Back by popular demand! A return season of Cassandra Fumi's acclaimed production of 'The Crocodile' by Tom Basden, a play about art, animals, and what happens when you try to take on the system from within… a crocodile.
Alice Bishop directs the premiere of this new play by Bridgette Burton ('Rhonda is in Therapy'), the tragi-comic story of Myra Foreman, a woman who missed her life on earth and is now going to live it, in space.
Following the success of 'King Lear' at fortyfivedownstairs in 2021, Melbourne Shakespeare Company returns with the Bard’s political thriller 'Julius Caesar', directed by Richard Murphett.
An afternoon of opera, Filipino folk-song, and golden age musical theatre, hosted by bass-baritone Eddie Muliaumaseali'i, and featuring Samantha Hargreaves (soprano), Coady Green (pianist), Bernardo Soler (guitarist), and Amanda Hargreaves (soprano).
Pianist Coady Green, violinist Sofija Kirsanova, and cellist Elina Faskhi perform a recital program of works by Schubert, Linda Kouvaras, and Stuart Greenbaum.
A double bill of Benjamin Nichol’s acclaimed plays - the multi-Green Room award-winning 'kerosene', directed by Nichol and performed/co-directed by Izabella Yena, and the acclaimed 2022 Melbourne Fringe hit 'SIRENS', directed by Liv Satchell, co-created by Izabella Yena, and performed by Nichol.
Following the success of 'Punk Rock' at fortyfivedownstairs in 2019, Patalog Theatre returns with a new production of iconic playwright Caryl Churchill’s masterwork 'Far Away', directed by Cassandra Fumi and featuring Alison Whyte, Lucy Ansell, and Darcy Kent.
Director Beng Oh and writer Jane Miller continue their acclaimed collaboration ('True Love Travels on a Gravel Road' and 'Cuckoo' at fortyfivedownstairs) with an adaptation of Medea for our times.
Bloomsday in Melbourne's annual celebration of James Joyce continues with the Victorian premiere of his only play, exploring questions key to his masterpiece 'Ulysses' (1922). If love is constrained by conventional bonds of fidelity, is it love at all?
Presented by Fever103 theatre and directed by Monique Marani, this new Australian play about a young Cambridge student’s discovery of the Night Climbers (a secret society that gathers on the rooftops) is a powerful and poignant exploration of the barriers women face in traditionally male institutions, and the strength it takes to dismantle them.
Paul Capsis, the inimitable and incomparable icon of cabaret, returns to fortyfivedownstairs for the Melbourne premiere of 'Dry My Tears', following an acclaimed run in Sydney. Accompanied by The Song Company's Francis Greep, Capsis will perform an acoustic set that includes music by Kurt Weill, Elton John, and Johnny Mercer.
Join this family of storytellers - Uncle Larry Walsh, Victoria Morphy, Hannah Morphy-Walsh, and Isobel Morphy-Walsh - and their special guests, as they weave creation, song, story, and movement together. Presented as part of the 2023 Yirramboi Festival.
Actors Mark Diaco and Justin Hosking – co-founders of HSTheatre ('The Long Red Road' at fortyfivedownstairs) – will alternate the roles of brothers Austin and Lee in a new production of Sam Shepard’s modern masterpiece about the double nature of sibling rivalry.
Abiy Sahle (saxophone), Alexander Nettelbeck (piano), Conrad Henderson (bass), and Lawrence Grifa (drums) perform original instrumental compositions highlighting the unique scales and rhythms of Ethiopian Music in an uplifting performance. This concert will highlight the music of Abiy Sahle’s recent album release, ‘The Peace Tune’.
The Melbourne premiere of Adelaide playwright Duncan Graham's acclaimed psychological thriller about a stalked flight attendant, performed by Christina McLachlan and directed by Laurence Strangio ('L'amante anglaise' and 'Krapp's Last Tape').
The Institute of Enquiring Minds presents this recital by legendary Australian pianist Michael Leslie, who will perform Bach's beloved Goldberg Variations.
Acclaimed and award-winning pianist Coady Green has once again pulled together an outstanding group of musicians and ensembles for a two-week music series featuring ten performances with highly varied programs.
A new Australian play by Emmanuelle Mattana, 'Trophy Boys' is a queer black comedy and drag extravaganza about power, privilege, and high school debating. Directed by Marni Mount and presented as part of the 2023 Midsumma Festival.
In this Melbourne exclusive, revolutionary trans icon Jo Clifford hosts a deeply personal introduction to her ground-breaking play, 'The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven'.
Winner of the Green Room Award for Best Independent Production in 2021, Kitan Petkovski’s acclaimed production returns as part of the 2023 Midsumma Festival. Join Queen Jesus (Kristen Smyth) for a revolutionary queer ritual in which bread is shared, wine is drunk, and familiar stories are reimagined by a transgender Jesus.
A virtuosic recital of Romantic piano masterpieces performed by pianist Tristan Lee.
A reading of the new play 'What Made Lesley Pratchett so Mad?' by Donna Hughes, directed by Julian Dibley-Hall.
A recital program of classical and contemporary music featuring acclaimed dramatic contralto Liane Keegan, mezzo soprano Juel Riggall, soprano Naomi Summers and pianist Issac Mouskovias.
A reading of the new play 'Recollection' by Georgia Ketels, directed by Cathy Hunt and featuring Sophie Ross, Michelle Keating and Ravenna Bouckaert.
Featuring Melbourne jazz veterans Ronny Ferella (drums), Tamara Murphy (bass), Robbie Melville (guitar), Gideon Brazil (tenor saxophone, alto flute) and Flora Carbo (alto saxophone/bass clarinet), and classical cellist Zoe Knighton, the smallCHESTRA creates a spectacular range of dynamic and timbral possibilities in a relatively small package, and blurs the barriers between contemporary folk, jazz and classical.
A reading of the new play 'post' by Jane Miller, directed by Beng Oh and featuring Keith Brockett, Steve Gome, Kelly Nash, Marissa O’Reilly, Sonya Suares and Glenn van Oosterom.
A reading of the new play 'Crocodiles' by Vidya Rajan, directed by Marcel Dorney.
Songmakers Australia - soprano Merlyn Quaife AM, bass-baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos and pianist Andrea Katz - perform a program of stunning French repertoire by Debussy, Fauré, Duparc, Chausson and Poulenc.
A reading of the new play 'Myra in Space' by Bridgette Burton, directed by Alice Bishop and featuring Kelly Nash.
A reading of the new play 'Kup Murri', written and directed by Maryanne Sam, and featuring Glenn Shea, Kamarra Bell-Wykes, Corey Saylor-Brunskill, Anna Burgess, Syd Brisbane and Carissa Lee.
The world premiere of Linda Kouvaras' new work, the Herring Island Sonata for Piano and Narrator, performed by pianist Coady Green and narrator Tiriki Onus.
Pianist Coady Green and mezzo-soprano Linda Barcan perform two major song cycles by Melbourne-based composers Linda Kouvaras and Katy Abbott.
A reading of the new play 'Cotton and Silk' by Benjamin Nichol (LOVE), directed by Stephen Nicolazzo, and featuring Jennifer Vuletic and Brigid Gallacher.
A reading of the new play 'Trash Pop Butterflies, Dance Dance Paradise' by Maki Morita, directed by Amelia Burke.
Jasper Ly (oboe) and Peter Dumsday (piano) present GLOW – a concert celebrating the contemporary sound world of Melbourne composers.