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  • Poet Tree

    Chloe Vallance

    Poet Tree is a collection of drawings by Chloe Vallance that pause in places of wonder.

  • Walkaway

    Dorothy Lipmann

    Dorothy Lipmann's collection of abstract paintings in 'Walkaway' explores the situations of elderly homeless women.

  • The Hall

    Bullet Heart Club

    Featuring a live choir and original songs by Ro Bright ('Daffodils', Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and Pat Irwin (SUSS, The B-52’s), this ceremonious and candid story about unconditional love and the power of community is presented by Bullet Heart Club, directed by Kitan Petkovski ('The Inheritance'), and features stage luminary Natasha Herbert.

  • SMALL!

    fortyfivedownstairs presents

    fortyfivedownstairs is excited to once again be hosting our community-sourced, small works exhibition SMALL! SMALL! is an opportunity to see the walls of fortyfivedownstairs covered with an endless variety of styles and media including painting, drawing and sketches, prints, textiles, and small sculptural works.

  • ILARUN: The Cutting Comb

    Amarantha Robinson and Quiet Riot

    Down in dark dank cellars, Black women are milked commodities. But when a mystical encounter unhinges a docile slave, divine danger rises. Written by Amarantha Robinson ('Oshun', La Mama) and presented by Quiet Riot, this lyrical ensemble experience fuses Afro-Caribbean mysticism and history with dance and drumming to give a transmission of awakening and power.

  • The Highly Strung Players

    The Highly Strung Players

    The Highly Strung Players return to fortyfivedownstairs with two new works by award-winning author Peter Rose, who founded this troupe more than thirty years ago. As always, the comedy is sharp, mordant and absurdist. The Players will be joined by Julian McCarthy on percussion.

  • The Friends of Yule

    Joachim Coghlan

    An original theatrical song cycle by composer/performer Joachim Coghlan (performed by Coghlan and Alexandra Aldrich) that gleefully explores the most wonderfully profound, eccentric, cheesy, and seemingly bizarre Christmas stories and traditions.

  • Divergent archetypes for old ideas

    Brent Leideritz

    Brent Leideritz's collection of photographic and promptographic portraits proposes new ways of being, where queer and alternative performances of self stand against notions of shame and judgement.

  • what lies in the underneath

    Ned Brook

    Ned Brook’s first solo exhibition will showcase drawings, paintings, and sculptures created through spontaneous mark-making and physical expression. Brook's artistic practice is both an exploration of the emotional impact of his mental health struggles and a healing creative process in itself.

  • ROOM-ED

    Hyun Joo Kim (Julia)

    'ROOM-ED' by Hyun-Joo Kim (Julia) merges traditional textile and craft techniques with contemporary mediums, including sculpture, sound performance, and video, to create an immersive installation.

  • Seven X Five

    Chris Pelchen

    This unique exhibition features 7 x 5 inch paintings capturing iconic views of Melbourne by Chris Pelchen.

  • Compose Queer x Queerstories

    Featuring twelve world-premiere commissions from twelve composers, this boldly ambitious initiative sees the Divisi Chamber Singers, one of Australia’s most exciting vocal ensembles, partner with Maeve Marsden, curator of the beloved Queerstories project. Divisi, accompanied by pianist Coady Green, will take audiences on a journey through stories of love, pain, joy, and friendship in this unprecedented celebration of queer artistry and experience, presented as part of Midsumma Festival 2025.

  • POTUS

    When a White House PR nightmare spins into a full-blown shitshow, seven brilliant and beleaguered women must risk life and liberty to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. Lightning Jar Theatre returns to fortyfivedownstairs following their enormously successful production of Mr Burns: a post electric play in 2019, teaming with Trophy Boys director Marni Mount to present the Australian premiere of Selina Fillinger's whip smart, all female farce, featuring Lucy Ansell, Carolyn Bock, Candy Bowers, Jen Bush, Liliana Dalton, Hannah Greenwood, Tilly Legge, and AYA.

  • “why do birds suddenly appear”

    Adam Sime

    Adam Sime's collection of paintings in ''why do birds suddenly appear" are an aspect of thought, long-considered, looking for the tension, looking for release, loaded with memory.

  • Beyond Flinders

    Rick Eckersley

    'Beyond Flinders' by Rick Eckersley is a collection of works on canvas that examine the connections between garden making, nature, and memory, inspired by Musk Cottage Garden in Flinders, Victoria.

  • Inside/Outside (U.S.A)

    In ‘Inside/Outside (U.S.A)’ James Bryans (re)captures iconic American landmarks frequently depicted in film and television, revealing the strangeness, unfamiliarity and complexity of this supposedly familiar land and culture.

  • Still

    Alexandra Lewisohn

    Alexandra Lewisohn’s exhibition ‘Still’ continues her exploration of intimate still lifes inspired by the patterns and colours of her surroundings. Her paintings are distinctly decorative, featuring detailed arrangements of lamps, flowers, vases, mirrors, and fabric.

  • Boys on the Verge of Tears

    Set entirely in a men’s public bathroom, Sam Grabiner’s award-winning play captures the raw, unfiltered lives of boys and men grappling with the complexities of masculinity. In this Australian premiere, presented by The Maybe Pile (Trophy Boys) and directed by Keegan Bragg (MinterEllison Future Director 2023), five of Melbourne's premiere actors - including Karl Richmond (The Inheritance) and Ben Walter (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) - bring to life a boggling array of characters caught in moments of chaos, bravado, and surprising tenderness.

  • Noctum

    John Mezzini

    John Mezzini’s series of portraits in "Noctum" explores the search for the perfection of our outer persona, internal experience, trust in one another, and pleasure.

  • SuperNatural

    Grace Knight, Charlotte Ivey, Simon Leah and Lana Daubermann

    In 'SuperNatural' four artists with seemingly divergent practices come together in a cross-pollination of inspiration taken from the natural world.

  • Enter the Emerging Artist Award 2025

    Submissions for the Emerging Artist Award 2025 are now open and will close Monday 19 May.  The Emerging Artist Award at fortyfivedownstairs is a proven catalyst for ongoing recognition and professional development and allows audiences the privilege of accessing early-career works by exciting emerging artists. Entry is open to anyone in an early stage of…

  • Fuck Loss Kiss

    Mark Chew

    Mark Chew's documentary photographs in 'Fuck Loss Kiss' showcase the complex and diverse lives of women and children in the urban slums and refugee camps of East Africa. This exhibition is accompanied by the video art piece 'Living Room' by Archie and Alicia.

  • Analogue

    Jamieson Miller

    'Analogue' by Jamieson Miller responds to the rise of the digital world by returning to the analogue process of carving, where the marks and imperfections illustrate the physicality, idiosyncrasies, and inner experiences of its maker.

  • Out of the Orchard

    Cecilia Cairns

    'Out of the Orchard' by Cecilia Cairns is an exhibition celebrating her 60 years as an artist and teacher. Paintings, drawings, and prints depict the orchard, backyards, interiors, the bush, the beach, and the people who are part of her life.

  • De Profundis

    In 1897, from the solitude of his prison cell, Oscar Wilde poured his heart into a searing 50,000-word letter to his estranged lover Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas. Blistering with anguish and fury, De Profundis is Wilde’s unfiltered outpouring of pain, betrayal, and self-revelation – a plea for truth, a meditation on art, and a journey toward forgiveness. This powerful letter has echoed through time, and now, in an intimate special event crafted with director Dino Dimitriadis (Overflow, Arts Centre Melbourne) and featuring a live cello accompaniment by Conrad Hamill, the iconic Paul Capsis reads Wilde’s anthem for the right to love and live authentically, no matter the cost.

  • fortyfivedownstairs Chamber Music Festival

    Experience two electrifying weeks of world-class music from May 5–18, under the direction of acclaimed pianist Coady Green. Beethoven takes centre stage with five symphonies, his stirring Egmont with narration by Paul English, and Liszt’s monumental two-piano arrangement of the Ninth Symphony featuring Green and legendary Australian pianist Michael Leslie. Discover Holst’s original two-piano version of The Planets with percussion ensemble, and masterpieces by Scriabin, Liszt, and Mozart. This year’s festival ventures beyond the classical canon: journey through Chile’s turbulent past with the music of Violeta Parra, and explore Australian voices with works by Linda Kouvaras, Meta Cohen, Kevin March, and Sally Whitwell—including a powerful new piece by Kouvaras inspired by Gwen Harwood’s poetry, performed by Helen Morse. Experience Dimity Shepherd’s dynamic Opera Closets and join Sally-Anne Russell and Glenn Riddle for a night tracing the lineage from Beethoven to Czerny to Liszt. Don’t miss The Parlour’s fresh perspective on Beethoven through the eyes of Caroline Unger, and The Crossing Machine’s striking rendition of Elvis Costello’s The Juliet Letters with new arrangements for quartet of music from Fleetwood Mac.

  • 45 Letterbox Landscapes at 45

    Edward Coleridge

    Edward Coleridge's 'Letterbox Landscapes' will feature a collection of expressive oil paintings that capture the beauty of the Victorian countryside and cities, presented in a 1:4 horizontal format.

  • I’ve Been Curious About Daffodils Lately

    Hamish Tobias

    Hamish Tobias's exhibition explores the effects of warped self-perception on mental health and challenges conventional beauty standards through a multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, drawing and sculpture.

  • ENDGAMES

    Following the acclaimed and twice sold-out Krapp’s Last Tape, legendary performer Max Gillies will again collaborate with director Laurence Strangio (L’amante anglaise) on another foray into “wistfulness, embarrassment, desire and regret” (The Age, 2018). Bringing together monologues by three inimitable playwrights, ENDGAMES is a bittersweet elegy to posterity and obsession. A resolute recluse declares his bequest, a shabby paramour is haunted by his past, and a beleaguered husband attempts a public lecture. Ranging from farce to melancholy, Gillies brings his particular tragicomic affinity to these desperate existential vignettes.

  • fragmentum

    Brenton Hill

    In 'fragmentum', an exhibition by Brenton Hill, abstract and fragmented compositions reveal the unreliability of memory and emotion.

  • RITUAL OF THE SENSES

    Steve Leadbeater

    Steve Leadbeater's 'RITUAL OF THE SENSES' immerses viewers in a sensory exhibition experience which celebrates energy, contrast, inner beauty and the process of creation.

  • Fat Pig: The Opera

    BK Opera and Forest Collective present this Australian premiere of American composer Matt Boehler and Australian librettist Miriam Gordon-Stewart’s adaptation of Neil LaBute's award-winning play. Directed by Kate Millet, conducted by Evan Lawson, and featuring sopranos Amanda Windred and Belinda Dalton, baritone Kiran Rajasingam, and tenor Daniel Szesiong Todd, this black comedy examines the nature of beauty and attraction, revealing the operatic reserves of human truth that lie beneath the surface of a workplace rom-com.

  • Drawing Space: minus and plus

    Suzanne .k. Franklin

    ‘Drawing Space: minus and plus’ is a collection of small-scale drawings by Perth-based artist Suzanne .k. Franklin (also known as sue.k.). By presenting works that are unhindered by narrative, the exhibition offers a viewing experience focussed on material substance.

  • Endless Drawing

    Michael Fikaris

    'Endless Drawing' is a new exhibition by Michael Fikaris of automatic drawings inspired by a recent trip to the Wakka Wakka regions (Bunya Mountains, QLD). Fikaris will create a mural in the gallery, with the installation viewable while in progress that week until opening night of Friday June 13.

  • Circe’s Carnival of Vice

    Bloomsday in Melbourne

    Do you dare join us to descend into James Joyce’s fevered dreamscape? When men fall under the spell of Circe, what can they become? Prepare yourself for a wild carnival ride of surreal hallucinations exploring the outer realms of gender identity and sexuality in Dublin 1904 – an over-the-top world of music, laughter… and vice. Gritty, moving, uproarious and outrageous: you may never be the same!