Malthouse Theatre has launched its 2025 season, heralding a year of theatrics, music theatre, drama, horror and joy.
Unveiling seven inspired productions by Australian and international theatre makers, Malthouse is committed to making sure the arts are accessible to more people, more often.
From familiar stories of the ancient past to a script no one has seen, Artistic Director Matthew Lutton sets the tone for next year’s season by affirming that theatre goers will be enticed to step out of their daily lives and into an alternative world.
Audiences will also be able to enjoy more extraordinary theatre throughout the year with ticket prices significantly lowered across the season and – for the very first time – an early bird discount offer available for every single Malthouse production in 2025.
Upon helming his ninth program, Lutton says: “This season of theatre is for the curious who are seeking adrenaline, fun, rich ideas, and who want to explore what theatre can be. We’ve found the most enlivening ideas from artists at the peak of their craft; every production is different, and we have made it price accessible for you to see them all throughout the year.”
From February 13-March 8 is Truth, a new work by Patricia Cornelius, directed by Susie Dee, telling the story of Julian Assange from his early teenage years in Melbourne. An undertaking of a complicated truth that aims to unpack the costs of not staying silent.
February 19-22 is A Nighttime Travesty, an epic First Nations vaudevillian musical nightmare. Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo.
Malthouse Comedy is presented March 26 – April 20 as part of the Melbourne International
Comedy Festival.
From May 16-June 7 is Daphne du Maurier’s classic gothic horror turned Hitchcock classic, The Birds, starring Paula Arundell.
The most performed playwright in the history of Iranian theatre Nassim Soleimanpour and acclaimed director Omar Elerian, push the boundaries of Soleimanpour’s signature unrehearsed cold reads to the next level in ECHO:Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen, from July 14-19 . Every night, a new performer takes to the stage at Malthouse not knowing what is going to be asked of them. Unrehearsed and deliberately unprepared, the script becomes their only guide as they journey through the story of the playwright, connected live from his home in Berlin.
Melbourne’s Pony Cam has an axe to grind in The Orchard – the award-winning collective’s new work at the Beckett Theatre from August 5-16 Wrestling with what they have inherited and what has been sold from under their feet, bear witness as audiences are welcomed to a crumbling cherry orchard based on Anton Chekhov’s final play.
Directed by Matthew Lutton and written by Tom Wright, be transported to a time when gods walk among us, epic battles are fought on the sands of time and no one escapes the hand of violence in Troy.
Set in 12th Century BCE and featuring a powerhouse ensemble cast, seven actors assemble to deliver a physically demanding and hauntingly poetic performance under the eyes of the Trojan horse, playing from September 4 – 25..
Meow Meow ‘remedies’ Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes in fresh staging directed by Kate Champion and co-produced with Sydney’s Belvoir Theatre and Perth’s Black Swan Theatre Company. From November 19 – December 6.
Malthouse Theatre’s education project continues with The Suitcase Series, its award-winning participatory program for Year 9 and 10 students.
In 2024–25, the series will empower young people to tackle the greatest challenge of their generation: climate change. Drawing on Surrealism, Magic Realism and AfroFuturism, Malthouse’s newest education commission Who No Kno Go Kno written by Kudakwashe and directed by Effie Nkrumah uses physical theatre, song, puppetry, mask and percussion; a cross-disciplinary melding of Western and non-Western dramaturgy
Further announcements will be made for other shows presented in collaboration with Yirramboi, Rising and Ilbijerri next year.
Location: Malthouse, 113 Sturt St, Southbank
Tickets now on sale: malthousetheatre.com.au

• Cheryl Threadgold