My Brilliant Career will be one of the biggest things you’ll ever see on an IPAC stage. Photo: Pia Johnson.
Merrigong Theatre Company’s 2026 season has dropped, offering new kinds of audience engagement and expanding the definition of theatre spaces.
The 2026 program builds directly on the success of last year, which was characterised by sell-out shows, awards, record season ticket holders and landmark funding.
Across 10 mainstage shows and a series of limited-season hits, audiences can look forward to a vibrant mix of local, national and international theatre, bold new works from the MERRIGONGX Artists Program, and colourful family entertainment.
The 2026 season opens with Garabari, a moving dance work from BlakDance that connects audiences to Country through story, light and sound. Choreographed by acclaimed Wiradjuri artist Joel Bray, it tells the Giilang — the story and song — of the making of the Murrumbidgee River.
Audiences can choose to experience the work in two strikingly different ways: in the intimacy of the Wollongong Town Hall, or on Country at Dapto’s Ribbonwood Centre, where the story’s landscape becomes part of the performance itself.
Also in February, Merrigong flips the script on summer nights with the debut of Theatre Under the Stars. The University of Wollongong’s Kooloobong Oval will transform into a moonlit stage for a razor-sharp romp through Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. Expect mistaken identities, quickfire wit, and a touch of chaos, all played out beneath the open sky.
“The idea is we’ll do that each year in the summer, and it will be a magical experience,” Hinton says.
From the great outdoors to the heart of Australian storytelling, May brings Melbourne Theatre Company’s My Brilliant Career, the final stop on its sold-out national tour. Winner of five Green Room Awards, this musical reinvention of Miles Franklin’s classic turns its heroine into a headstrong singer-songwriter, performed by SIX the Musical’s Kala Gare.
“This will be one of the biggest things you’ll ever see on an IPAC stage,” Hinton says. “It’s huge production-wise, and easily one of the most exciting and dynamic Australian musicals we’ve seen for a decade. It’s a big deal that it’s coming to Wollongong on its tour, and seeing a show of this scale in a small theatre like ours is going to be an incredible experience.”
In June, Merrigong welcomes one of Australia’s most exciting new voices to the mainstage. Gunai poet and playwright Kirli Saunders brings Yandha Djanbay (Go Slowly) home after its acclaimed debut through the MERRIGONGX program. This tender one-woman work explores love, grief and healing in the wake of national change, blending poetry and movement into a meditation on what endures.
“It’s fantastic to see our first Merringong-produced First Nations — an incredible, beautiful, powerful one-woman show — coming to the mainstage,” Hinton says.
From across the Tasman, July brings a burst of heart and humour with Balloon Dog by New Zealand’s celebrated Indian Ink Theatre Company, a funny, deeply human tale about family, culture and connection, inspired by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
August is a double act of powerhouse performances. Beloved actor Noni Hazlehurst returns to Merrigong in Daniel Keene’s The Lark, a moving one-woman play about life, death and reinvention written especially for her. Then, from the stages of Edinburgh and Soho Theatre London, Aotearoa’s EBKM lands with Heartbreak Hotel, a gloriously messy, darkly funny look at love gone sideways.
September promises two blockbusters. First up, Pride and Prejudice (sort of) — a West End sensation that turns Jane Austen’s timeless love story into a riot of pop hits, champagne and biting satire. Five fierce women play every role with unstoppable energy and wit.
“I am very excited about this one. It’s such a clever, entertaining show,” Hinton says.
Hot on its heels, Bangarra Dance Theatre returns with FuturesPast by artistic director Francis Rings. It’s an Australian-exclusive that moves through time, land and lineage in a sweeping cycle of belonging.
October closes the season with Runt, Belvoir St Theatre’s new stage adaptation of Craig Silvey’s beloved novel, directed by the legendary Neil Armfield (Cloudstreet, Keating!). It’s an all-ages celebration of grit, heart and homegrown heroism: the kind of underdog story that sticks with you long after the curtain falls.
Meanwhile, Merrigong’s MERRIGONGX Artists Program keeps breaking new ground, championing bold independent voices with financial and creative support. Audiences can look forward to Jake Mara and Lincoln Smith’s Arawarra, about an unsung First Nations leader; Siobhan Doran-Chaston’s reflective Two Weeks; Tegan Ware’s immersive art-theatre hybrid Cicada; and Lauchlan Grogan’s high-octane dance-theatre piece Service, which dives headfirst into the chaos of hospitality.
For the young (and the young at heart) the family season is packed with adventure. Dive deep with IMAGINE LIVE, a digital and musical adaptation of Alison Lester’s classic picture book; follow everyone’s favourite puppy in Spot; gasp at Adam Mada’s spellbinding Magic Marvels; and giggle through The Listies’ newest serving of seriously silly fun. Creativity Camps also return for budding performers each school holidays.
Hinton says the season builds on the “extraordinary” success of theatre in 2025.
“While across the sector audiences are not quite back to pre-COVID levels, we’re actually doing really well here in Wollongong,” he says. “The appetite is there, and we’re rising to meet it.”
For more information or to book, visit Merrigong Theatre Company.
