[vc_section][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” svg_background=”%5B%7B%7D%5D”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”56731″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”30px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row svg_background=”%5B%7B%7D%5D” el_id=”about”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]
About the Collection
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text css=””]La Boite Theatre is Australia’s oldest continuously running professional theatre company and in 2025 it will celebrate 100 years of storytelling and theatre-making.
Situated in the inner-city suburb of Kelvin Grove in Brisbane, Queensland, La Boite pushes the boundaries of theatre, building pathways for local and national artists to bring their work to mainstream stages in Brisbane and beyond.
This year the company will celebrate their 100-year history with La Boite Encores, a captivating play reading series that brings 10 iconic Australian fan favourites from the La Boite archives to life.
This collection, perfect for theatre lovers, offers an intimate journey through La Boite’s rich history and celebrates the stories that have entertained, transfixed and moved audiences for one-hundred years and counting.
The La Boite Encore Play Reading Series
In The La Boite Encore Play Reading Series, actors take the stage with scripts in hand, bringing landmark plays to life through dynamic, varied, polished performances. While not full productions, these readings are set to be a lively celebration of theatre in its rawest form and a tribute to the plays that have shaped La Boite through the years.
Book tickets here: La Boite Encores
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section][vc_row el_id=”Primary+” svg_background=”%5B%7B%7D%5D”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”60px”][vc_column_text]
Scripts
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”5/6″][vc_column_text css=””]
The Narcissist – Stephen Carleton
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”]
Enter Bronwyn, an equally committed boozy malcontent and best friend who challenges Xavier to a duel – “Six weeks to bag a man! No ifs, no buts, no limits, no boundaries and no rules!”
First taking the stage at La Boite in 2007 and returning in 2008, The Narcissist by Stephen Carlton is a riotous and politically incorrect post-modern comedy of manners in a play about middle-class, middle-age sexual politics.[/vc_column_text]
Stephen is one of only three playwrights nationally to win both major theatre industry awards for new writing: the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award in 2004/5 (Sydney Theatre Company) and the Griffin Award for Best New Australian Play in 2015 (Griffin Theatre Company).
He was Chair of the National Playwrights Committee for the Australian Writers’ Guild in 2015/16 (with Mary Anne Butler), and his company Knock-em-Down Theatre has received a Sidney Myer capacity building grant to promote his work in the US.[/vc_column_text]
Boy Girl Wall – Matthew Ryan & Lucas Stibbard
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”]
boy girl wall featured in La Boite’s first ever million-dollar season in 2011 with shows in both April and September as part of Brisbane Festival, before going on to tour 25 venues across Australia in 2012.[/vc_column_text]
Matthew’s stageplays have been performed at Queensland Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, La Boite Theatre, Hothouse Theatre, Critical Stages, Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Australian Theatre for Young People. These works include Danny Fisher, Kelly, Boy Girl Wall, The Harbinger, Packed, Summer Wonderland and Chasing The Whale. His theatre awards include two Matilda Awards for Best New Australian Work, the George Landen Dann Award and a Helpmann Award nomination for Best Touring Production. He has been published by APT, Currency Press and Playlab Press.
LUCAS STIBBARD
Lucas Stibbard is one fifth of the multi-award winning, critically acclaimed hybrid theatre/contemporary-performance company known as The Escapists (devisers of Boy Girl Wall) with Neridah Waters, Matthew Ryan, Jonathon Oxlade and Sarah Winter.
[/vc_column_text]
Holding The Man – Tommy Murphy
Adapted from the book by Timothy Conigrave
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”]
Deeply moving and laugh-out-loud touching, this adaptation of Tim Conigrave’s memoir first came to the La Boite stage in 2013 under the direction of David Berthold. Tommy Murphy’s stage adaptation faithfully captures the book’s heart-wrenchingly honest portrayal of a fifteen-year relationship, but also succeeds in transforming it into a unique theatrical experience that is wholly his own. The play won multiple awards and had seasons across Australia and internationally.[/vc_column_text]
Tommy is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (Director’s Course) and a former writer in residence at Griffin Theatre Company. His plays include an adaptation of Marlowe’s Massacre at Paris (ATYP), Troy’s House (TRS in Sydney and La Mama in Melbourne) and Precipice (Young People’s Theatre).[/vc_column_text]
Prize Fighter – Future D. Fidel
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”]
Now, he has a chance to gain fame and fortune. Isa’s a brilliant boxer, and he has a shot at the national title. But his most difficult opponent isn’t in the ring – it’s the terrors of his past.
Nominated for a Helpmann Award, Prize Fighter is one of La Boite’s most successful plays in the past decade and solidified it’s commitment to telling diverse stories.[/vc_column_text]
He started working at La Boite Theatre Company as a playwright in residence from 2013 to 2015. With the help of Brisbane council’s In the Mix program, Future’s debut play Prize Fighter was featured in the Brisbane Festival as a Co-Production with La Boite Theatre Company in 2015, after the production of I am here, an MDA production that was co- produced by Queensland Theatre Company in the Billie Brown Studio in 2012 and Brisbane’s Powerhouse prior to that. As his big achievement, his debut work Prize Fighter was one of the main events in the Roundhouse Theatre at La Boite Theatre Company. Not only does he hold a playwright title, Future is also an Electrical Engineer, securing his Bachelor degree from Griffith University as well as a Gospel artist.
Future has now written his second play La Belle Epoque, an engaging masterpiece that tells the moderne history of the DRC and its relations with the West.[/vc_column_text]
X-STACY – Margery Forde
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”]
Drawn to the pulse of the rave scene, Ben watches over his sister Stacy as she drops her first ecstasy pill. But when tragedy strikes, their lives spiral. The truth of that night will change everything.
First performed in 1998, this La Boite production captured the youth market with its timely themes of dance parties and designer drugs.
As relevant as ever, it dives into youth, family, and identity complexities in a powerful, unflinching story that continues to resonate today.[/vc_column_text]
With Michael she wrote the script and lyrics for the music theatre work Behind the Cane for the Queensland Music Festival 2011 (AWGIE nomination 2012). In 2013 Margery and Michael co-wrote Heart of an Open Country for the Queensland Music Festival. Margery and Michael’s work is the subject of a Doctoral Thesis From life, to page, to stage: Exploring theatrical artistry, community and storytelling with Margery and Michael Forde.
Margery has received the Trust Award for Excellence for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre in Queensland and Australia, the Playlab Award for Services to New Work in Queensland and the Centenary Medal for Services to Queensland Theatre.[/vc_column_text]
Single Asian Female – Michelle Law
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”]
Enter her daughters: Zoe, in the throes of online dating, making big life decisions. And Mei, a teenager, grappling with her identity in modern Australia. Of course they see the world differently to their mother.
Pearl is the classic (hilarious) onslaught of embarrassing observations, constantly questioning her Westernised children. Tonight she reveals a secret that threatens to tear their family apart.
Debuting at La Boite in 2017 and returning in 2019 before touring nationally and internationally, Michelle Law’s Single Asian Female was a watershed moment for Asian-Australian voices inspiring a new generation of artists.[/vc_column_text]
She is the co-author of the comedy book Sh*t Asian Mothers Say, and has had her work anthologised in books like Women of Letters and Best Australian Comedy Writing. She is a regular contributor to Australian literary journals and magazines, and has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Life, Frankie magazine and the Griffith Review. As a screenwriter, she’s received an AWGIE award for her interactive media work and had her films screened on the ABC and at film festivals locally and abroad. In 2016, she won the Queensland Premier’s Award for Young Publishers and Writers. Her debut stage play Single Asian Female was performed at La Boite Theatre Company in 2017 to sold out audiences. It had a second run at Belvoir St Theatre in 2018. Homecoming Queens, a web series that she co-created, co-wrote and starred in was the first commissioned series for SBS On Demand.[/vc_column_text]
In Beauty It Is Finished – George Landen Dann
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”]
The article even suggested the judging committee should have disposed of it “with a pair of tongs”and that “… it is a matter for action by the police”.
First directed by Barbara Sisley (La Boite’s co-founder) and returning to our stage in 1977 both productions were controversially performed in blackface. In 2025 this powerful reading will be directed by proud Butchulla man Aidan Rowlingson and for the first time read by a First Nations cast.[/vc_column_text]
The Matilda Women – Sue Rider
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”]
Recognised with an inaugural Matilda Award for its creation and direction, this vibrant production written and directed by Sue Rider returned to the La Boite stage again in 1989 and 1993.[/vc_column_text]