In the first solo exhibition of fortyfivedownstairs’ Fragments series, artist Terry Swann - one of Australia’s foremost contemporary landscape watercolourists - takes us on a journey from the Kimberley to the Pilbara. Since living in the Yarrabah Aboriginal Community, Far…
We're very pleased to announce HERE, the first exhibition in our Fragments online series, open now! Click here to view the exhibition. HERE brings together 25 accomplished Victorian artists, including Judy Holding, Chris Orr, Lisa Sewards, Marisa Mu, Gavin Brown, Naomi Bishop, Tom Gerrard, Mark Chu and more. The online…
Thursday throwback to 2016 and the remarkable production of Resident Alien by Tim Fountain - produced by our very own Cameron Lukey. Paul Capsis was captivating as Quentin Crisp, the legendary author for whom no topic is off limits. Expertly directed…
We're so looking forward to Janno McLaughlin's upcoming exhibition Making Nonsense at fortyfivedownstairs later this year (dates to be announced soon!). Janno has been incredibly busy on many projects these last few months, including this exhibition, with Rose Lang as…
A Monday dive into the archive, and it's a production that's sure to brighten this drab day. Anni & Maude Davey, Anna Lumb and Gabi Barton performed the first Retro Futurismus in our theatre in 2015. Their post-apocalyptic variety show…
A dive back into the archive for a moment, and what a dive it is - into the stunning, spectacular, explosive, electrifying Glory Box that first came to our theatre back in 2004! Finucane & Smith's 'Franken-Spectacular that shoves a…
Now we ask you to think back to 2012 and The KIN Collective's debut production, 'Glimpse'. Michala Banas, Tom Barton, Keith Brockett, Mark Diaco, Marg Downey, Dan Hamill, Linc Hasler and Laura Maitland joined forces to devise the work. This…
The intimacy of our theatre space has meant we've had some stunning solo performances over the years. One such performance was by New Zealand actor, Te Kohe Tuhaka, in the 2012 Taki Rua production of John Broughton’s Michael James Manaia.…
EP 3 ASSASSINS & COMPANY from WATCH THIS on Vimeo. A flashback to last decade and the seasons of Assassins (2013) and Company (2015) presented by the Sondheim specialist musical company Watch This at fortyfivedownstairs. This video is part…
Suzanne Sandow Monday 27 January 2020 AS ONE is a beguiling, absorbingly unique contemporary opera experience. The music is sublimely hypnotic and the singing exquisite. It portrays an intense, very personal and individual reassignment of gender, from puberty to young…
★★★★ Cameron Woodhead Thursday 12 December 2020 Simon Stephens’ study of adolescence takes us into a Manchester grammar school, where seven students wait for their final exams. We get a fly-on-the-wall portrayal of teenagers in their natural habitat – a…
Fly review: an emotional slice of Australian opera history Bridget Davies August 26, 2019 ★★★½ If there is an art form where one is to be commended for bucking trends, it's the grand old world of opera. And it's a…
Four perfect killers. One perfect crime. Now all they have to fear is each other. Human Sacrifice Theatre presents a one off live cold reading of Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic Reservoir Dogs. Some of Australia’s finest actors have volunteered their…
Barry Jones is one of the more remarkable politicians to have sat in the House of Representatives in Canberra, a much loved and respected figure on both sides of politics. As a tribute for his birthday, the Chair of fortyfivedownstairs,…
India’s Disappearing Railways: A Photographic Journey is an intimate and humorous portrait of life on the sub-continent’s narrow-gauge railways, evoking the very soul of India. Australian photojournalist and travel writer Angus McDonald spent several years documenting the railways with pen…
Janice Gobey’s paintings always sit within duality. Like the fur they depict, they are beautiful but ominous. The latest collection of works for the exhibition The Haunting, again reflect this duality but even more so with a new use of…
Celebrating Ludwig van Beethoven’s (245th) Birthday. Pianist Tristan Lee returns to fortyfivedownstairs, to round off our year by celebrating Beethoven’s 245th birthday with a dazzling recital that represents three distinct periods in his life. These four sonatas, all very different…
Dan Lee is a 2014 R E Ross Trust Playwrights' Script Development Award recipient. Join us for a rehearsed reading of winning play, Bottomless. Bottomless is set in the Broome sober up center. It’s been an unusually long build up…
Cantations features the historically accurate performance of leading Monteverdi scholar and harpsichordist John O’Donnell and the singers of Accademia Arcadia. The program features works from Monteverdi’s 7th and 8th book of Madrigals, as well as his contemporaries Giovanni Picchi and…
Press, Play invite you on an impassioned musical and visual journey as words, sounds, and images collide and coalesce. Led by critically-acclaimed pianist Sonya Lifschitz, contemporary ensemble Press, Play takes the sensuous splendor of Monteverdi’s madrigals as a departure point…
This fundraising concert features the beautiful nostalgic Laika and Rembetika songs of pre 1970 Greece, performed by Melbourne's fabulous Greek singers. Featuring Anthea Sidiropolous, Maria Papathanasiou, Jenny Theologidis and Helen Yotis Patterson, accompanied by a premier Greek band led by…
Presented by Platform in collaboration with Straightjacket Productions, Someone Like Thomas Banks is a one-man show featuring performer, writer and disability advocate Thomas Banks. This is Thomas’ story of courage and defiance, a young man searching for love and claiming…
We are pleased to present an exciting program of free events over the course of the exhibition CANZONE - Music as Storytelling. The Art of the Word: Floor talk and presentation by Angela Cavalieri and Dr Colin Holden Thursday 8…
9000 vinyl records displays artist Stephen Williams' personal collection of original first pressing soul records and record sleeves, combining them with a complete indexed catalogue, text, video and recorded music which relate directly to the records themselves. The exhibition explores the…
Contemporary watercolourist Terry Swann’s exhibition Off Track – On Site is a journey of exploration into the heart of remote Australia. From the technicolour desert country along the Oodnadatta Track to the blackened remains of bushfire-affected NSW and on to…
fortyfivedownstairs in association with the Melbourne Festival presents: A magical dream of Venice comes to Melbourne with the combination of music and art inspired by Claudio Monteverdi, master of music at St. Mark’s Basilica from 1613. Multi award winning artist…
The Drawing Room is an exhibition of prints, drawings and bas reliefs created by James Yuncken at intervals over a period between 1990 and 2009. At each interval a different creative impulse prevailed. The Drawing Room is set up to…
“Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children, Hidden excitedly, containing laughter. Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind Cannot bear very much reality. Time past and time future What might have been and what has…