New Sydney Venue Divine Playhouse’s Lease Has Been Axed

New live music venue Divine Playhouse has been officially forced out of its Kent Street home, with organisers claiming an obscure 1842 NSW law is being used in an unprecedented attempt to shut down the LGBTQIA+ arts space.

Located at 420 Kent Street, the heritage-listed building – a church until it was deconsecrated in the 1930s – had previously been converted for various uses, including a theatre for 70 years.

The team behind the venue – Heaps Gay Events – have confirmed to Rolling Stone AU/NZ that the landlord has terminated their year-long lease. According to Heaps Gay Events, the termination came with no conversation and no good-faith engagement – just legal letters and a deadline. Founder Kat Dopper has been given just days to deinstall the site and vacate the premises.

According to a statement, the eviction is based on the legal grounds of “offensive trade” – a term originating from an 1842 New South Wales law introduced to regulate foul smells and industrial waste.

“It’s over. Our lease terminated, our artists cancelled, our venue being cleared out. We believe this termination was unlawful and unjust. I am devastated. I am angry – for us, for our artists, for this city and its people,” Dopper said in the statement.

“Our sense of injustice is overwhelming. Divine Playhouse was created as a critical new cultural home for diverse artists and communities from all over Sydney and New South Wales. It’s sitting empty – no artists, no audiences, the joy and community we built in that room, silenced. That’s freedom of expression in Australia right now: some voices get amplified, others get evicted. In this case it feels like bigotry masquerading as moral victory.

“This isn’t about Divine versus Revelop. It’s so much bigger. If a landlord’s personal beliefs can shut down an arts venue, no stage in this country is safe. Who decides what art is acceptable? Right now, the answer is whoever owns the building. That’s why we’re fighting this – not just for Divine Playhouse, but for you. For every artist, every show, every venue, every community, every collective, every expression of unfamiliar or uncomfortable ideas, that could be next. If we walk away, they’ll believe that intimidation works – and they’ll come back, again and again, for every other group they don’t agree with. We’re not walking away.”

The formal eviction comes just days after Divine Playhouse was forced to temporarily close its doors, after Christian groups protested the venue’s programming, claiming it mocked religious beliefs. As Rolling Stone AU/NZ previously reported, the landlord had issued Heaps Gay Events with a breach notice directing it to “cease engaging in offensive trade”.

Previously called Unholy Playhouse before a last minute change following concerns from the Christian community, the venue only opened earlier this month (July 8th) with the intention of being a safe and inclusive space – particularly for the LGBTQIA+ community – where artists, performers, and audiences could come together through culture, creativity, and connection.

Following the venue’s opening night, Christian groups including Fit for the Kingdom and the Prodigal Sons held protests outside the building, opposing Divine Playhouse’s programming, and called for the withdrawal of a $100,000 Create NSW grant awarded to support the project.

Later, more than 17,000 people signed a petition in support of the venue remaining open. A GoFundMe to raise funds to support legal efforts and losses has generated over $36,000 in that same time.

Divine Playhouse are now calling on the community to rally, with a peaceful ‘sing-in’ planned for Sydney’s Hyde Park at 12pm this Saturday, July 25th. The rally, Dopper said, is about “the future of arts and culture in New South Wales and who gets to decide it”.

A fundraiser show is also being planned to get cancelled artists back on stage and paid, and to fund the losses and the fight ahead. Ticket refunds are being actioned this week for all existing ticket holders who have made contact.

Dopper said: “They can sing? Well we can sing louder. Divine will rise again.”