An affliction known as the RUMBLESKIN is stretching itself across the country. No one knows how it began, but everyone has a story about it. From director Alonso Pineda ('Nothing', fortyfivedownstairs) and playwright Ames May Nunn ('Our Monster's Name Is Jerry', Theatreworks), 'RUMBLESKIN' is a new queer folk tale exploring transformation in a strange and dangerous land.
Gary Smith's exhibition 'Ætheria' will showcase the artist's fascination with discovering the essence of being. Through an arts practice across painting and installation, Smith distills various subjects to reveal their core and dynamic nature.
'Chrysalis + Aberrations' features a series of abstract paintings by Dawn Allmark and digitally manipulated photographs by Michaela Sandberg. Through their respective mediums, each artist embraces a process of evolution and beauty.
In this audacious reimagining of Strindberg’s masterwork set on the eve of Greek Easter, the classic is torn from its 19th-century roots and reborn in the pressure-cooker of modern fine dining, where old hierarchies die hard and nothing stays simmering for long. Director Harry Haynes ('Cygnets', Theatreworks) will collaborate with renowned chef and Masterchef alum Conor Curran to bring the world of the play to life through taste, aroma, and atmosphere.
'Danger Danger Danger Danger Danger & Related Works' is the first solo show devoted to artist Chelsea Hickman’s ongoing textile banner project. A maximalist bombardment of information and image - the banner project unleashes the artist’s frustrations within the fashion industry, queerness, and late-stage capitalism.
'colour.field.echo' will showcase the work of Michele Burder, Susan Watson Knight, and Amanda Johnson. United by their use of bold colours and citational strategies, their practices echo cultural pasts, while ultimately speaking directly to the present.
In 'Going Places', Fiona O'Byrne presents a series of small oil paintings that capture the shared, everyday experience of moving through the city – an essential and uncelebrated part of contemporary urban life.
Following its acclaimed, award winning debut with 'Elegies; A Song Cycle' at fortyfivedownstairs in 2024, Clovelly Fox — one of Melbourne’s most exciting new theatre companies — returns with a fresh take on 'Ordinary Days', the contemporary musical by Adam Gwon. Directed by Green Room Award-winner Tyran Parke (who first brought this gem to life at Chapel Off Chapel), this production promises heart, humour, and a beautifully intimate theatrical experience.
fortyfivedownstairs is now calling out for artists for our fifth annual open-call small works exhibition. The exhibition is open to everyone- and every submitted artwork will be displayed! We welcome a wide variety of styles and media, as long as the artwork does not exceed 20 x 20 cm. Submissions close Monday 3 November.
'Stronger Together' showcases the work of the students at St Albans Secondary College, a co-educational school located in the west of Melbourne. This exhibition is a rare glimpse into the potential that is unlocked when we are able to embrace cultural diversity and share, appreciate, know, collaborate and negotiate cultural divides.
‘Muktoraah’ is a fictional realm of chaos and destruction, developed as part of Braden Howard’s ongoing world-building art practice. This exhibition will delve into this fictional land, showcasing its creatures, worlds, gods, magical beings, and powerful relics.
In her bold and immersive style, renowned director Tanya Gerstle distils Shakespeare’s tragedy to its raw essence, working with a powerhouse ensemble (Christopher Kirby, Dushan Philips, Lucy Ansell, Matthew Furlani and Tanya Schneider) to deliver an intense, deeply human exploration of jealousy, power, and betrayal. With this production, Melbourne Shakespeare Company continues a stellar run at fortyfivedownstairs that includes 'Julius Caesar' in 2023 and 'Hamlet' in 2024.
Drawing from both rural and urban settings, 'Ways Through' features a series of linocut prints by Ballarat-based artist Amanda Western that trace the quiet power of overlooked spaces- laneways, tree lines, and landscapes in flux. This, her first solo exhibition in Melbourne, maps emotional and ecological pathways, asking how we find connection and renewal in the places we pass through.
Melbourne artist Janice Gobey explores the restorative power of nature in her new exhibition, 'The Garden of Life'. Painted primarily in oil, this new body of work, offers viewers a moment of respite - an invitation to rest and reconnect with nature, the subconscious, and the unseen corners of the psyche.
'Naarm Textile Biennale- Social Fabric' is the third biannual exhibition by Naarm Textile Collective at fortyfivedownstairs. This collaborative group exhibition features textile artists from Victoria and will showcase a diverse and progressive range of textile art that challenges traditional conceptions of the medium.
Robert Lee Davis' 'Community Art Card Project' returns to fortyfivedownstairs for the third consecutive year, offering visitors the chance to engage in collaborative art-making by using large playing cards as their canvas to create an installation in the gallery.
Melbourne’s multi-award-winning Lyric Opera returns to fortyfivedownstairs following the success of 'Fly' in 2019 to present the Australian premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s “dazzlingly original score”, hailed as a masterpiece of modern opera. “Commanding and captivating” mezzo-soprano Olivia Federow-Yemm performs the role Isabelle Eberhardt, supported by a cast of Melbourne’s most talented young singers and instrumentalists.
Dena Ashbolt's exhibition, 'Time Between', seeks to capture the nuances of human experience and the shifts in our perception of reality. Her signature cinematic drawing technique serves as a core methodology, while also encompassing a broad artistic output, including drawing, painting, photo-media explorations, and spatial collaborative projects.
Ella Whateley's latest exhibition explores various forms of prayer through the language of abstraction, examining this spiritual practice within Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, and Christianity. Her artworks reflect the unique contexts and environments from which these practices originate, drawing inspiration from her experiences in Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Japan, Nepal, Britain, and Australia.
Created and performed by Emma Louise Pursey and directed by the incomparable Susie Dee, this powerful new solo work draws artist Joy Hester from the margins and places her centre stage. Two decades in the making, this deeply personal work blends arresting physicality with direct storytelling and multidisciplinary design to reclaim Hester’s legacy with passion, compassion, and life-affirming humour.
Carolyn Roberts' latest body of work is a close, personal observation of life in two very different gardens, situated on opposite sides of the world- in Melbourne and rural Normandy. Working mainly in watercolour and mixed-media on paper, Roberts constructs a visual narrative that examines humanity's connection to nature and our sense of place within it.
In his third exhibition at fortyfivedownstairs, Richard Besley will showcase his classic large, abstract layered paintings, which evoke a world of light, movement, and space. However, after 30 years of working exclusively in abstraction, Besley will also be branching out into landscape painting, depicting scenes from his everyday life.
Directors Blake Barnard ('Dark Erotica Quartet') and Keith Brockett ('Footfalls') have assembled a stellar cast (Maude Davey, Cait Spiker, Shaun Goss, and Tim Wotherspoon) for this double bill. In 'Dark Erotica Quartet', three seemingly disparate scenes, structured like a concerto and featuring live music, celebrate the lost art of spoken erotica. And in 'Footfalls', Davey embodies the role of May, a woman bound by duty and lost in quiet anguish in Beckett's meditation on grief, devotion, and the frail borders between.
Multi award-winner Iain Sinclair ('Hamlet', fortyfivedownstairs) directs John Logan's contemporary classic, featuring Dylan Smith ('The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power') as master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. Working with his assistant Ken (newcomer Jordan Briggs) following the biggest commission in the history of modern art, Rothko faces the agonizing possibility that his crowning achievement could also become his undoing. 'RED' is a searing portrait of an artist's ambition and vulnerability as he tries to create a definitive work.
fortyfivedownstairs is proud to present SMALL!, our fifth annual community-sourced exhibition of small works. Established artists, emerging talents, and child artists will be showcased side by side, highlighting a diverse array of styles and media. All artworks are 20 x 20 cm or smaller, priced at $150 and displayed anonymously.
Playwright Brodie Murray ('The Whisper', fortyfivedownstairs) draws on stories handed down from his grandfather and father to tell a historical thriller that explores the contrasting relationships settlers and Blak peoples have with Country, ecology, leadership and spirituality. After sold out seasons at the Castlemaine State Festival and Yirramboi Festival in 2021, 'Soul Of Possum' returns under the direction of Beng Oh and Balla Neba (movement director).
Fresh off multiple Green Room Award wins for 'Spring has Sprung or The Beautiful Show' and 'Twenty Million Thousand Leagues Under the Sea', and following the successes of 'The Owl in the Woods' and 'The Hertz Family Reunion', theatre renegades Pummel Squad are coming to fortyfivedownstairs with their third annual pantomime: a raucous celebration of death, hubris, and all we love about theatre.
In her second solo exhibition, ‘Going Where You Take Me’, Micca explores her inner world as a young Australian-Asian woman. Through intricately detailed oil paintings, she creates surreal and mystical landscapes that address themes of identity, emotion, morality, faith, relationships, and social belonging. Her work often combines whimsy with introspection, using symbolism and dreamlike imagery to convey profound emotions and meanings.
In a regional town, grief holds a group of women together. Their bond is fragile – some close, others linked more by memory than friendship. When one of their own announces his transition, loyalties splinter, old wounds reopen, and the meaning of identity and belonging is fiercely contested. Midsumma Festival presents the world premiere of MacEllen’s deeply honest and human play, directed by Kitan Petkovski ('The Inheritance') and featuring a stellar cast.
Following a sellout performance in 2024, The Highly Strung Players return to fortyfivedownstairs with two plays by award-winning author Peter Rose, who founded this absurdist troupe more than thirty years ago. These are rehearsed readings, with a changing ensemble. The Highly Strung Players began appearing at fortyfivedownstairs in 2017.
In ‘Memories; Vivid, False and Lost,’ Alison Russell maps a landscape of memory, examining the fragile, shifting and often contradictory nature of past recollections. Through a process of automatic drawing, she renders vivid or emotionally charged memories with dense colour, intensity, and strong shapes. In contrast, fragmented forms signify blurred, conflicted or lost memories, highlighting their elusive quality.
fortyfivedownstairs is now accepting expressions of interest from artists to participate in 'Punchlines', a group exhibition exploring the use of humour in contemporary art. EOI submission deadline Monday 2 March.
Cameron Grant's photography series 'Australian Theatres Unveiled' celebrates the architecture and heritage of Australia’s major theatre venues. The collection spans front-facing facades through to dressing rooms and backstage wings, featuring theatres from around the country. Each work honours the character of these venues, and the emotional history they hold for performers, patrons, and the community.
A genius with language but convinced of his own ugliness, Cyrano secretly loves the radiant Roxane, who's fallen for the beautiful but inarticulate Christian. When Cyrano offers to ghost-write his rival's seduction, he sets in motion a poignant, hilarious, and ultimately devastating love triangle. Presented by Artefact Theatre Co. and directed by Matthew Cox ('Constellations'), this radical adaptation of Edmond Rostand's masterwork by Martin Crimp features Mark Yeates in the title role alongside a cast of 16! This isn't the Cyrano you think you know.
In her exhibition ‘Independently Combining’, Celia Bridle explores themes of delicacy, intimacy, mobility, and flow through a collection of 24 drawings. The artworks feature curving and sweeping lines that reference the shapes of letters or abstract forms, mingling and weaving with overlapping flourishes. Each drawing is created gradually, building layer upon layer, to form a construction that is both mobile and intensely detailed.