, finally, see QTC artistic director Michael Gow's acclaimed Toy Symphony, which inexplicably debuted at Sydney's Company B last year. There's more here.
* The last time the QTC presented The Crucible, it starred the late, great Babette Stephens as the ill-fated Rebecca Nurse. A matinee performance meant that she was late for a Glugs of Gosh theatre luncheon, but she managed to make a memorable entrance. "I'm sorry I'm late," she announced, "but I've just been hanged."