Melbourne Theatre Company Season 2026

Image: Drew Livingston, Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward, Christina O'Neill, Kala Gare, Lincoln Elliott, Victoria Falconer and Raj Labade in My Brilliant Career. Photo by Pia Johnson. 

World Premieres, Major Adaptations, Classics Reimagined, and a West End Hit

Melbourne Theatre Company Artistic Director & Co-CEO Anne-Louise Sarks has revealed the Company’s 2026 season – a program of 12 productions, including seven world premieres, an Australian premiere of a smash-hit play from London’s West End, and new renditions of classic works.

Ten of the twelve productions are by Australian playwrights, and seven have been developed through Melbourne Theatre Company’s industry-leading NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program, cementing the Company’s role as an incubator driving the development of new Australian work.

“At Melbourne Theatre Company we’re always asking: what stories do our audiences need right now? In 2026 we’re responding with a bold, ambitious season that speaks to the complexities of our time – delivering audiences a mix of joy and rage and love and hope,” said Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks.

“This season is about connecting – across generations, cultures and ideas. It’s about reflecting our world back to ourselves and inviting audiences to experience both the familiar and worlds they may never have traversed before. Whether it’s through beloved literary adaptations, fresh Australian voices, or internationally acclaimed works, these are stories about who we are, and who we might become.”

Image (right): Catherine Văn-Davies, Uncle Vanya. Photo by Jo Duck.

Highlights for 2026 include:

• Seven world premieres: including A Room with a View, and six developed through Melbourne Theatre Company’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program: Do Not Pass Go, West Gate, Shoelace Chaser, Losing Face, Eliza, and Before I Forget.
• A major Australian premiere from London’s West End: Ryan Calais Cameron’s Retrograde, directed by Bert LaBonté and starring newcomer Donné Ngabo (Last Days) and Alan Dale (24, Indiana Jones, The O.C.).
• Two reinvigorated classics: Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece, re-examined by one of Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, directed by Anne-Louise Sarks and starring screen and stage actor Daniel Henshall (Snowtown, The Babadook, Okja), and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, a classic production not seen at the Company for two decades, starring the Alison Whyte (Death of a Salesman, Jacky).
• A new literary stage adaptation: A Room with a View, reimagined from E. M. Forster’s beloved 1908 novel by playwright Grace Chapple, starring Nathalie Morris (Bump). Co-produced with Belvoir St Theatre.
• Encore season: My Brilliant Career returns to Southbank Theatre and will tour to Canberra, Sydney and Wollongong. 
• Ten productions written by Australian playwrights: including S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack (the team behind Counting and Cracking), and new works from Marieke Hardy, Jean Tong, Tom Holloway, Kamarra Bell-Wykes, Dennis McIntosh and Madelaine Nunn.
• Stars of the stage and screen: including Daniel Henshall (Snowtown, The Babadook, Okja), Steve Bastoni (The Matrix Reloaded), Daniela Farinacci (Lantana), Lachy Hulme (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), Michala Banas (Upper Middle Bogan, The Odd Couple), Dan Spielman (Stateless, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes), Belinda McClory (The Doctor Blake Mysteries, The Matrix), Alan Dale (24, Indiana Jones, The O.C.), Tim Draxl (In Our Blood) and more.

Alongside the 12 productions, the Company will continue to evolve its pioneering programs – supporting First Nations theatre makers through Deadly Creatives, investing in new pathways for early-career artists through Future Creatives and the MinterEllison Future Directors initiative, and inspiring the next generation of theatre lovers through its Education & Families work.

“We are more than the stories we stage – we are a company investing in the future of theatre in this country. That means building opportunities for artists, nurturing emerging voices and connecting people through the experience of live theatre,” said Sarks.

Image (Right): Tyallah Bullock , Melodie Reynolds-Diarra,and Roxanne McDonald, Before I Forget. Photo by Jo Duck.

The Productions

After winning five Green Room Awards in 2024 — including Outstanding Production — the back-by-popular-demand musical My Brilliant Career returns on 23 January to kick off Season 2026. Once again starring Kala Gare as the unapologetically ambitious Sybylla Melvyn, Dean Bryant, Mathew Frank and Sheridan Harbridge’s musical adaptation of Miles Franklin’s iconic novel continues its journey, touring to audiences across Australia. A joyous, fiercely independent celebration of self-determination, My Brilliant Career brings Sybylla’s story back and bolder than ever.

From 14 February comes the world premiere of Do Not Pass Go, a sharp, absurdist comedy by Jean Tong (Heartbreak High). Commissioned under the Company’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program, this acerbic two-hander directed by Katy Maudlin (Meet Me at Dawn) and featuring Belinda McClory (The Doctor Blake Mysteries, The Matrix) is a story of two colleagues navigating identity, politics and their generational divide with wit and wry observation.

Image: Steve Bastoni, Lachy Hulme, Daniela Farinacci - West Gate. Photo by Jo Duck

Australian screen veterans Steve Bastoni (The Matrix Reloaded), Daniela Farinacci (Lantana), Lachy Hulme (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and Darcy Kent (New Gold Mountain) lead the cast of Dennis McIntosh’s searing new work, West Gate. Telling the story of Australia’s worst industrial disaster – the West Gate Bridge collapse of 1970 that killed 35 men – McIntosh’s retelling of the human toll will cement itself as a quintessential Melbourne story. Award-winning director Iain Sinclair (A View from the Bridge) returns to the Company with much of the creative team from its 2019 success story to helm this emotional new work. From 10 March.

Alison Whyte (Death of a Salesman) and Tim Draxl (In Our Blood, A Place to Call Home) lead The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams’s long-enduring masterpiece. A poetic and heartbreaking portrait of a languishing family and the fragile illusions we cling to in order to survive, this classic memory play returns to the Melbourne Theatre Company stage for the first time in two decades. Directed by Melbourne Theatre Company Associate Artist Mark Wilson (Much Ado About Nothing, Jacky). From 27 April.

A brand-new comedy drama developed through Melbourne Theatre Company’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program will take over the Lawler from 9 May, before touring regional Victoria. Shoelace Chaser is a warm, funny and heart-hitting exploration of chasing your dreams, teenage friendship and caregiving – a celebration of the unsung ways we show up for one another every day. Written by Madelaine Nunn and directed by former MinterEllison Future Director Liv Satchell. The cast includes Leigh Lule (Trophy Boys) as 17-year-old Thea, as well as Zoe Boesen (Abigail’s Party).

Hailed a ‘brilliantly tense’ (The Independent) triumph in its West End premiere, Olivier Award-nominated playwright Ryan Calais Cameron’s Retrograde examines the racial politics of 1950s Hollywood in a dramatic retelling of an encounter between actor Sidney Poitier and a fast-talking studio lawyer. Actor-turned-director Bert LaBonté helms rising star Donné Ngabo (Last Days) as Poitier, alongside stage and screen veteran Alan Dale (The O.C., 24) in this taut, ‘wickedly funny’ (The Standard) knockout. From 16 May.

Image (right): Donné Ngabo, Retrograde. Photo by Jo Duck

From Marieke Hardy comes Losing Face from 22 June – a perimenopausal Weekend at Bernie’s for the wellness generation. When a medical mishap turns disastrous, three women on a weekend away at a high-end medi spa are left with some wildly unexpected and gravity-defying side effects. Directed by Leticia Cáceres (Bump), this new work looks ageing squarely in the eye – and laughs loudly. Starring Genevieve Morris (Dying: A Memoir, Comedy Inc.) and Michala Banas (Upper Middle Bogan, The Odd Couple).

Joanna Murray-Smith (Julia, Berlin) reimagines Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya for a new era in this production directed by Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks. From 21 July at Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse, the play revisits Chekhov’s wit, frustration and the fragile hope of change with Murray-Smith's trademark clarity. This is the first Melbourne Theatre Company staging of Chekhov in decades and features a stellar cast including AACTA Award-winner Daniel Henshall (The Babadook, How to Make Gravy) and Catherine Văn-Davies (The Twelve).

From S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack, the team behind Counting and Cracking, comes their epic follow-up, The Jungle and the Sea. The sweeping family drama of justice and love is set against the civil war in Sri Lanka and is drawn from real-life testimonies. The play premiered at Belvoir St Theatre in 2022 and it won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama in 2024. From 14 August.

The world premiere of four-time AWGIE Award winner Tom Holloway’s Eliza is a prescient interrogation of the birth of AI and the boundaries of human connection. Based on real events, Eliza tells the story of Dr Joseph Weizenbaum, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor who begins testing a new computer program designed to simulate talk therapy. Directed by Paige Rattray (Black is the New White) and starring Manali Datar (The Wrong Gods) and Dan Spielman (Stateless, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes), this new Australian play explores the true cost of innovation at a time when the conversation has never been more urgent. From 28 September.

Image (right): Dan Spielman, Eliza. Photo by Jo Duck.

Written and directed by Jagera/Badtjala/Butchulla playwright Kamarra Bell-Wykes (Blak in the Room, 37), Before I Forget draws loosely on real events to craft a poignant tribute to motherhood, family and culture. Wykes' brand-new work about a First Nations activist, linguist and matriarch living with dementia and the ripple effects on her daughter and granddaughter honours the bonds between women and the power of storytelling to preserve what matters most. Starring Tyallah Bullock (The Wandering), Melodie Reynolds-Diarra (Black is the New White), Roxanne McDonald (Australia Day) and Edward Valent. From 24 October.

For the first time, E. M. Forster’s classic novel A Room with a View is adapted for the Australian stage, a co-production with Belvoir St Theatre. With Nathalie Morris (Bump) as Lucy Honeychurch, this playful and romantic reimagining written by Grace Chapple (Never Closer) and directed by Hannah Goodwin (The Almighty Sometimes, The Wrong Gods) asks what it means to choose love and liberty in a world full of expectations. This big-hearted rom-com is closing out Season 2026 from 14 November.

For more information visit mtc.com.au

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Image: Anandavalli, The Jungle and the Sea. Photo by Daniel Boud