As the VSO designed their productions for the State Theatre, a 2077-seat theatre with one of the largest stages in the world, they were able to make full use of the facilities i.e. revolving stage, hydraulic stages and were able to create imaginative and exciting effects in their productions. Their first opera in the State Theatre was the new John Copley production of Verdi's "Don Carlos" in 1984. The curtains remained open during set changes so the audience could marvel at the machinery.