Weekend of 30 October – 1 November 2026
Dracula plays QPAC’s Playhouse this weekend, with a late show on 31 October, while the Queensland Youth Orchestras perform their finale in the Concert Hall and Melt Festival theatre continues with Trophy Boys and No Seasons.
Events are arranged per suburb.
4MBS Brisbane Shakespeare Festival: Henry IV
31 October – 1 November 2026 | Roma Street Parkland Amphitheatre, Brisbane City
The 20th 4MBS Brisbane Shakespeare Festival stages a professional open-air production of Henry IV (Parts 1 & 2 combined), directed by Tama Matheson, at 5.30pm. Pre-show activities from 3.30pm include a children’s Shakespeare session, Elizabethan dance, swordplay and a language talk.
Soul Song Brisbane – Hits from Home
31 October 2026 | QUT Gardens Point Theatre, Brisbane City
Soul Song Choirs perform fresh arrangements of Australian and New Zealand pop and rock favourites, with matinee and evening concerts.
Lord Mayor's Photographic Awards 2026
30 October – 1 November 2026 | Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City
The finalist exhibition of the 2026 Lord Mayor’s Photographic Awards presents photographs capturing Brisbane’s streets, riverside scenes and everyday characters. The exhibition closes on 1 November.
Mitch Cairns: Artist's Mouth
30 October – 1 November 2026 | Institute of Modern Art, Fortitude Valley
A survey of painter Mitch Cairns, whose puzzle-like pictures draw on cubism, comics and concrete poetry.
Trophy Boys
30 – 31 October 2026 | PIP Theatre, Milton
Emmanuelle Mattana’s award-winning dark comedy follows elite private-school boys preparing for a debating final, performed by a female and non-binary cast in drag. Directed by Anne Pensalfini as part of Melt Festival.
Going Postal
30 – 31 October 2026 | Arcana, Moorooka
Brisbane Arts Theatre stages Stephen Briggs’ adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novel about conman Moist von Lipwig. The 30 October performance doubles as the company’s 90th anniversary celebration.
No Seasons
30 – 31 October 2026 | Brisbane Powerhouse Underground Theatre, New Farm
Disabled transgender artist Oliver Ayres explores fatherhood and the eggs he froze as a teenager in this audio-visual work, where audience members choose one of three headphone stories. Adults only.
Bands in Parks: Music, Magic and Mayhem
31 October 2026 | New Farm Park, New Farm
South of the River Community Band performs a free Halloween afternoon concert of spooky favourites and movie themes. Costumes and picnic rugs are encouraged.
Dracula
30 October – 1 November 2026 | QPAC Playhouse, South Brisbane
Shake & Stir Theatre Co revives its acclaimed stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s gothic classic for a limited season. A late-night Halloween performance is scheduled for 31 October at 10.30pm.
Queensland Youth Orchestras Finale
31 October 2026 | QPAC Concert Hall, South Brisbane
All eight Queensland Youth Orchestras ensembles, featuring more than 540 young musicians, close the organisation’s 60th anniversary season. The program spans string ensembles, wind symphony, big band and the Queensland Youth Symphony under Simon Hewett.
Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company
30 October – 1 November 2026 | Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), South Brisbane
This exclusive-to-Brisbane exhibition explores 70 years of The Jim Henson Company, from practical puppetry to animatronic and digital innovation. It fills the entire ground floor of GOMA with original puppets and creatures from screen favourites.
Small Mouth Sounds
30 October – 1 November 2026 | Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane
Queensland Theatre presents Bess Wohl’s comedy about six strangers on a silent retreat, with each audience member hearing the production through headphones. Directed by Bridget Boyle and Nathan Sibthorpe, with an audio-described performance on 31 October at 2pm.
Reality Bites
31 October – 1 November 2026 | Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), South Brisbane
Opening 31 October, this collection exhibition features paintings by Australian artists of the 1980s and 1990s that consider the value of artistic labour in an era of mass production. Artists include Debra Dawes, Elizabeth Pulie, Mark Webb and Mark Titmarsh.
Justene Williams: Once We Were Mudskippers
30 October – 1 November 2026 | Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), South Brisbane
Queensland artist Justene Williams presents a major exhibition of immersive installation, sculpture and found-object works. The show includes new pieces such as Crystal whisperer, made from a found chandelier, clothes rack and lights.
Fragile and Forever: Ceramics from the Queensland Museum Collection
30 October – 1 November 2026 | Queensland Museum Kurilpa, South Brisbane
Ceramics from the Queensland Museum collection, many on display for the first time, range from Jōmon pottery fragments from Japan to contemporary works by First Nations artists.
Reality Bites opens at the Queensland Art Gallery on 31 October and the Lord Mayor’s Photographic Awards close at the Museum of Brisbane on 1 November, while Henry IV plays outdoors at Roma Street Parkland for the 4MBS Shakespeare Festival.
Weekend of 23 – 25 October 2026
Fiddler on the Roof played its final days at QPAC, while the Queensland Symphony Orchestra presented Cinematic: The Wonder of Animation, Brisbane Powerhouse hosted Melt Festival theatre, and GOMA, Queensland Art Gallery and the Museum of Brisbane showed exhibitions including Make, Believe, Magic and Justene Williams.
Events are arranged per suburb.
Precious
23 – 25 October 2026 | Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City
More than 30 public and private collections contribute thousands of items to this exhibition celebrating the art of assemblage, from textiles and tin-toys to micro-architectural marvels and marine treasures. Admission is free at Museum of Brisbane in City Hall.
Mitch Cairns: Artist's Mouth
23 – 25 October 2026 | Institute of Modern Art, Fortitude Valley
The Institute of Modern Art presents Artist’s Mouth, a solo exhibition by Mitch Cairns in the free public gallery on the ground floor of the Judith Wright Arts Centre. The exhibition runs until 20 December.
Trophy Boys
23 – 24 October 2026 | PIP Theatre, Milton
Emmanuelle Mattana’s queer dark comedy is set on the night of the Year 12 Interschool Debating Tournament final, where a classroom of elite schoolboys prepare to argue that feminism has failed women. Presented by PIP Theatre as part of Melt Festival, recommended for ages 15+; tickets $35–$50.
Brisbane Sculpture Festival 2026
23 – 25 October 2026 | Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha, Mount Coot-tha
Sculptors Queensland presents exhibitions by local sculptors across the Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha, with works exploring form, material and concept. Entry is free with no bookings required and the festival is open during garden opening hours.
The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave
23 – 24 October 2026 | Brisbane Powerhouse Underground Theatre, New Farm
An award-winning endurance-based dance work set to Suburban Knight’s techno album Nocturbulous Behaviour condenses a three-day rave into 70 minutes for three performers. Part of Melt Festival; suitable for ages 15+, adult from $39.
Hadestown: The Musical
23 – 25 October 2026 | Palace Barracks Brisbane, Petrie Terrace
The live theatre capture of the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical features the five original principals of the Broadway company, including Reeve Carney, André De Shields and Eva Noblezada. The film runs 142 minutes.
Fiddler on the Roof
23 – 25 October 2026 | QPAC Glasshouse Theatre, South Brisbane
The West End production of Fiddler on the Roof, a three-time Olivier Award winner including Best Musical Revival, plays its final days at QPAC’s Glasshouse Theatre. Troy Sussman leads the cast as Tevye, with Sigrid Thornton as Yente and violinist Ben Adler as The Fiddler.
Cinematic: The Wonder of Animation
23 – 24 October 2026 | QPAC Concert Hall, South Brisbane
The Queensland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Buc, performs music from Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, Up, Spirited Away, Shrek and Frozen, with musicians in costume. Tickets are $104–$145.
Last Words – University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra
25 October 2026 | QPAC Concert Hall, South Brisbane
The University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paul Dean, performs three major orchestral and choral works beginning with the Adagio from Mahler’s unfinished Symphony No. 10. Tickets are $40; the concert starts at 2pm and runs about two hours.
Small Mouth Sounds
23 – 25 October 2026 | Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane
Six strangers on a silent retreat confront their inner demons in Bess Wohl’s Pulitzer Prize finalist play, directed by Bridget Boyle and Nathan Sibthorpe for Queensland Theatre. Each audience member wears headphones for the audio-immersive design by Counterpilot.
Live Music & Film: Schatten – Warning Shadows (1923)
25 October 2026 | Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) Cinema A, South Brisbane
Arthur Robison’s 1923 German Expressionist silent film Schatten screens on 35mm with a new live score by David Bailey on the Gallery’s 1929 Wurlitzer organ. The film runs 90 minutes with English intertitles and is recommended for ages 12+.
Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company
23 – 25 October 2026 | Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), South Brisbane
More than 500 artefacts, sets and puppets from the worlds of The Jim Henson Company, including Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Muppets and Sesame Street, fill the ground floor of the Gallery of Modern Art in this exclusive-to-Brisbane exhibition. Timed-entry tickets are required.
Justene Williams: Once We Were Mudskippers
23 – 25 October 2026 | Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), South Brisbane
This major survey of Brisbane-based artist Justene Williams spans more than 20 years of video, sculpture, costume, assemblage and installation, including the new commission Spirit box (2024/26). Admission is free.
Sorcerers from Bohemia: Picasso's Saltimbanques
23 – 25 October 2026 | Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), South Brisbane
Pablo Picasso’s La Suite des Saltimbanques, a series of 15 etchings and drypoints depicting travelling circus performers, is shown in Gallery 7 at the Queensland Art Gallery. Admission is free.
Smokescreen: A Thickness of the Air
24 – 25 October 2026 | Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), South Brisbane
Drawn from the Indigenous Australian Art collection, this new display presents artworks that disguise, disrupt or conceal, from protected ceremonial imagery to patterns found on animals and body painting designs. It opens at GOMA’s Gallery 3.5 and Pavilion Walk, with free admission.
GOMA’s live-scored screening of Warning Shadows and the University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s concert at QPAC closed out the weekend.
