January to June 2025 at fortyfivedownstairs

Image of Paul Capsis - De Profundis

Melbourne's fortyfivedownstairs has announced the January-June 2025 theatre program featuring nine seasons presented by an outstanding lineup of theatremakers and musicians.

“There's no theatre experience in Melbourne quite like the fortyfivedownstairs experience,” says Cameron Lukey, Artistic Director of the theatre. “Audiences descend to the surprisingly malleable basement of a nineteenth century building, with giant arched windows, four iron pillars in the centre, and a pressed metal ceiling, to discover whatever reinvention awaits. It's a space that has challenged and inspired numerous theatremakers, and in thinking about how to launch our January-June 2025 program, I wanted to celebrate its character and the adventure artists and audiences share when heading down the rabbit hole. A big thank-you to photographer Cameron Grant for collaborating on this photo series, and to all the artists for taking part.

Image of Amanda Windred and Kiran Rajasingam for Fat PigThe Opera

“While the space beguiles people, what has kept fortyfivedownstairs ticking for 23 years is the sense of community so beautifully cultivated by founder Mary Lou Jelbart AM. That’s why I’m particularly pleased that almost every show in our January-June program features a combination of artists making their fortyfivedownstairs debut alongside artists returning for their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th show. We even have a couple of theatre legends in the mix, with Paul Capsis and Max Gillies revisiting works that remain a passion. But that’s the wonderful thing about working at fortyfivedownstairs. Every few weeks a new company of artists enter the space with a drive to create something that connects with audiences. It’s a huge privilege to be around that energy, so thank-you to all the artists involved in the 2024 program and the patrons whose attendance and donations supported them. That sense of community absolutely extends to those patrons. Your engagement and investment make it possible for us to continue.

“I really hope there will be something in the program that intrigues you and I look forward to an exciting 2025!”

Thirty-Six by Jo Clifford and Bayley Turner                  
21 January – 2 February

Image of Bayley Turner - Thirty-Six.
 
So there’s this party she’s having. It might be a funerary rite or a birthday celebration, depending on your perspective. Performed by Bayley Turner (Thrive: Queer Work Out Loud), directed by Kitan Petkovski (The Inheritance), and co-written by Turner and legendary UK playwright Jo Clifford (The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven), Thirty-Six is an empowering and cathartic new work that explores the complex relationship gender diverse people have with ageing, mortality, grief, and growth. Presented by fortyfivedownstairs in association with Bullet Heart Club and Midsumma Festival 2025.

Compose Queer x Queerstories                                              
6 – 9 February

Image of Divisi Chamber Singers
 
Featuring thirteen world-premiere commissions from thirteen 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, Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive by Selina Fillinger 
13 February – 2 March

Image of the POTUS cast
 
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 Boysdirector 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 Taur.

Boys on the Verge of Tears by Sam Grabiner
13 – 30 March

Image of Ben Walter (left) and Karl Richmond (right) for 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.

De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
30 April – 4 May

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
6 – 18 May

Image of Coady Green for the Chamber Music Festival
 
Curated by pianist Coady Green, the presence of Beethoven looms large throughout the festival, with five of his symphonies and his original Egmont music with narration by Paul English featured, as well as Liszt's monumental arrangement of the Ninth Symphony for two pianos. Masterpieces by Holst, Scriabin, Britten, and Mozart are also on offer, including Holst's original two-piano version of The Planets with large percussion ensemble. And from a spotlight on Australian composers Meta Cohen, Stuart Greenbaum, Calvin Bowman and Linda Kouvaras (including a powerful new work set to Gwen Harwood's poetry performed by Helen Morse), to Elvis Costello's Juliet Letters and the music of iconic Chilean artist Violeta Parra, the contemporary offerings are just as enticing.

ENDGAMES: Three short works by Hibberd, Beckett and Chekhov 
22 May – 1 June

Image of Max Gillies - 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.

Fat Pig: The Opera by Matt Boehler and Miriam Gordon-Stewart
5 – 8 June                                                     
 
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.

Happy-Go-Wrong by Andi Snelling                                                                
25 – 29 June

Image of Andi Snelling  - Happy-Go-Wrong

Powerhouse performer Andi Snelling is in the fight of her life, stuck behind “the fourth wall”. Little does she know, she is about to orchestrate her own rescue and return to the stage with a second chance at life. Based on the true story of a life-changing tick bite, Happy-Go-Wrong is a visceral physical theatre odyssey that celebrates the preciousness of life. Having received numerous awards and five star reviews, this “highlight of the year” (The Age) returns to Melbourne for a very special homecoming.

fortyfivedownstairs.com

All images by Cameron Grant @parenthesy