Malthouse Theatre Reveals 2024 Season of Eight Upcoming Works
Learn more about the lineup here!
From the stage premiere of an award-winning Australian memoir about growing up the child of Black migrants in white middle-class Australia, to a world premiere new work from Back to Back Theatre; from Shakespeare’s Scottish Play reimagined from Lady Macbeth’s perspective to a technically challenging sci-fi adventure; from a new work from the bold and candid Nicola Gunn, to the return season of a much-lauded stage adaptation of a Nobel Prize laureate’s work; from an exploration of secret queer identity within the confines of a 1990s Pentecostal Church, to closing the year with a holiday experience that truly sleighs, Malthouse promises eight compelling reasons to visit their theatres in 2024.
Said Malthouse Theatre Co-CEO & Artistic Director Matthew Lutton OAM: ‘This is a highly theatrical season. There isn’t a moment of domesticity or realism in sight, as every work celebrates theatre that transports you into fantasies, heightened realities, folklore, or ecstasy. It is very deliberately a season of productions celebrating how theatrical theatre can be.’
The year opens in February in unflinching style with the theatrical premiere of The Hate Race, a retelling of Caribbean-Australian writer Maxine Beneba Clarke’s best-selling, award-winning memoir, starring Zahra Newman.
After a triumphant debut in 2022, garnering wide acclaim, four Green Room Awards and numerous five-star reviews—Malthouse is proud to present a return season of Kadimah Yiddish Theatre’s Yentl. Directed and co-written by Gary Abrahams, Elise Hearst and Kadimah Yiddish Theatre Artistic Co-Directors Galit Klas and Evelyn Krape.
In May, audiences are invited to join an odyssey of self-discovery and liberation with Homo Pentecostus. Actor, dancer, and writer Joel Bray unveils an intimate exploration of his secret queer identity within the confines of a 1990s Pentecostal Church.
May also sees the world premiere of the latest work by ground-breaking company Back to Back Theatre, MULTIPLE BAD THINGS.
In the second half of the year, visionary playwright Zinnie Harris reimagines Shakespeare’s Scottish Play from Lady Macbeth’s perspective in Macbeth (An Undoing). Starring Bojana Novakovic (Love Me) and Johnny Carr (Five Bedrooms), it is directed by Malthouse Theatre Artistic Director Matthew Lutton.
The Interpreters (Apologia), a new work from revered first-person artist Nicola Gunn (Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster), unpacks her personal fantasy of being a French actress.
Acclaimed writer Pamela Carter and Malthouse Theatre Artistic Director Matthew Lutton collaborate on an ambitious, highly technical stage version of Under the Skin, adapted from the Michel Faber sci-fi novel.
Fat Fruit (Sarah Ward & Bec Matthews) and director Susie Dee close out Malthouse’s 2024 program with a wild, mutinous, punk celebration of Christmas, F*ck Christmas.
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Ambition and the Aftermath The University of Melbourne (7/02-7/02) |
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Arts Centre Melbourne presents New Owner The Show Room, Arts Centre Melbourne (7/17-7/18) |
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Pride And Prejudice* (*sort of) The Athenaeum (6/18-7/18) |
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Kindred People 2026 The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts (9/01-9/05) |
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Bring It On - The Musical The National Theatre (7/11-7/19) |
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A Taste of Ireland - The Irish Music and Dance Sensation Wendouree Centre for the Performing Arts (9/20-9/20) |
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The Music and Life of Barbra Streisand starring Melinda Schneider Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne (8/07-8/07) |
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Play In A Day: Volpone, Or, The Fox The University of Melbourne (11/18-11/18) |
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest - Preview Athenaeum Theatre One (11/13-11/15) |
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Family Fiesta heads to the Forest in 2026! The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts (7/01-7/04) |