Season 2010 will offer 14 shows spanning ballet, opera, drama, political satire, off-beat comedy and contemporary dance.

Australian theatre and contemporary dance works feature prominently.

Sydney Dance Company returns to the capital with We Unfold, artistic director Rafael Bonachela's first full-length work since taking on his role a year ago. Indigenous dance company Bangarra continues its association with a double-bill of new works. Lantana writer Andrew Bovell's When the Rain Stops Falling and Michael Gow's Toy Symphony bolster the quotient of local theatre.

Audience favourites, some with a twist, are also in the mix. The Royal New Zealand Ballet and Canberra Symphony Orchestra will collaborate on Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. Oz Opera, Opera Australia's touring arm, distils La Traviata using 10 performers and an 11-piece orchestra.

Bell Shakespeare will present King Lear and Twelfth Night to help celebrate two important milestones: founder John Bell turns 70 and the company he founded turns 20.

Lee Lewis, who directs Twelfth Night, also takes the helm of Honour, an Australian classic written by Joanna Murray-Smith and presented by the Sydney Theatre Company. The STC's famed Wharf Revue will kick off Season 2010 with its edgy political satire Pennies from Kevin on February 9.

''We've been looking at what subscribers really like and trying to do more than that,'' Canberra Theatre director Bruce Carmichael said. ''They like drama, they like opera, full-length ballet, [and] they like depth and quality to the work.''

Sure to be a major drawcard is The Walworth Farce, a madcap noir comedy by celebrated Irish playwright Enda Walsh in which three men eat, drink and die over a two-hour period. ''The story will be funny but I'm not sure that I'll be laughing,'' Mr Carmichael quipped.

The Courtyard Studio will host a return season of Short+Sweet as well as I Don't Wanna Play House, a one-woman show written and directed by Tammy Anderson.

''[This piece] is the sort of thing that will be able to change people's perceptions and understanding of each other,'' Mr Carmichael said.

More coverage in Saturday's The Canberra Times.