Malthouse Theatre 2026 Season

Image: Kat Stewart in Break of Day. Photographer: Sulaiman Enayatzada(2)

Malthouse Theatre has unveiled its 2026 program, inviting audiences into a year of intimate portraits, radical reimaginings, powerful new voices and unforgettable live experiences.

With works spanning contemporary drama, adaptations, comedy, and cabaret, Malthouse continues its commitment to presenting theatre that speaks to our times.

“Our 2026 program is a testament to the extraordinary ambition, creativity, and diversity of artists working today,” said Vivia Hickman, Executive Producer & Co-CEO of Malthouse Theatre.

“It brings together a dynamic range of voices, some iconic and beloved, others fresh and daring, who are shaping the cultural conversation in powerful ways. Through their work, we are opening our doors to stories that not only inspire and entertain but also speak with urgency to our audiences and to the complex times we live in. Each piece invites us to listen more deeply, to see more clearly, and to imagine more boldly what our shared future might hold.”

Image: Rachael Maza and Lisa Maza in Black Light. Photographer: Nicole Reed

Opening the season are two new Malthouse commissions, beginning with Black Light (13 February - 7 March), written and directed by Larrakia, Yanyuwa, Bardi and Wardaman person Jada Alberts (Brothers Wreck), starring real-life sisters Lisa Maza and Rachael Maza. This portrait of contemporary Blak motherhood captures life under the weight of fear, resilience and love.

Image: Megan Wilding in Game.Set.Match. Photographer: Guilia McGauran

Then from 1–23 May, Game. Set. Match., written by and starring comedic actor and proud Gamilaroi woman Megan Wilding, takes audiences on a journey from opposites-attract rom-com to devastating revenge thriller, under the direction of Malthouse’s New Work Associate, Jessica Arthur.

The world premiere of the award-winning new Australian play Break of Day (7–29 August) by Steve Rodgers will see director Sarah Goodes once again team up with stage and screen star Kat Stewart (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf). Together, they bring to life a moving tale of a mother and daughter navigating life in a town the NBN forgot.

Image: Christie Whelan Browne in All About Eve. Photographer: Nicole Reed.

Later in the year, incoming Malthouse Artistic Director Dean Bryant will take on Ivo van Hove’s stage adaptation of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s American classic All About Eve (20 November - 12 December). This thrilling tale of ambition and celebrity stars Christie Whelan Browne in the dual roles of aging Broadway star Margo Channing and ingénue Eve Harrington.

Bryant reflected, “All About Eve is a story I've been obsessed with putting on stage for years. It's wicked, hilarious, full of juicy roles for actors, and is the uber-story about the relentless nature of ambition. Not to mention it has some of the sharpest dialogue ever written. I can't wait for audiences to see this story, adapted by genius Ivo van Hove, onstage in Australia for the first time.

“To direct my first production as Artistic Director of Malthouse with this fierce, stylish and unsettling work feels both terrifying and exhilarating. Christie Whelan Browne and I have made ambitious theatre pieces together, but this one really raises the bar. Having her take on the iconic roles of Margo and Eve, often playing scenes with herself, will be a theatrical event unlike anything we've seen."

Image: Michelle Lim Davidson in Koreaboo. Photographer: David Boon.

The Griffin Theatre Company production of Michelle Lim Davidson’s Koreaboo (24 September - 10 October) arrives at Malthouse following a sold-out 2025 season in Sydney. Directed by Jessica Arthur, Davidson’s debut play takes audiences to Seoul on a tender journey of identity and belonging.

Image: Paul Capsis and Adam Noviello in HOUSE OF ROT_ GREY GARDENS.

Paul Capsis (Cabaret) and Adam Noviello (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) bring a cabaret invocation of Big and Little Edie to the Merlyn for three nights only, with Green Door Theatre Company’s HOUSE OF ROT: GREY GARDENS (18-20 June) created by Dino Dimitriadis and Victoria Falconer. Centred around two eccentric recluses living in a house slowly falling in on itself, this is part unholy communion, part elegy in heels. Beauty fades, madness sings.

Image: Bloomshed in Pride and Prejudice. Photographer: Cameron Grant, Parenthesy.

Following a critically acclaimed tour season traversing Preston to Geelong to Canberra in 2025, Malthouse welcomes Bloom­shed’s staging of Pride and Prejudice (14-23 May). Jane Austen’s classic romance and society satire is given a modern twist, reimagined from the depths of a housing crisis.

Choreographer Stephanie Lake returns to Malthouse in July with the world premiere of her latest contemporary dance work, Vista (22 July - 1 August). Featuring an extraordinary ensemble of dancers and creative collaborators, Vista will showcase Stephanie Lake Company’s signature explosive physicality, poetic imagery, and razor-sharp precision.

Image: The Nightline. Credit Art-Work Agency

Continuing to support theatrical innovation in all its forms, Malthouse will transform its Bagging Room into a unique live performance experience, The Nightline (13-29 August), created by Roslyn Oades and Bob Scott. Exploring themes of loneliness and connection, audiences are invited to navigate a switchboard of hundreds of real-life, anonymous voice messages left by shift workers, insomniacs, truck drivers, new parents, revellers, and all manner of fellow night owls.

Image: Students in The Suitcase Series

The program also features the world premiere of Ritual Ritual Ritual (19-31 October) by Rae Perks, an exploration of climate change through intergenerational hope, commissioned for Malthouse’s award-winning high school participatory program, The Suitcase Series.

A cornerstone of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and attracting over 23,000 people annually, Malthouse Comedy (26 March - 19 April) is back for its 10th anniversary season. This year, Malthouse will also host the inaugural Australian Trans Theatre Festival (19-31 January), showcasing new works and workshops by leading trans and gender diverse artists, including Travis Alabanza, Daley Rangi and Zoe Terakes.

In 2026, three Malthouse productions go on the road with The Birds starring Paula Arundell at Belvoir (14 May–14 June), Wake in Fright starring Zahra Newman, presented by Griffin Theatre Company at Belvoir (17 June–5 July), and Meow Meow’s The Red Shoes at Perth’s His Majesty’s Theatre (26 February–1 March).

Tickets for Malthouse Theatre’s 2026 season are on sale via www.malthousetheatre.com.au/

2026 Season Dates

BLACK LIGHT by Jada Alberts
Directed by Jada Alberts
Cast includes Tahlee Fereday, Liza Maza and Rachael Maza
13 Feb-7 Mar, Merlyn Theatre

GAME.SET.MATCH. by Megan Wilding
Directed by Jessica Arthur
Cast includes Megan Wilding
1-23 May, Beckett Theatre

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE created by Bloomshed, after Jane Austen
Cast includes Laura Aldous, Elizabeth Brennan, Syd Brisbane, Emily Carr, James Jackson, Anna Louey, James Malcher and Lauren Swain
14-23 May, Merlyn Theatre

HOUSE OF ROT: GREY GARDENS created by Dino Dimitriades and Victoria Falconer
Directed by Dino Dimitriades
Musical Direction by Victoria Falconer
Cast includes Paul Capsis & Adam Noviello
18-20 Jun, Merlyn Theatre

VISTA  by Stephanie Lake Company
Choreographed by Stephanie Lake
Cast includes Tyrel Dulvarie, Marni Green, Darci O’Rourke, Hugo Poulet, Robert Tinning and Georgia Van Gil
22 Jul-1 Aug, Merlyn Theatre

BREAK OF DAY by Steve Rodgers
Directed by Sarah Goodes
Cast includes Kat Stewart & Richard Piper
7-29 Aug, Merlyn Theatre

THE NIGHTLINE by Roslyn Oades and Bob Scott, with collaborators
Directed by Roslyn Oades
Cast includes Katia Molino
13-29 Aug, Bagging Room

KOREABOO by Michelle Lim Davidson
Directed by Jessica Arthur
Cast includes Michelle Lim Davidson & Heather Jeong
24 Sept-10 Oct, Beckett Theatre

ALL ABOUT EVE by Joseph L. Mankievicz, adapted for the stage by Ivo Van Hove
Based on the 1950 Twentieth Century Studios Film and the play ‘The Wisdom of Eve’ by Mary Orr
Directed by Dean Bryant
Cast includes Christie Whelan Browne and Christina O’Neill
20 Nov-12 Dec, Merlyn Theatre

RITUAL RITUAL RITUAL by Rae Perks
19-31 Oct, Beckett Theatre

Click here to read about more 2026 seasons across Australia