A new digital platform that aims to make discovering and booking theatre easier for Australian audiences launches nationwide today, and it aspires to shake up the sector in some much-needed ways.
InTown takes its cues from Broadway and the West End, combining show listings, ticketing, travel bookings and editorial content in one digital location.
Intended as a year-round destination for discovering and keeping up with upcoming shows, it allows users to browse productions across the whole country, find tickets, and organise flights and accommodation around their theatre-going plans, with the addition of dining and ground transport services also planned for the future.
The platform aims to address what its founders describe as a fragmented market, in which productions are promoted across multiple websites, ticketing platforms and cities, making it difficult for audiences to keep track of what’s on and plan theatre trips.
The idea is to cater to both dedicated theatre lovers and theatre-curious audiences who might be less familiar with live performance.
InTown theatre platform – quick links
A Broadway approach to audience development
Leading the newly formed company is General Manager Nick Falzon, who has relocated to Melbourne after nearly 20 years working in sales, direct-to-consumer marketing and analytics for Disney Theatrical Group in New York.
During his time with the company, Falzon oversaw sales and pricing strategies for Disney on Broadway, while also consulting on international productions, including Australian tours.
Speaking to ArtsHub, he says his experience working across both the US and Australian markets revealed opportunities to adapt some of Broadway and the West End’s audience development and ticket distribution strategies locally.
One of InTown’s central ambitions is to grow theatre attendance by better connecting productions with Australia’s visitor economy.
Falzon estimates that the industry could potentially increase its audience by around 10% by converting a greater proportion of existing domestic and international visitors into theatre-goers.
He points to Broadway, where international tourists can account for up to a third of audiences, arguing that Australian theatre has significant room to grow its share of the visitor market.
‘If we can get 1% of [international visitors] to come see a show, we could be increasing the audience by as much as 10%,’ he said.
InTown is therefore developing relationships with tourism organisations and working towards distributing Australian theatre listings through international online travel agencies, allowing visitors to discover and book productions alongside other elements of their trips.
Tourism Research Australia’s Tourism Forecasts for Australia 2025 to 2030, published in December 2025, forecasts international visitor spending in Australia will increase from $38 billion in 2025 to $46 billion in 2030.
From the Marriner Group to a national platform
ArtsHub can confirm that InTown began as a project of the Melbourne-based Marriner Group before becoming a standalone company. Marriner Group – which manages five major entertainment venues and has an estimated annual revenue of around $54.6 million – is its first client, with InTown supporting the group’s transition to self-managed ticketing.
Falzon told ArtsHub that a number of Mariner Group’s commercial sales and marketing functions are also moving across to the new company.
However, InTown’s ambitions extend well beyond its origins, with Falzon describing it as both a consumer-facing retail platform and a business-to-business service provider for venues and producers.
As well as its public-facing website, the company intends to provide technology, marketing and distribution services to the wider industry, helping producers and venues reach audiences through a broader range of channels.
Importantly, Falzon says InTown isn’t looking to force venues and producers into exclusive ticketing arrangements or replace their existing providers.
‘We believe there’s a hundred different ways that we can partner with organisations to help their distribution,’ he said, adding that the company sees existing ticketing providers including Ticketmaster and TodayTix as potential partners.
Indie theatre sector raises questions
But the sector is already raising questions about what InTown will offer that existing theatre listings and ticketing platforms don’t – and what it will require of the venues and producers it hopes to bring on board.
For smaller and independent theatremakers, already juggling production, marketing, administration and audience development with limited resources, another platform could represent another set of systems to navigate and another relationship to manage.
At the same time, this new platform could help fill the gap in an ever-contracting media landscape, where opportunities for earned editorial coverage are becoming increasingly difficult to come by as many newspapers, magazines and ‘what’s on’ websites slim down their editorial teams and prioritise pay-to-play content over thoughtfully curated arts coverage.
If the benefits of InTown are greater reach, improved ticket sales and access to new audiences, how will those gains be measured – and will they justify the time and effort required to participate?
Falzon says InTown intends to make its services accessible to organisations of different sizes, with partnerships tailored to each producer or venue’s needs. But the proposition will ultimately depend on whether the platform can demonstrate tangible value for the wider sector, rather than simply adding another layer to an already fragmented theatre marketplace.
Reaching the ‘theatre curious’
Beyond tourism, Falzon believes there is an opportunity to reconnect with a cohort of Australian audiences who might attend one or two productions a year, but have become less engaged with the industry.
He describes this as the ‘middle’ audience – people who aren’t necessarily booking tickets months in advance, but who could be encouraged to attend more regularly if discovering productions and purchasing tickets became easier.
Rather than focusing solely on shifting existing customers’ purchasing habits, he believes the industry needs to expand its audience base.
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He also sees an opportunity to make theatre less intimidating for newcomers by demystifying the experience, from choosing a production and purchasing tickets to understanding what to expect when arriving at a venue.
‘We should be focused on a purchase-to-purchase experience,’ Falzon said, arguing that the audience journey should extend from discovering a show through to attending it and finding their next theatre experience.
While InTown is initially focused on major productions and venues, Falzon says the company also wants to make its services accessible to independent and smaller producers, with partnerships and pricing structures tailored to different organisations.
