East End Theatre District


The East End Theatre District is a precinct within the Melbourne city centre, and is bounded by Spring Street, Flinders Street, Swanston Street, and Lonsdale Street. The district is home to six of Melbourne's major theatres, including the Princess Theatre, Her Majesty's Theatre, and the Regent Theatre. These theatres mostly house commercial productions of musicals, plays and other events, in contrast with the Southbank Arts Precinct over the Yarra River which focuses on publicly funded companies.

History

The East End of Melbourne was effectively formed by the Hoddle Grid, with Elizabeth Street the dividing line between east and west. The Hoddle Grid was laid out in 1837, following the founding of the Melbourne settlement in 1835.
Melbourne's first theatre, the Pavilion, was constructed adjacent to the Eagle Tavern on Bourke Street in 1842. The second theatre, the Queen's, was also constructed as part of a pub, however it was, and remains, the only major theatre in Melbourne's CBD built west of Elizabeth Street.

East End theatres

Six surviving theatres exist within the East End:
Other major entertainment venues in the East End Theatre District include live music venues 170 Russell and Max Watt's House of Music, and the Capitol Theatre, Hoyts Melbourne Central, Palace Kino, Chinatown and ACMI cinemas.

Current and upcoming productions

TheatreOwnerAddressCapacityProductionTypeOpenedClosing
Athenaeum TheatreAT Management188 Collins Street880Comedy and theatre venueVarious––
Comedy TheatreMarriner GroupCnr Exhibition & Lonsdale Streets1003Come From AwayMusical20 July 201921 March 2020
Forum MelbourneMarriner GroupCnr Flinders & Russell Streets2000Concert and comedy venueVarious––
Her Majesty's TheatreHayden Attractions219 Exhibition Street1700Shrek The MusicalMusicalFebruary 2020-
Princess TheatreMarriner Group163 Spring Street1452Harry Potter and the Cursed ChildPlay18 January 2019Open-ended
Regent TheatreMarriner Group191 Collins Street2141Billy Elliot Musical20 February 202019 April 2020

Historic theatres

The East End has been home to over 25 different theatres since 1841. Some of the major theatres are listed below.
TheatreAddressYear OpenedYear ClosedYear RebuiltYear Closed
PavilionCnr Swanston St and Bourke St18411845--
Queen's*Cnr Queen St and Little Bourke St18451856--
Theatre Royal232 Bourke St1855187218721933
Olympic Cnr Exhibition St and Lonsdale St18551860--
Haymarket133 Bourke St18621871--
Prince of Wales Opera House249 Bourke St18721898--
Bijou225 Bourke St1876188918901934
Tivoli249 Bourke St19011966--
King's131 Russell St19081976--
Palace20 Bourke St1912Currently closed--
Auditorium171 Collins St19131934--
Playbox55 Exhibition St19691984--
Russell Street19-25 Russell St19551994

In July 2016, the East End Theatre District was reported to have made an economic contribution of $692 million, and an economic impact of $226 million, to the state of Victoria.