Big Dog Theatre at The Meat Market, Vic. Melbourne Fringe. Oct 7th - 18th, 2025
Slick, whacky fringe theatre. Conversations with a Fried Egg is an absurd comedy theatre show about a family of rats who all encounter an ephemeral fried egg. The show appears well organized and well-rehearsed, for an opening night this cast really nailed it. It seems like no-one missed an entrance and no-one dropped a line. The cast of four work very well together and are not flying by the seat of their pants, they play in a generous and tight way.
By James Gaddas. Feet First Collective at Flight Path Theatre, Marrickville, Sydney. Directed by Teresa Izzard. 7 – 11 October, 2025
Though written 36 years ago for performance at Sydney’s Stables Theatre, this hour-length play shows exactly how a one-person production can carry the full weight of investigation. In this case, it’s into the masculinity and sheer brutal violence of prize fighting. The play, written by James Gaddas in tribute to his boxer father, is an extended boxing match.
Queensland Ballet, Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre, Brisbane. 2–18 October 2025
As Queensland Ballet’s new artistic director, Ivan Gil-Ortega, prepares to announce his plans for 2026, the current season at the Thomas Dixon Centre is coming to a curtain call. This year the adult ballet productions that started in March with Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet will be bookended with another unconventional love story – the highly anticipated, erotically charged Dangerous Liaisons.
By George Bernard Shaw. National Theatre Live. Sharmill Films. In cinemas from Oct 24th, 2025
These days, it’s hard to believe that Mrs Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw, written in 1893, was not performed until 1902 because the Lord Chamberlain, the censor of plays, refused it a license because its subject is organized prostitution.
It is, of course, about much more than prostitution. It is a play about relationships, power and compassion.
Performed by Michele Owen. Motley Bauhaus. Melbourne Fringe Festival. Oct 6th - 12th, 2025
Loserland is a solo character comedy performed by Melbourne based physical comedian Michele Owen. She performs to a full room in The Cellar at The Motley Bauhaus. The Motley Bauhaus is truly living up to its modus operandi of being a hub venue for fringe artists. Even at 6pm on a sunny Tuesday evening the venue has a buzz. The Cellar stage that Michele performs on is less than one metre deep, the room is small, so the audience, by necessity, is directly involved in the show.
By Daphne Du Maurier. Adapted and directed by Anne-Louise Sarks. Presented by Melbourne Theatre Company, Southbank Theatre. The Sumner, 140 Southbank Blvd, Southbank, Melbourne. 30 September — 5 November 2025.
This sumptuous adaptation preserves all the fundamental elements of De Maurier’s novel whilst also acknowledging its contemporary relevance. This is achieved by de-contextualising the setting visually. Locations are still referred to in the text, but the set design (Marg Horwell) is more suggestive of the locations rather than attempting to recreate them. This is particularly effective as the set design incorporates some stunning elements that make a great aesthetic impact. The costume design (Marg Horwell) is also mostly quite timeless.
By Jonathan Larson. Opera Australia and LPD Productions. Director: Shaun Rennie. Music Director: Jack Earle. Choreographer: Luca Dinardo. Set Design: Dann Barber. Lighting Design: Paul Jackson. Sound Designer: Evan Drill. Costume Design: Ella Butler: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. 27 September to 1 November, 2025
As a teenager in the 1960s and early1970s growing up to a dual soundtrack of Broadway musicals on the family stereo and rock’n’roll on my transistor, their synthesis into rock musicals like Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Rocky Horror was my theatrical and musical happy place.
By Tom Ballard. Melbourne Fringe Festival. ETU Ballroom, Trades Hall. 1 – 12 October 2025
Tom Ballard and director Ben Russell have assembled a fine and varied cast of comedians/actors (including Ballard himself) to play a bunch of comedians chewing the fat, reminiscing, swapping gags, competing (of course) and complaining about audiences. They’re backstage at a pub venue on a Tuesday (the slowest) night, waiting to go on. We see them go on for their acts, and we see them come back, and we hear their audience responses – or lack of them. These are weary, battle-hardened veterans – except maybe Tiana Hogben (‘Mai’), who calls hersel
By Claire Yorston. Presented by Sun and Wine Arts Company. PIP Theatre Studio, Brisbane. 26 September to 4 October 2025
Joni Mitchell explored an intense breakup and new relationship through the colour ‘blue’, and Bob Dylan certainly paid some dues getting tangled up in ‘blue’, but Brisbane-based writer/director/lighting designer, Claire Yorston, uses her interpretation of ‘blue’ to tinge a rom-com scenario with a whole shade of anxious doubt.
