Sydney Theatre Company still in the red despite record touring box office
A box office boom and success on London's West End have delivered the Sydney Theatre Company a $10 million sugar hit, recording its highest revenue figures in its 45-year history.
A calculated risk by STC to launch interstate tours of RBG, of Many, One, as well as Julia and The Dictionary of Lost Words to Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide as well as royalties from this week's Tony award-winning The Picture of Dorian Gray, helped bring in a record $47 million to the flagship company last year.
The haul served to soften the impacts of a $1 million drop in philanthropy to $3.5 million (after deduction of expenses) triggered by three actors' onstage pro-Palestine protests in November 2023 which prompted a donors' boycott.
But it was not enough to put the company back into the black, with STC posting an $8.7 million operating deficit at the end of 2024 or an overall loss of $565,759, after accounting for investment returns, philanthropic donations and government funding.
Despite the company's stellar stage success, STC's chief executive Anne Dunn said her company was 'not quite out of the woods'.
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The company is in discussion with its government funders for additional investment to help it become more financial sustainable and take more risk on new works necessary for the creation of future hits and income. Dunn has also called for tax breaks on preproduction expenses to fund new stage works, as occurs in London.
'There's a deficit still, and we do need to keep working to get the company to a break even or a surplus position going forward,' she said. 'No company can operate forever with deficits. We know we need to take that responsibility seriously, and we do.'
It was a tale of contrasting fortunes for the Melbourne Theatre Company, which posted a modest overall surplus of $193,790 in 2024, with about half the revenue and audiences of STC.
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The box office figures were helped by a return season of RBG: Of Many, One starring Heather Mitchell as US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The show saw a paying audience of 28,660 across 56 performances at the Sydney Opera House and another 46,784 on tour. The return run of Julia, starring Justine Clarke as former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, saw similar success with an audience of 22,781 across a 49 show season and 41,122 on tour. Kip Williams' adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook, which toured to London's West End for an Olivier Award-winning run of 101 performances, attracted total ticket sales of 77,273. On Monday, the Succession star also won a Tony Award for best leading actress, for the play's hit run on Broadway. Despite the international success, the company posted an overall deficit of $565,759 for 2024 - but this was an improvement on 2023 losses of $1.8 million. The deficit was due in part to a hike in production costs, stagnant government funding, and a drop of about $1 million in philanthropic donations to $3.5 million, the company said. Artistic Director Kip Williams left the State Theatre Company in October 2024 and has been replaced by former State Theatre Company of South Australia artistic director Mitchell Butel. The company received $2.6 million in funding from Creative Australia and $570,000 from Create NSW. The Sydney Theatre Company has brought in record revenues of just over $47 million, thanks to hit shows including Julia, RBG: Of Many, One, and a West End season of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The company's 2024 financials released Thursday show this figure includes a big jump in operations revenue for the blockbuster year - including box office, touring, and royalties - to $37.7 million. The overall revenue figures are the highest in the company's 45 year history, and an increase of just over $10 million from 2023. 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Despite the international success, the company posted an overall deficit of $565,759 for 2024 - but this was an improvement on 2023 losses of $1.8 million. The deficit was due in part to a hike in production costs, stagnant government funding, and a drop of about $1 million in philanthropic donations to $3.5 million, the company said. Artistic Director Kip Williams left the State Theatre Company in October 2024 and has been replaced by former State Theatre Company of South Australia artistic director Mitchell Butel. The company received $2.6 million in funding from Creative Australia and $570,000 from Create NSW. The Sydney Theatre Company has brought in record revenues of just over $47 million, thanks to hit shows including Julia, RBG: Of Many, One, and a West End season of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The company's 2024 financials released Thursday show this figure includes a big jump in operations revenue for the blockbuster year - including box office, touring, and royalties - to $37.7 million. The overall revenue figures are the highest in the company's 45 year history, and an increase of just over $10 million from 2023. More than half a million people saw an STC production during 2024, an increase of just over 260,000 on the previous year. The box office figures were helped by a return season of RBG: Of Many, One starring Heather Mitchell as US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The show saw a paying audience of 28,660 across 56 performances at the Sydney Opera House and another 46,784 on tour. The return run of Julia, starring Justine Clarke as former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, saw similar success with an audience of 22,781 across a 49 show season and 41,122 on tour. Kip Williams' adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook, which toured to London's West End for an Olivier Award-winning run of 101 performances, attracted total ticket sales of 77,273. On Monday, the Succession star also won a Tony Award for best leading actress, for the play's hit run on Broadway. Despite the international success, the company posted an overall deficit of $565,759 for 2024 - but this was an improvement on 2023 losses of $1.8 million. The deficit was due in part to a hike in production costs, stagnant government funding, and a drop of about $1 million in philanthropic donations to $3.5 million, the company said. Artistic Director Kip Williams left the State Theatre Company in October 2024 and has been replaced by former State Theatre Company of South Australia artistic director Mitchell Butel. The company received $2.6 million in funding from Creative Australia and $570,000 from Create NSW.
