The Waikato Regional Theatre from the south-west on 19 August. See all the aerial angles at Theatre site from the air in August 2025.
Kia ora from the Theatre Manager
It’s hard to avoid noticing the Waikato Regional Theatre.
The giant vaned white box is now firmly part of the downtown skyline, a landmark that feels both new and inevitable, as if it was always meant to be there.
From the outside the building is largely finished, its form bold and confident.
Inside, the transformation is even more impressive; the architecture, the detailing, the sheer beauty of the woodwork is world class. The combination of striking new design with carefully preserved heritage elements gives the Theatre a sense of depth and permanence that you rarely see in new builds.
The old Hamilton Hotel façade has been carried forward, framing the new building with a connection to the city’s past. You feel that history the moment of your arrival, but then you step through into a space that’s been designed for the future. That combination of past and present, continuity and ambition, is what makes this project so distinctive.
Very soon, Live Nation will announce the opening dates and the launch programme. I’ve seen what’s in store and it reflects the full breadth of what this Theatre can offer.
Waikato talent will share the stage with national icons and international acts, all under one roof. It’s a line-up designed to signal that this venue belongs to the world stage, while staying true to the community that built it.
For us, the real crowning moment will be when the doors finally open and the first audiences walk in. To see the heritage exterior blending into the striking new interiors, to hear music and performance filling the Auditorium, to feel the Foyer alive with people, that’s when this building becomes more than a project, that’s when it becomes the beating heart of Hamilton’s cultural life.
That time is almost here, and we can’t wait for everyone to step inside.
Be the first to hear about shows in the new Theatre!
Announcing Live Nation WRT show news channels
You can be the first to hear about shows, tickets and all that jazz – hit the links below.
Subscribe to Live Nation's Waikato Regional Theatre email newsletters.
Follow Waikato Regional Theatre Facebook.
Follow Waikato Regional Theatre Instagram.
ALSO, this Share the Stage newsletter will end early next year. You can stay in touch with Momentum Waikato Community Foundation by subscribing to our bi-monthly ‘Momentum Waikato Update’.
(This newsletter is a little later than usual because we wanted to include this news.)
Waikato Times: A feast before the curtain rises - Hamilton’s hospo heavyweights reveal Theatre offerings
By Avina Vidyadharan, Friday 5 September 2025.
Hamilton Hotel owners, from left, Mathew Pedley, Jonathan Knapp, John Moughan, and Alex Hudson. PHOTO: Mark Taylor / WAIKATO TIMES.
The $80 million regional theatre is almost ready to raise its curtain but before the first performance begins, Hamilton’s hospo bosses are ready to steal the spotlight.
Five distinct hospitality offerings will open inside the precinct this November, promising everything from a French-inspired bistro and neighbourhood pub to a speakeasy cocktail lounge, a deli, and the rebirth of the city’s most iconic bar, Wonder Horse.
The vision belongs to hospo heavyweights Mat Pedley, Alex Hudson and John Moughan — the trio behind some of Hamilton’s busiest venues, including Reggie’s, Mr Pickles, Everyday Eatery, and Last Place.
Alongside is Jonathan Knapp, who is stepping in as general manager and co-owner of Hamilton Hotel, the anchor venue set to greet every guest as they enter the theatre complex.
“This is the biggest project in Hamilton,” Pedley said, calling the scale simply “awesome.” Hudson agreed, describing it as “pretty exciting,” and both said it was as much about investing in Hamilton’s CBD as it was about hospitality.
Waikato Times: Theatre thrills, but Hamiltonians ask - Where will we park?
By Madeleine Powers, Thursday 28 August 2025.
There will be a drop-off zone at the front of the new regional theatre. PHOTO: Christel Yardley / WAIKATO TIMES.
The Waikato Regional Theatre is one of Hamilton’s most exciting projects, but nothing has stirred as much public passion as where people will park.
On Wednesday [27 August], Hamilton City councillors signed off on the final set of parking and traffic changes for the $80 million venue.
Councillor Louise Hutt expressed hope that ongoing parking discussions would not be in vain, and the theatre would one day, in fact be open.
“I know that we did a mobility car park review quite recently, but just in the context of the theatre eventually opening, I live in hope that it will actually open, are we able to monitor this and come back if there’s anything we want to change?“
The council’s Traffic, Speed Limit and Road Closure Hearings Panel approved a package of new loading zones, mobility spaces and shuttle drop-off areas outside the theatre.
The plan includes a 15-metre goods and services loading zone in Sapper Moore-Jones Place, at the rear of the theatre, for deliveries.
Two new 10-metre mobility cardholder parks will be added nearby, one at the beginning of Sapper Moore-Jones Place and another opposite outside 150 Victoria Street.
Three 15-metre sections of CBD metered parking (8am–8pm, Monday to Saturday) will remain on Sapper Moore-Jones Place, but two other paid zones, 20m and 7m long, will be scrapped, alongside new no-stopping areas.
Outside the front entrance, a 40-metre, 10-minute loading zone will be created for passenger drop-offs and small deliveries.
At the northern end, a 20-metre P10 drop-off zone will be reserved for shuttles, while a former bus stop will be repurposed for larger coaches bringing tour groups.
Waikato Times: Lighting the lights and scaling the heights of our new Waikato Regional Theatre
By Mike Mather, Monday 18 August 2025.
The top of the fly tower allows for stunning views of Kirikiriroa and the Waikato River. This was as close to the edge as we were allowed to get. PHOTO: Mark Taylor / WAIKATO TIMES.
It’s very likely to be the top place to see a show in New Zealand - and the view from the top of the Waikato Regional Theatre also makes for a pretty amazing experience.
With the construction of Kirikiriroa’s new $80 million theatre coming together like some particularly well-executed stage play, the Waikato Times was offered a rare opportunity to see what only those intimately involved in the project have experienced first-hand.
A recent fine day brought a window of opportunity for a Times reporter and photographer to scale stairwells and ladders to get to the uppermost part of the building: The fly tower.
This was no frivolous expedition undertaken for fun or, in the words of the ill-fated mountaineer George Mallory - who perished on the slopes of Mt Everest - “because it’s there”.
Much has been written in the Waikato Times about the theatre - Hamilton’s most significant construction project in decades - and its fly tower, the big loft that sits directly over the stage, housing the complex system of ropes, counterweights, pulleys, and battens that will enable swift scene changes during productions.
We were obligated to investigate it for ourselves.
Waikato Times: Pasta de résistance - Inside the Waikato Regional Theatre’s high tech ‘spaghetti factory’
By Mike Mather, Saturday 28 June 2025.
The cable guys: Data technicians Raj Ratu, Nathan Bunn, Sanampreet Singh and Mike Orum, from Hamilton firms Structured Technologies and Feisst Electrical, with some of the 30 kilometres of fibre optic cables used in the theatre's technological hub room. PHOTO: Mark Taylor / WAIKATO TIMES.
You wouldn’t think of a building as having a central nervous system - but deep in the interior of the new Waikato Regional Theatre there is a special room that will be exactly that.
It’s a hub where the theatre’s peripheral nerves - the 30 kilometres of glass fibre optic cables that flow throughout the entire structure - meet and connect, carrying audio, video, paging, and other forms of raw data from the main auditorium to all other parts of building.
The $80 million theatre is undoubtedly the most advanced such building to be constructed in New Zealand for decades and the sound system, once completed, will be the equal of any such facility anywhere in the world.
“For a building built around sound and vision, this is the heart of it,” said Mike Orum, one of the eight data technicians who are charged with the task of ensuring that every last strand of cable is correctly connected to each of about 600 termination points in 205 different locations.
Right now, it looks like a spaghetti factory.
And unravelling the strands are two local firms - Structured Technologies and Feisst Electrical.
“It’s cool it’s being done by all Hamilton companies,” said Orum. “There’s not busloads of labour being brought in from somewhere else.”
Live Nation: Jobs available in the Waikato Regional Theatre
Live Nation is currently advertising three positions in the new Waikato Regional Theatre.
Event & Hospitality Manager
Ticketing & Event Coordinator
Technical & Operations Manager