Live like a local – explore like a tourist
Lachlan Driscoll. Image credit: Backstreet Brisbane Ahead of Observatory Theatre’s 2026 season launch, I sat down with Artistic Director & Producer Lachlan Driscoll to discuss Act 1 of the programming, nurturing new stories, and taking Observatory and audiences to new heights and new worlds while sharing distinctly local stories. What will 2026 look like for... Continue Reading →
Image credit: Lucy Rayner-Toy Observatory Theatre's Book Launch Bash for AusArt Day 23 October 2025 16A Logan Road, The Tailors Bar, Woolloongabba For AusArt Day 2025, local independent theatre company Observatory Theatre is throwing a big bash to celebrate the publication of not one but two of their original works - Disney Off Ice by Oliver Gough... Continue Reading →
Caroline Sparrow and Dudley Powell, photographed by Geoff Lawrence - Creative Futures Photography Octopolis is a two-handed drama about academics and an octopus trying to co-exist in close quarters, bubbling with intellectual, emotional, and existential tensions. Written by UK playwright Marek Horn and first produced in 2023 at Hampstead Theatre, this co-production between Observatory Theatre... Continue Reading →
Bronwyn Nayler (L) directs Dudley Powell (standing) and Caroline Sparrow (seated) in rehearsals for Observatory Theatre’s upcoming production of Marek Horn’s Octopolis. Photographed by Lucy Rayner-Toy. Bronwyn Nayler describes herself as "a director, deviser, teacher and performer". Bronwyn is the director of Octopolis by Marek Horn, which will make its Australian independent premiere at PIP... Continue Reading →
Caroline Sparrow and Dudley Powell, photographed by Kris Anderson / Images by Anderson Octopolis 14 - 24 May 2025 PIP Theatre, Milton "There were three people in my marriage. Three people and twelve legs..." Meet George: professor and octopus expert. Her most intimate relationship these days is with the clever Frances, an octopus she obsessively... Continue Reading →
Observatory Theatre Founder and Creative Producer Lachlan Driscoll announces the 2025 season, photographed by Lucy Rayner-Toy Observatory Theatre has announced their 2025 season, including two mainstage productions and two new works in development through their Telescope New Writing program, which commissions up-and-coming playwrights to make their big, bold and ambitious concepts a reality on stage.... Continue Reading →
Lachlan Driscoll Lachlan Driscoll is a Brisbane-based creative producer and theatre maker, and the Founder & Creative Producer of Observatory Theatre. I sat down with Lachlan to discuss his current creative endeavours, what he looks for in a new work, and his collaborative approach to directing and producing. How would you describe your creative practice?... Continue Reading →
Disney Off Ice August 16 - September 1 Studio1, Yeerongpilly The rumours are true...he's back! This August, Observatory Theatre will present the highly anticipated Disney Off Ice, an absurd lampoon that imagines the infamous urban legend of Walt Disney's cryonic freezing. After decades frozen in the cryonic tank, Disney is feeling refreshed and ready to make... Continue Reading →
Observatory Theatre Creative Producer Lachlan Driscoll launches the 2024 season, photographed by Lucy Rayner-Toy. Observatory Theatre has launched their 2024 season, unveiling a year of new works by Brisbane-based playwrights and with a strong focus on creative development. The season will open with a staged reading and post-show discussion of The Cane, a "hauntingly beautiful... Continue Reading →
Picnic at Hanging Rock 11 - 20 August 2023 Studio1, Yeerongpilly Observatory Theatre will present the iconic Australian mystery Picnic at Hanging Rock, adapted by Tom Wright after Joan Lindsay, at Studio1 in Yeerongpilly this August. The company’s Founder and Creative Producer, Lachlan Driscoll, will be directing the adaptation. Based on Lindsay’s 1967 novel of... Continue Reading →
Amanda McErlean and Rebecca Day as Olympia and Basra Macquarie Content warnings: Frequent mentions of climate change, coarse language, sexual references, and use of strobe lighting. Observatory Theatre has opened its 2023 season with a darkly funny political farce about the climate crisis, set in a collapsing world that feels closer every day. Melbourne has... Continue Reading →
The Turquoise Elephant 2 - 11 June 2023 Studio1, 190 Station Road, Yeerongpilly Observatory Theatre will open their 2023 season with the outrageous black comedy The Turquoise Elephant by award-winning Brisbane playwright Stephen Carleton, exploring the absurd delays on global climate change through fast-paced theatre and dark humour. Directed by Observatory Theatre's Founder and Creative... Continue Reading →
Backstreet Brisbane 