PAST AND PRESENT DEBT

14 July 2026

An article about profit and loss for Australia’ state theatre companies in ArtsHub took me racing back to my first couple of months with the company: https://www.artshub.com.au/news/industry-news/profits-or-losses-for-state-theatre-companies-key-trends-revealed-2866148/  

In 2025, Melbourne Theatre Company had the worst result of any of the companies with a loss of $3.5 million. This is 8% of their turnover of $28 million. The company had been tracking well with modest surpluses for the previous couple of years compared, for example, to Sydney Theatre Company’s losses but the 2025 result was an outlier with the next worst company being Bell Shakespeare with a loss of just under $1 million.

Without having any insight into MTC’s particular issues, the more general ones that companies face at the moment include increasing costs of production, failure of audiences to return post-Covid, ageing audience that isn’t been replaced due to decreasing arts education, and expensive ticket prices  in a period of cost of living challenges. And then there’s always the question of content and quality. Did the program choices in 2025 appeal to audiences? And were the shows 5 star or just 3 star?

When I applied for the position of General Manager at MTC in 1994, I had only been living in Melbourne for a short period of time and although I was a regular theatre goer, I had no connections in the theatre industry. When a better networked friend heard that I was lined up for an interview, she rang to warn me that the company was in debt. How much, I asked nervously. $1 million, she said. I saw that as a challenge but at the interview, did ask the Chairman the size of the financial challenge. $2 million, he said. I still bravely (foolishly?) went ahead and accepted the position. The answer, as I found out over the next few months was closer to $4 million which at that time was 33% of turnover. So by comparison, the current debt of $3.5 million, particularly because MTC should still have money in the reserves that we eventually managed to build up, is upsetting but not devastating.

MTC Publicity shot - 1990s

We solved the debt problem by reducing costs, doing some block buster shows, improving our philanthropy and sponsorship program, arguing for more government support, increasing the number of subscribers and selling more tickets. Some of those strategies such as saving money by removing my old position and rebuilding audiences appear to be in play already. I’m looking forward to seeing some MTC shows later this month and hope that houses are full.

 

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