Malthouse launches macabre, musical, irreverent 2025 theatre season

Paula Arundel will lead Malthouse Theatre’s 2025 season in two productions, including an epic retelling of Homer’s The Iliad and a new immersive adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds.

The Harry Potter and the Cursed Child star will step into shoes filled on screen by Tippi Hedren at Southbank’s Beckett Theatre in May.

Ms Arundel said being cast in the two very different iconic stories was “like being handed the keys to a heroic quest.”

“Gothic horror requires you to be searching around corners, looking for things,” she said. “There’s a macabre curiosity about stories like The Birds that we keep coming back to.”

Melbourne will see two du Maurier-Hitchcock adaptations next year, with Melbourne Theatre Company also set to present a new staging of Rebecca in October.

Ms Arundel will also star in Troy, an adaptation of Homer’s ancient classic The Iliad by Tom Wright.

Malthouse’s season line-up includes seven productions, ranging from a First Nations musical comedy to an irreverent take on Chekov, and a new fairy tale adaptation from legendary Australian cabaret artist Meow Meow.

Malthouse artistic director Matthew Lutton said, “we’ve found the most enlivening ideas from artists at the peak of their craft; every production is different, and we have made it a price accessible for you to see them all throughout the year.”

Tickets for all productions will be 25 per cent off until October 31 through Malthouse’s Early Birds discount policy. Standard tickets will range in price from $50 to $85 throughout the season.

“All the shows are the same scale and size [as past productions],” Mr Lutton said. “But this is a business case. We assume more seats will be filled by people who might previously have considered coming to our shows but didn’t because price was a barrier,” he said.

“It’s required some very detailed budgeting!”

Malthouse will announce more shows to be produced in collaboration with the Ilbijerri Indigenous theatre company, and with the RISING and Yirramboi festivals in 2025.

Truth

A new play, Truth, by acclaimed playwright Patricia Cornelius about whistle blower Julian Assange, will open the season. Five actors will portray Assange from his early teenage years in Melbourne through to his famous career as a hacker.

“Patricia is interested in exploring why we punish people who speak truth,” artistic director Mr Lutton said.

“Australia has that tendency to leave people to be hung out to dry which is why we wanted to tell this story about whistle blowers and how people respond to them.”

Thursday, February 13 to Saturday, March 8.

A Nightime Travesty

A Nightime Travesty is described as a “First Nations vaudevillian musical”.

Created by theatre troupe A Daylight Connection (fresh on the heels of critically acclaimed show Chase), it will use satire and elements of horror to examine Australia’s colonial past.

Mr Lutton said Travesty is its writers’ attempt to tackle a world in tumult. “You find a way to discuss things through slapstick and revolting humour,” he said.

Wednesday to Saturday, February 19 to 22.

The Birds

Audiences will don headphones for Malthouse’s immersive new production of The Birds.

Best known for the film adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock, the natural-horror-thriller stems from a short story by Daphne du Maurier first published in 1952, where a change in climate prompts birds to begin attacking humans.

“du Maurier was writing about the Cold War and the fear of being bombed,” Mr Lutton said. “It can be an allegory for climate change, political change, the big city if you live in the country. It taps into that feeling of being attacked by the world.”

Friday May 16 to Saturday June 7.

Echo

Echo by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (White Rabbit Red Rabbit) will be presented unrehearsed by a new actor reading the play for the first time at each performance.

Mr Soleimanpour will also be linked in by video call from Berlin allowing for direction as the performance progresses.

“The joy of this piece is connecting artists from all over the world,” Mr Lutton said. “And all without the need for carbon emissions.”

Monday to Saturday, July 14 to 19.

The Orchard

Melbourne theatre collective Pony Cam will present The Orchard, part irreverent reinvention of the Chekhov classic The Cherry Orchard, part commentary on the role of such adaptations in modern art.

“It’s a theatrical take on frustration with the modern world and the stories and plays that we’ve inherited,” Mr Lutton said.

“There’s something powerful about looking at these stories where people 100 or even 1,000 years ago have the same thoughts people are having now and asking: ‘why have they resurfaced?’” he said.

Tuesday to Saturday, August 5 to 16.

Troy

Tom Wright has tackled ancient Greece before. Troy will be his first original stage foray into Homeric history. A cast of seven will bring to life the epic story of the Trojan War in his new adaptation of The Iliad.

“The story of Troy has gods and monsters, queens and kings, and great sacrifices, it has everything,” actor Ms Arundel said.

“It asks how we can deal with huge feelings of rage, grief and bereavement, and if they can be outweighed by honour and pride.”

Thursday to Thursday, September 4 to 25.

The Red Shoes

Australia’s preeminent cabaret diva Meow Meow will close the 2025 Malthouse season with a musical retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale The Red Shoes.

“Meow Meow has an abundance of ideas,” Mr Lutton said.

“The Red Shoes is her lamenting there’s not enough beauty and art in the world and asking where it’s all gone, but then wondering what if the pendulum swung the other way and suddenly, we were all unable to stop dancing, just like in the fairy tale.”

Wednesday to Saturday, November 19 to 6 December 6. •