Melbourne Theatre Company reveals highly anticipated 2024 season

Following an unforgettable, 70-year anniversary season in 2023, Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) has announced a stellar line-up of performances for 2024.

Under the leadership of MTC artistic director and co-CEO Anne-Louise Sarks for the second year running, the company will feature in 12 productions throughout the season, showcasing a variety of works from Pulitizer prize-winning dramas and internationally renowned plays, to new Australian writing and First Peoples theatre collaborations.

The coming season’s productions follow MTC’s commitment to telling relatable and inspiring stories, while also celebrating how far they’ve already come as one of Australia’s leading theatre companies.

“Season 2024 will continue to build and strengthen MTC’s position a step ahead of the cultural zeitgeist, and invite audiences into conversations about the things, big and small, that preoccupy us collectively at this moment,” Ms Sarks said.

Among the featured productions include two new Australian works, two MTC commissioned-works, seven works from Australian writers, four Pulitzer Prize winners, three works from MTC’s Writers’ Program NEXT STAGE, four cross-industry collaborations with interstate theatre companies, as well as a collaboration with Australia’s longest established First Peoples theatre company, ILBIJERRI Theatre Company.

“Audiences across season 2023 have responded so strongly to our Australian works,” Ms Sarks said. “From Sunday and Jacky to Bloom and Prima Facie, confirming there is no shortage of appetite for a wide range of homegrown stories on our stages.”

The season will begin in January with Australian writer Matthew White’s Seventeen (main featured image) directed by Matt Edgerton, which explores themes of transitioning from teenage hood to adulthood.

Additional Australian writing will be showcased in Nathan Maynard’s 37 from NEXT STAGE, Kendall Feaver’s award-winning The Almighty Sometimes, Emma Mary Hall’s World Problems, Merylnn Tong’s new work Golden Blood (second featured image), as well as the Melbourne opening of Joanna Murray-Smith’s Julia, following sold-out seasons in Sydney and Canberra.

The 2024 season will finish in December with an incredible performance of Dean Bryant, Mathew Frank and Sheridan Harbridge’s My Brilliant Career, a musical adaptation of the iconic Australian novel by Miles Franklin.

“We are more committed than ever to providing a platform for the stories that define Australia and presenting works that spark conversation and help people understand the world around them,” Ms Sarks said.

Other productions lined up for the season include Zinnie Harris’ Meet Me at Dawn, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and Pulitzer Prize-winning productions English by Sanaz Toossi, Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, and Cost of Living by Martyna Majok.

MTC’s collaboration with ILBIJERRI Theatre Company will also introduce audiences to Blak in the Room for the first time, a space that has evolved from ILBIJERRI’s BlakWrights Program to showcase First Peoples voices and stories in the theatre industry.

“At a time defined by ‘what to stream next’, season 2024 is our invitation to experience the magic of live theatre here in Melbourne.” •

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: mtc.com.au