The Palace Letters to Premiere at the Opera House in 2027
Sydney Theatre Company will stage The Palace Letters for the first time at the Sydney Opera House in April 2027, as part of its 2027 program. The Guardian
Georgie Parker will play historian Jenny Hocking. Jonathan Biggins will play Gough Whitlam, the prime minister who was dismissed from office.
The play is based on Hocking's court fight to release secret letters between Queen Elizabeth II, Malcolm Fraser and Governor-General John Kerr about Whitlam's dismissal. In Australia, the Governor-General acts as the monarch's representative. The Guardian
The announcement is part of a 2027 season with four world premieres, or first performances anywhere, and six Australian premieres, or first performances in Australia. Mitchell Butel is the company's artistic director. The season will also include Heather Mitchell and Richard Roxburgh as Jocasta and Oedipus.
The broader context here is the choice of venue. A first staging at the Opera House gives a new Australian work a large stage and wide attention. It also puts a recent constitutional story in a theatre more often linked to classic works and visiting international shows.
Looking at what this means for the season, the pairing stands out. A new play drawn from named letters and a named court case will sit alongside a Greek myth about Oedipus and Jocasta. One comes from the archive. The other comes from legend.
In my view, the interest is less any single disclosure than the process around it. Who can ask for records, who can keep them closed, and who decides what they mean are questions that reach beyond theatre into archives, newsrooms and government. A stage version cannot answer them. It can show what that fight costs the people involved, and how a public institution tells a difficult part of its own past.
