Theatre at fortyfivedownstairs in 2024

Image: The Inheritance

fortyfivedownstairs has announced 17 productions and the return of the Chamber Music Festival for the Melbourne  theatre's 2024 season!

"What excites me about this program is the ambition of the artists involved," says Artistic Director of the Theatre, Cameron Lukey. "Whether it's a writer telling their life story or their family’s story; an actor creating/playing multiple roles; a collaboration with an international company; or a company taking on a two-part epic, a double bill, or revisiting past successes to push them even further, each show represents an inspiring challenge for its creators. For the audience, I hope we deliver the diversity they've come to expect. That's certainly been the goal in putting together a program that includes two Australian premieres of international works, three return seasons of recent Australian works, seven new works, three new adaptations of classics, an opera, and a chamber music festival. It's going to be a busy year!" 

 

FULL PROGRAM DETAILS: https://fortyfivedownstairs.com/events/category/theatre/

 

THE INHERITANCE by Matthew Lopez

17 January – 11 February

fortyfivedownstairs presents the Australian premiere of the epic two-part Tony and Olivier Award winner for Best Play. Inspired by E. M. Forster’s Howards End, directed by Kitan Petkovski (The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven), and featuring a cast of 13, The Inheritance spans generations in an “exquisitely truthful and funny” (The Telegraph UK) exploration of love and legacy.

 

THE WHISPER by Brodie Murray

15 – 25 February

In this story of courage and bravery directed by Maryanne Sam (Coconut Woman, Yirramboi Festival), a tip-off sparks a journey of Indigenous family survival, made by horse and cart under the cover of dark. Set against the racialized backdrop of 1940s Australia, a Ngarrindjeri family must make the impossible choice to leave home and country forever. “I wanted to write this play to honour family, legacy, the stories of survival of people from South Eastern Australia, and to honour my Nan and her journey” says playwright Brodie Murray.

 

MILKED by Simon Longman

28 February – 10 March

Paul is trying to find a job. Snowy is trying to find himself. Fate, in the form of a cow named Sandy, has other plans. Iain Sinclair (A View From The Bridge, MTC) directs the Australian premiere of Longman’s black comedy, featuring Laurence Boxhall (The Mousetrap, Comedy Theatre) and William McKenna (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).

Image by Kirsty O'Connor

 

CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL

12 – 24 March

Following the success of the inaugural Chamber Music Festival in March 2023, pianist Coady Green has again curated a diverse program of 14 events, including multiple Australian premieres, collaborations with Lyric Opera and the Wilin Centre, and performances from a lineup of artists such as pianist Michael Leslie, soprano Antoinette Halloran, actors Helen Morse and Paul English, and ensembles Songmakers Australia and the Divisi Chamber Singers.

 

THE EXACT DIMENSIONS OF HELL by Bridget Mackey

18 – 28 April

It’s 1998. Deep in the Australian suburbs, we meet a fourteen year old girl who wants to be a witch, and an older man who claims he can teach her how. Directed by Alice Darling (The Fence, Darebin Speakeasy), and featuring Matilda Gibbs and theatre-maker Daniel Schlusser, Mackey’s unflinching play demands a new narrative of gender, agency, and power.

Image by Gregory Lorenzutti.

 

WAY by Sally McKenzie

1 – 12 May

Written and performed by Sally McKenzie (Apple Cider Vinegar, Netflix), directed by Sean Mee (Box the Pony, Sydney Opera House), with sound design by J. David Franzke, WAY (included on the 2024 VCE Drama Playlist) uses filmed sequences and live performance to interweave the fictional journey of a documentary filmmaker with the lived experiences of four homeless women. “If you love theatre, see this” (Stage Whispers).

 

WE’RE BANKING ON IT! by Bloomshed and MUST

16 – 26 May

Ten years after the MUST production that launched the Bloomshed ensemble, these theatre companies are collaborating again to create a  pyramid scheme with this reprised corruption of Gogol’s The Government Inspector. A live theatrical seminar for the savvy entrepreneur, this is the only show that promises to double your investment (disclaimers abound)!

Image by Elena Ruefenacht

 

100 REASONS FOR WAR by Tom Holloway / CARPET AND SAND by Robert Reid

30 May – 16 June

Two plays, one cast, a gorilla, and a dozen or so sheep. Presented by Calamity Practice, directed by Green Room Award winner Bob Pavlich (The Winter’s Tale, La Mama), and performed by a cast of eight, this double bill of Australian plays blends the dramatic and the absurd in a search for truth and reason within the chaos. Both plays will be performed back-to-back on Saturdays and Sundays.

 

SHRAPNEL by Natalie Gamsu and Ash Flanders

18 – 23 June

A celebration of performer Natalie Gamsu’s (A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, MTC)  life journey as she searches for meaning through diabolically funny and deeply personal anecdotes of tsuris, the yiddish word for pain. Presented by Kadimah Yiddish Theatre, directed by Stephen Nicolazzo (Vampire Lesbians of Sodom), and featuring songs performed in Yiddish, Spanish, and English. 

Photo by Marija Ivkovic.

 

 

RECOLLECTION by Georgia Ketels

26 June – 7 July

Olivia, a mother, pieces her late teenage daughter Molly’s life into a perfume. Directed by Cathy Hunt (Little Brother, Big Sister, La Mama), Ketels’  new play will be brought to life as a sensory experience for audiences, employing scent to capture the play’s exploration of death, decay, and blossoming.

 

TWO REMAIN by Jake Heggie

25 – 28 July

Based on the true stories of Holocaust survivors Krystyna Zywulska, a Polish dissident, and Gad Beck, a Jewish gay man, this production of composer Jake Heggie’s Two Remain is a collaboration with Nightingale Opera in the USA, and a reminder of the enduring power of love and humanity.

 

EARNEST by Bloomshed (after The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde)

1 – 11 August

This self-aware adaptation transforms Wilde’s irreverent satire into a salacious display of gross indecency. Welcome to the Wilde side in Bloomshed’s latest take-down of high society. From the collective behind 2023’s productions of Animal Farm (Darebin Speakeasy) and A Dodgeball Named Desire, Earnest is a mix of diatribe, dance breaks, and debauchery.

 

MILK and BLOOD by Benjamin Nichol

15 August – 1 September

Following the success of kerosene and SIRENS, Nichol continues his anthology series exploring love and loneliness across Australia with two new works written for and performed by Brigid Gallacher (In The Club, Theatreworks) and Charles Purcell (Apokalypsis, The Substation). Milk and Blood both present examinations of violence and desire, shame and self-sabotage, and the power of redemption.

Milk. Image by Jack Dixon-Gunn.

 

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA by William Shakespeare

5 – 22 September

Melbourne Shakespeare Company presents a gripping tale of power and passion, and the tragic sequel to their 2023 production of Julius Caesar. Director Richard Murphet will again take the helm.

 

BAD BOY by Patricia Cornelius

26 September – 6 October

The team behind the acclaimed production of RUNT – writer Patricia Cornelius (Do not go gentle…), director Susie Dee (Savages), and performer Nicci Wilks (SHIT) – present a new work tackling the enormous issue of misogyny and domestic violence. Wilks will inhabit the character of BAD BOY; a female actor openly playing a male role. Much of BAD BOY is in the power of what is unspoken, but what is said is electrifying.

 

RHINOCEROS by Zinnie Harris after Ionesco

31 October – 17 November

Spinning Plates Co. re-teams with director Cassandra Fumi and the creative team behind their successful production of THE CROCODILE for the second instalment in their ‘Beast Trilogy’. Brought stampeding into the 21st Century, Ionesco’s absurdist classic locks horns with conformity and responsibility as a town is thrown into chaos when, one by one, its residents begin transforming into Rhinoceroses.

Image by Spinning Plates Co.

 

 

THE HALL by Ro Bright and Pat Irwin

21 November – 1 December

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 (In the Club, Theatreworks), and features Jennifer Vuletic (Looking for Alibrandi, Malthouse Theatre).

 

SANKOFA by Amarantha Robinson

5 – 15 December

It is ok to go back and get what you have forgotten... 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.