King Lear
A moving contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy
Zoe Knighton/Pia Johnson Bach Project
Two iconic Melbourne artists join forces for a unique and magical collaboration.
Franz Liszt: The Complete Hungarian Rhapsodies for Piano Four Hands
The first complete Australian performance of this dazzlingly virtuosic set of pieces, known for their fiendish technical demands
Trouble in a Monochromatic Town
A lush and gritty program inspired by a palette of shifting drones, acid house, electronics, Dada and silk scarves
Playreading: June by Patrick McCarthy
Following their critically acclaimed productions Grief and the Lullaby (2015) and The Sky Is Well Designed (2017), Fabricated Rooms present a work-in-progress reading of their third project, June.
RUNT
A play about the runts of the world: the lesser, the unwanted, the weak, those without clout, the insignificant; all the unders.
The Anniversary
Multi award-winning creators of Die Roten Punkte, Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias are back with a brand new murderously funny physical farce.
Burn This by Lanford Wilson
Two unlikely strangers are brought together by a mysterious death, their connection sparks a chemistry too explosive to ignore
Shostakovich and Schumann
Kyla Matsuura-Miller, Madeleine Jevons, Molly Collier O’Boyle & Harry Ward are joined by virtuoso pianist Tamara Smolyar for one of Shostakovich’s best known chamber works, the G minor Piano Quintet.
Unity
Collide will share with you their blend of colour, fervour, and spirit, with works of Mozart, Glinka, Milhaud
The New Impromptu Quartet
Join us for an afternoon of summer jazz, exploring a world of styles and influences from jazz to Latin, funk, drum ‘n’ bass and soul.
Solicitude
What a way to welcome live performance back to the venue! A stunning program, performed by Coady Green and Justin Kenealy, featuring new commissions, Australian premieres and a sneak preview of a special new work.
Barry Jones & Friends Celebrate the Arts
Join us to celebrate the 88th birthday one of Australia’s most remarkable men, Barry Jones AC in an online performance curated and hosted by board member Julian Burnside AO.
Barry Jones & Friends Celebrate the Arts
BOOK TICKETS HERE DOWNLOAD PROGRAM HERE Tickets now on sale for Barry Jones & Friends Celebrate the Arts 3pm Sunday 11 October The October birthday of one of Australia’s most remarkable men, Barry Jones AC, has become an annual opportunity…
HERE Online Exhibition
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…
Thank you to our friends for your generosity in a difficult world
Two tales of performers at fortyfivedownstairs 1: Max Gillies In 2017, Max came to us with a proposal to perform in our theatre. Eventually we whittled the wishlist down to one of the greatest 20th century classics, Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s…
Please join us in our Drive to Survive
Hello to friends of fortyfivedownstairs, written from the bunker! Thank you to all those who have donated to Drive to Survive. Actually, it’s not quite a bunker in a corner of the theatre, it’s a very unbusinesslike corner of the…
Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance
Gary Abrahams directs Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prizewinning drama of 1966 featuring a stellar cast.
Gods and Demons
From 'Pictures at an Exhibition' to 'Java Suite', from 'Islamey' to Piazzolla’s Tango, Chinese born pianist Yiyun Gu brings fantastic gods and demons together in a concert of magic and high imagination.
Shepherd on the Rock
A concert of works for saxophone, piano and mezzo-soprano, including a transcription of Schubert’s late masterpiece, and a selection of beautiful original works.
The New Impromptu Quartet
A performance exploring a world of styles and influences from jazz to Latin, funk, and soul.
A Night of Songs and Scenes for Bushfire Relief
An evening of songs and scenes for bushfire relief.
As One
One of the major works of American opera in the 21st century has its Australian premiere as part of the 2020 Midsumma Festival.
The Age review of Punk Rock
★★★★ 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…
Punk Rock by Simon Stephens
From British power-house playwright, Simon Stephens, Punk Rock is a violent and urgent examination of contemporary adolescence.
The Year of Magical Thinking
Green Room Award winners Jillian Murray and Laurence Strangio re-join forces to present Joan Didion’s remarkable memoir
Three of a Kind
Three jazz pianists. Two generations. One family. Three family members; brothers Colin and Ted Nettelbeck, and Colin’s son Alexander Nettelbeck, perform together in a return concert at fortyfivedownstairs.
The Rapture Chapter II: Art vs Extinction
Moira Finucane, one of the world’s greatest performance chameleons, magic realist geniuses and apocalyptic rock goddesses, brings home The Rapture Chapter II in her mind-stunning party on the edge of the abyss.
FLY – a chamber opera
Melbourne’s award-winning, boutique opera company, Lyric, presents this Australian work about Lawrence Hargrave: explorer, engineer, inventor and the man on the twenty dollar note.
The Age review of The Ghetto Cabaret
Cameron Woodhead August 7, 2019 — 2.11pm ★★★★ A cabaret set amid the horror and deprivation of Jewish ghettoes in World War II? You’d have to be crazy. Totally meshugah. Yet Galit Klas has created one of the most…
Sepharad
Dancer Tomas Arroquero and guitarist Kieren Ray work with Israeli born oud player, Yuval Ashkar, in a collaboration that revisits the Moorish connections with Flamenco in the inaugural performance of an exciting new project.
The Ghetto Cabaret
A powerful new cabaret featuring Yiddish songs written in the Jewish ghettos of WWII.
ABR review of A Room of One’s Own
Wednesday, 24 July 2019 Lisa Gorton ★★★★ In this intelligent and unusual play, director Peta Hanrahan arranges Virginia Woolf’s great essay A Room of One’s Own into an hour-long play for four voices. Curiously, perhaps, it works so well as…
BROKEN by Mary Anne Butler
The Victorian premiere of Mary Anne Butler’s poetic, evocative play. Winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama, the Northern Territory Literary Award for Best Script and the Victorian Prize for Literature.
