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.
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.
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…
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.
Romantic Piano Masterpieces
Tristan Lee and Gintaute Gataveckaite return to fortyfivedownstairs with a program of the much-loved Romantics
The Rapture
Moira Finucane's The Rapture writhes through a visual feast of prophecy, Gothic dreams, birds of prey, soaring wings, apocalyptic fairy tales, soul-searing music and physical madness.
Tango – Supay Trio
An authentic tango experience of dance and music supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants Program and Creative Victoria.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS | Emerging Artist Award 2016
fortyfivedownstairs and Future Leaders are inviting submissions from emerging Australian visual artists between the ages of 18 - 30 for the second annual Emerging Artist Award 2016.
Finissage to A Dingo Fence and Mallee Roots
The closing of A Dingo Fence and Mallee Roots: Victorian Farming on the Fringe was a great success last Saturday. Kristin Deimer's artist talk and accompanying performance by Helen Davey made a fabulous 'Finissage' which is apparently all the rage…
Whiteley's Incredible Blue
'Dickins' distinctive, poetic script is rendered truly memorable by Pigot's nuanced, chameleon-like performance.' Kate Herbert - four stars in the Herald Sun read review here. What lies inside the imaginations of an artist and addict? The capricious genius of Brett…