For theatre lovers, this time of the year is a real treat, discovering what the country’s mainstage theatres have on offer for their upcoming seasons. MTC is delivering an electric line-up. Belvoir’s season is eclectic. STC is leaning very commercial under Mitchell Butel. Amongst all the excitement of these new year promises, there’s something really thrilling about programming from a brand new Artistic Director, as in the case of Malthouse 2027 under the eye of Dean Bryant.
The company
lost a long-standing AD in Matthew Lutton nearly two years ago and the 2026
season, designed by the board, has been a wonderful grab bag of stuff. Bryant’s
approach feels a little more cohesive – especially with him directing three of the eight shows of the season, along with being key creator on a fourth.
The season
opens with The Tartuffe written by and starring Eddie Perfect, with
Bryant as director. Inspired by Moliere’s play from 1664. This time, though,
instead of Orgon’s family falling for a fraudulent vagrant, he and his family
are under the spell of an AI-powered hairdressing robot who eventually gets
access to everything. The team behind the Victorian Opera’s production of Candide
are together again for this one. After his Broadway success with Beetlejuice,
Perfect is back in Melbourne writing satire, as he’s done previously for MTC
with The Beast and Vivid White.
Next up is
poet Ellen van Neerven’s debut play, swim, which debuted at Griffin
Theatre in 2024. It will be directed by Ilbijerri Artistic Director Andrea James,
who also directed the original production in Sydney. It’s a magic realist play
that delves into heritage and gender diversity and promises to be lyrical and
affecting. It features rising stars Cynda Beare and Tahlee Fereday.
In June,
playwright Joanna Murray-Smith returns to the Malthouse for the first time in
over two decades for an adaptation of Charlotte Wood’s novel, Stoneyard Devotional.
Murray-Smith’s earliest work was staged at the Malthouse, then Playbox Theatre,
including the Australian premiere of her classic, Honour. She teams up
with director Sarah Goodes, who she has worked with several times recently on shows such as Julia and Switzerland. The play will star
Lisa McCune and Catherine McClements. The book was Pulitzer-Prize nominated and
I hear there’s going to be a terrifying mouse plague.
After this
epic drama comes MAGIC SING: Pinoy Pop Power!, an evening of pop songs about Filipino pride and the 1986 People Power Revolution. Created by
Victoria Falconer and Dean Bryant (who previously worked together on My
Brilliant Career), the show will star three Filipino-Australian divas
belting out power ballads, led by Christina O’Neill. The show will be directed and choreographed by Yvette Lee.
Malthouse’s
new work associate, Keziah Warner, has penned a one-woman adaptation of Henry
James’ gothic horror, The Turn of the Screw. James’ classic of the genre
has recently been adapted for the stage in London, for Netflix as The
Haunting of Bly Manor and is on stage soon from Victorian Opera. It’s a
potent tale of one woman’s experience that is sure to have people talking about
whether the narrator has a story worth believing.
Writer Yve
Blake, whose recent adaptation of Macbeth as teen-sensation Mackenzie
has been showered with praise and will return to the Arts Centre Melbourne next
year, has written a new play called Jackpot. Directed by Bryant, the
play is about two sisters negotiating the care of their mother over one
sleepless drunken night. This is going to be darkly hilarious, no doubt.
In
September, Thomas Weatherell’s latest work, Lucy, will star the writer
and will also be directed by Bryant. His solo debut, Blue, premiered to
rapturous reviews and this new work about the evolution of a young relationship
promises to be tricky and complex. What do you do about a relationship when it
changes shape and you no longer recognise it?
And to
round out the year, indie theatre darlings Bloomshed will return to the Merlyn
after their Pride & Prejudice was received with outstanding reviews this
year. In November 2027, they will present an unflinching – and probably
unhinged – take on Margaret Mitchell’s classic American play, Gone With The
Wind, but dropped into the Australian mythos. Bloomshed’s work is always
chaotic but politically sharp and I’m excited to see their take on women,
politics, war and an imminent election.
Dean Bryant has served up an exciting, varied first season under his leadership at the theatre. It’s full of promise and from show to show, it delivers a kaleidoscope of work that should thrill regular Malthouse subscribers and open the door to a whole new audience.
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