The musical theatre company will take Rent in to the new Terminus Theatre in The Goods Shed, near Ballarat Station, where a audiences of just over 300 will be able to enjoy its 11-show season in August.

It will be one of the first larger scale multi-date productions in the new theatre.

Rent director Matthew Henderson said uncertainty about Her Majesty's Theatre closing for future works led to BLOC looking for alternative venues in Ballarat for the show.

"When we were looking at what our next project would be, with the uncertainty of Her Majesty's closing for future works, the Goods Shed came across our table as a potential venue and there's been negotiations for several months now to get in there," he said.

"It's a beautiful venue, a 300+ seat theatre with state-of-the-art technology that is perfect for an immersive production of Rent."

Tenders close for the $10 million to $15 million stage three upgrade of Her Majesty's Theatre, which includes completion of compliance facilities such as disabled accessibility at the theatre, on May 20 and come after the first two stages of the multi-million dollar upgrade were completed in August 2019.

Mr Henderson said Rent was a musical that continued to resonate with today's audiences.

"Rent is in the top 15 longest-running shows on Broadway and now has such a cult following. The score reimagined music theatre for new audiences when it first debuted ... and this will open up a new chapter for BLOC looking at smaller chamber musicals to take advantage of the new venues popping up around Ballarat," he said.

"It talks about the pressures of living, of dealing with loss and ... there are parallels to draw on from everyone's personal lives. Rent focuses on a group of 20-somethings during the height of HIV-AIDS, those stories of loss and dealing with the situation resonate now with the despair people have with what we've been through for the last two years, those feelings of despair and uncertainty about what the future holds."

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For BLOC the uncertainty was when they would get a full season of Mamma Mia, with the season repeatedly postponed because of COVID.

"I directed Mamma Mia for BLOC last year and it was a huge hit, but we were hit by COVID so we were rehearsing it for two and a half years," he said.

The cast of 20, much smaller than a regular BLOC production, are in their second week of rehearsals to bring Rent to the stage in just over 100 days.

Rent will run at the Terminus Theatre, The Goods Shed Ballarat, from August 11 to 21. Tickets from www.rentballarat.com.

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