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.
'Whispers Woven in Water, Wings & Wildflowers' is an immersive art installation by Australian visual storyteller Pam Davison, presented in collaboration with couture designer Linda Britten. Combining fine art photography, couture garments, sound, and spatial design, the exhibition explores memory as something lived, embodied, and continually shaping the present.