Looking back on Australia’s state theatre companies’ 2020 annual reports is sobering reading, and offers a stark reminder of the apocalyptic feelings gripping the sector in the early days of the pandemic.
In one such report, a state theatre company Board Chair chose a single line from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to summarise the experience:
“If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction,” they wrote.
Indeed, by the end of 2020 there were many artists and arts workers who were still coming to terms with the shocking realities of that first pandemic year. Lockdowns had forced theatres to close and had put countless arts projects on hold, leaving many without a job and with little prospect of returning to their sets and stages any time soon.
Concurrently, the outpouring of support for artists and performers from members of the general public was overwhelming.
Five years on, it’s easy to forget how generous many Australians were in donating the cost of their cancelled tickets or giving unprecedented financial donations to artists and performing arts companies during those early days of COVID-19.
As for government – at both state and federal level – they took a bit longer to act. But when their arts rescue packages came through, they helped curb the damage of the sharp ticket sales declines that performing arts companies experienced during the early months and years COVID-19.
And now, here we are … in 2025. In many ways, we are a long way from those surreal early days of the COVID lockdowns that marked the beginning of a shocking period of revenue freefalls and immense pain for so many in the performing arts.
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But are theatre companies back to where they were before this unprecedented crash?
While it would be misleading to take the dollar figures in isolation as the only measure of these companies’ ‘post-COVID’ build-backs, their financial statements tell a story of responsible management in pursuit of recovery, and show that most of the companies have almost reached the point where things are back to ‘normal’.
This article draws on data from four of the five state theatre companies’ annual reports, which has been formulated in consultation with the companies in question.
What do state theatre companies’ financial statements tell us?
One notable element of the 2019-2023 financial data for the companies is that, for the most part, each has done a good job of managing its annual income and expenses, and in keeping costs in line with revenue. This is no small feat, especially in the recent climate of high inflation and increased core costs.
What may surprise some, however, is that most state theatre companies achieved large annual ‘profits’ during one pandemic year (these were much larger annual profits than they are achieving now).
While this may look like a big win on paper, these figures are most often linked with the timing of government grant payments and other non-box office income for the companies during those chaotic years.
For example, a company may have received a large COVID relief grant at a time when it still couldn’t produce much work or spend much money. Yet, that grant income was vital to its capacity to produce and present work the following year – a year in which it would still not be receiving the same level of ticket sales income as usual.
Ultimately, what’s important about this data is to see the way almost all the featured companies are managing their annual budgets in ways that are not resulting in comprehensive losses.
Another general trend (that is not displayed in the above table) is that most state theatre companies’ annual revenues and annual costs have increased by around 10% over the five-year period from 2019 to 2023, showing that they are mostly achieving modest revenue growth while incurring about the same rate of increased costs.
The only company to buck that revenue growth trend is Queensland Theatre Company (QT), the revenue of which has decreased slightly since 2019. QT recorded total revenue of approximately $11.4 million in 2019, but approximately $10.9 million in 2023. Meanwhile, the company’s annual total costs have remained steady (approximately $11.3 million in 2019 and $11.3 million in 2023), showing it is keeping its annual spending levels in line with its decreased revenue results.
State theatre companies’ bigger picture financial positions
Looking at the state theatre companies’ balance sheets shows the four listed companies are fundamentally sound – in some cases very robust – business entities.
Since COVID, the four companies in question have continued to grow their overall equity and, for some of them, their equity is more than 50% of overall assets, which reflects a good overall position.
Have theatre audiences returned?
Arguably, however, the most crucial question for our state theatre companies to answer right now is not so much about money, but more about audience numbers. Because a company could have the best balance sheet in the world, but if its audiences are not showing up, it has no future.
The good news here is that, for most state theatre companies, audience numbers are returning to more or less pre-COVID levels.
That said, none have surpassed their 2019 ticket sales numbers yet, but the majority are heading in that direction.
Interestingly, for companies in states like WA and Queensland, which were not as badly affected by COVID lockdowns, audience numbers grew in years like 2021 and 2022, but most recently (in 2023), they have slightly dipped.
This spiky pattern could indicate there was pent-up demand, which resulted in higher than average theatre attendance in those states that returned to ‘normal’ in the years 2021 and 2022. This could be interpreted as showing how people were eager to get out of the house and enjoy themselves, yet were unable to travel outside their home states, so were spending their money on local experiences.
Overall, it seems the further away from the pandemic we get, the more audience numbers are settling back to about what they were before 2020 – revealing a good news story of recovery after one of the worst periods for the industry in living memory.
It has certainly taken some time to build back, and there is still a way to go to see real growth. But it is clear that theatre audiences have not lost their connection to an art form they love, and are still showing up in healthy numbers for those experiences.
