The Sydney Theatre Company’s 2027 season will place the legal battle over Buckingham Palace’s role in the dismissal of Gough Whitlam at its centre, with a new play dramatising historian Professor Jenny Hocking’s campaign to obtain secret palace letters.
The Palace Letters, written by Melanie Tait, will explore Hocking’s attempt to access 211 letters exchanged between the Queen’s private secretary and Australian governor-general Sir John Kerr. Georgie Parker will play Hocking, while Jonathan Biggins will portray Whitlam.
The production will move between the court case and the events surrounding the 1975 dismissal, including the early friendship between Kerr and Whitlam and the former prime minister’s belief that Queen Elizabeth II would not be involved in the removal of his government.
Hocking’s legal campaign overturned long-standing archival laws and established that the monarch had been briefed about the possibility of dismissing Whitlam without warning.
“I always hoped the story would find an expression in another form,” Hocking said. “The journey to access the letters, the denial of access, the fact that it was the Queen’s embargo that meant we couldn’t look at them – all these things, together with the wonderful trajectory of eventual victory, make it such a dramatic story.”
She added: “It took nearly 50 years for the letters to come to light, and there are still new revelations surfacing today, some of which will feature in the play.”
Parker, who was 11 when Whitlam was dismissed, described the role as a dream part and said the former prime minister was one of her political heroes. She recalled her mother’s admiration for Whitlam and his government, saying the dismissal had been “a tragedy, a travesty and a deeply traumatic moment for the country”.
The 2027 programme comprises 13 productions, including four world premieres and six Australian debuts. It was unveiled by artistic director Mitchell Butel, following a season that has included David Wenham in An Iliad, Doubt: A Parable and the forthcoming John Farnham bio-musical Whispering Jack.
Sydney Theatre Company’s 2027 season
Other productions will include the STC stage debut of comedian Celeste Barber in The Book of Liz, a comedy by David and Amy Sedaris. Barber will play an Amish cheese-ball maker expelled from her community by an economically minded priest.
Butel described the play as “Candide meets The Wizard of Oz”, with eccentric characters examining what it means to be authentic.
Tim Minchin will star as Ebenezer Scrooge in the Old Vic production of A Christmas Carol, adapted by Jack Thorne. The staging has been billed as an immersive production rather than a traditional pantomime.
Richard Roxburgh and Heather Mitchell will reunite on the Wharf stages for the first time since 1989 in Robert Icke’s adaptation of Oedipus. The season will also feature Lynne McGranger as an activist grandmother.
Mystery enthusiasts will see Kerry Greenwood’s detective brought to the stage in a South Seas cruise murder mystery. Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger, creators of the television series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, are behind the production, which has been described as “Knives Out with cloche hats and fox stoles”.
Butel acknowledged the financial pressures facing live theatre, after commercial musicals including Beetlejuice The Musical and Waitress shortened their runs. The company recorded an $8.7 million operating deficit at the end of 2025, or an overall loss of $565,759 after investment returns, philanthropic donations and government funding.
“It’s tough, very tough all over,” Butel said. “With four months left on the year to run and with four shows still to open in Sydney, our box office is doing well overall, but margins are tight.”
He said subscriptions remained an important part of the company’s box office revenue, while rejecting the idea that artificial intelligence could replace live performers: “Sorry, AI, but you can’t do what these artists can do. They defy algorithms and expectations.”
