Step inside one of Newcastle’s most iconic cultural venues

There are some Newcastle buildings you’ve probably walked past hundreds of times, but Civic Theatre is one that deserves a closer look.

Sitting proudly on Wheeler Place in the heart of Newcastle’s cultural precinct, Civic Theatre has been entertaining Novocastrians for close to a century. From theatre and comedy to live music and dance, it remains one of the city’s major destinations for live performance – and the building itself is every bit as impressive as what happens on stage.

Almost a century of Civic Theatre

Civic Theatre first opened its doors on 12 December 1929 and is today one of only a handful of surviving atmospheric theatres from the late 1920s in Australia.

Designed by New Zealand-born architect Henry Eli White, who was also behind Sydney’s State and Capitol theatres, the heritage-listed building is considered one of his finest theatre designs in New South Wales.

From Hunter Street, its Georgian Revival exterior gives you only a hint of what’s waiting inside.

Step into the auditorium and things become considerably more elaborate. Spanish and Moroccan influences run throughout, with a traditional proscenium arch, ornamental ceiling dome, recessed arches flanking the stage and decorative detailing that makes arriving early and looking around almost compulsory.

The main auditorium seats more than 1,450 people across two tiers and, while plenty of its original character remains, behind the scenes it has continued to change with the times.

Originally designed for live theatre, Civic spent much of its early life operating as a cinema before Newcastle moved the venue back towards live performance during the 1970s. A major $10.4 million refurbishment followed in the early 1990s, reopening Civic in 1993 and establishing it as a major stop on Australia’s touring circuit.

Today, its program brings local, national and international productions to Newcastle across theatre, music, comedy, dance and more.

Then there’s the Playhouse

Not every performance calls for a 1,450-seat auditorium.

Sitting alongside Civic Theatre is the Civic Playhouse, an intimate 179-seat thrust theatre where audiences are brought much closer to the action.

The Playhouse has its own important place in Newcastle’s creative history. Its first incarnation opened in 1979 as the home of the Hunter Valley Theatre Company – Australia’s first regionally based, full-time professional theatre company dedicated to new and original work.

Following the theatre company’s closure and the subsequent closure of the Playhouse in the 1990s, a community campaign helped bring the space back to life. It was refurbished and officially reopened in its current form in 2004.

Today, the smaller format makes it particularly suited to local and community theatre alongside other intimate live performances.

Newcastle City Hall

Across the precinct, Newcastle City Hall adds another performance space to the mix.

Its 805-seat Concert Hall is known for its natural acoustics and can be configured for theatre, concerts and special events, with 480 seats downstairs and a further 385 in the upper gallery.

Like Civic Theatre, City Hall was designed by Henry Eli White, making the neighbouring buildings an important part of Newcastle’s architectural and cultural history.

Make a night of it

Seeing a show at Civic doesn’t have to begin when the curtain goes up.

The Civic Theatre Café and Bar give you somewhere to meet before a performance or catch up during interval. Located on Wheeler Place, the Café is open for grab-and-go breakfast and lunch on weekdays and reopens one hour before performances.

The Bar is also there for the pre-show drink or interval catch-up, meaning you can arrive early, settle in and make a little more of the night.

Almost 100 years after the first audience walked through its doors, Civic Theatre continues to do what it was built to do – bring people together.

Whether it’s a touring musical filling the main auditorium, a local production at the Playhouse or a concert across the way at City Hall, there’s still something pretty special about heading into town, finding your seat and waiting for the lights to go down. 

For the full list of events visit Civic Theatre.