Twelfth Night Theatre

The Twelfth Night Theatre is an established Australian entertainment venue located in Bowen Hills, in Brisbane, Queensland.

The Twelfth Night Players was an amateur group founded by Rhoda Mary Felgate who had directed many plays for the Brisbane Repertory Theatre Society.

[2] In 1948 the company found its first location on Wickham Terrace where it occupied two floors; the upper for play rehearsal and the lower for teachers.

Twelfth Night Theatre was relocated to its present location following the demolition of its former building due to the construction of the Turbot Street Bypass in 1971.

In 1970, Johnstone Gallery openings were changed from the traditional Sundays to Friday evenings, due to the unexpectedly prompt completion of the theatre.

The Johnstones were delighted, as Brian wrote to Sidney Nolan: "...with the new half-million dollar theatre next door, the establishment is now nicely rounded off, so perhaps one of these days Marjorie and I will be able to play ladies and gentlemen of the art world!"

It's cozy and intimate and snugly positioned in the basement of the soon-to-be-completed Twelfth Night Theatre complex at Bowen Hills...

It's a club where women share equal status with men (at least we've made it in one field, girls) and it's the first place I've been in where I've been able to front up to the bar, order a drink from Barman Eddy, pay for it myself and still feel feminine..."[6] The Johnstones had loaned "magnificent pictures and sculptures" to the Club premises as an indication of their support.

[7] Twelfth Night Theatre opened with two productions: A Flea In Her Ear by Georges Feydeau directed by Joan Whalley and The Rose and the Ring based on the work of William Makepeace Thackeray.

The latter production was directed by Bill Pepper, former Head of Voice at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, NIDA, Sydney.

[8] Among many other productions, a highlight was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner starring Frank Thring and Joan Whalley supported by a strong local cast.

I kept thinking of the women in my past - the long sea journey, the dray, the babies buried in small wooden coffins, the house with a mud floor.

Other commercial productions have included Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward starring Rowena Wallace and June Salter.