Melbourne live reviews
Now this is how you put on a production of Hamlet
Director Iain Sinclair has assembled an absolute dream team for this production – and it’s one of the biggest bargains in Melbourne theatre right now.
- by Cameron Woodhead, Kate Jones, Tony Way and Michael Dwyer
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Helen Garner says this is the best thing she’s written. But does it work as an opera?
With a theme leaning so heavily on music, it’s not a surprise The Children’s Bach was adapted into an opera – but does it keep its magic when taken off the page?
- by Vyshnavee Wijekumar, Bridget Davies, Andrew Fuhrmann, Tony Way, Jessica Nicholas and Barney Zwartz
Everybody’s talking about ‘grace’. This is how it looks in action
Directed by Bert LaBonte in his mainstage directorial debut, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog at Melbourne Theatre Company is utterly transfixing.
- by Cameron Woodhead, Andrew Fuhrmann, Gemma Grant, Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen and Tony Way
★★★★★
What’s on
The musical whodunnit so good you’ll want to see it twice
Packing an Agatha Christie-like drawing room mystery into a two-person show, Murder for Two offers up an evening of criminally entertaining musical comedy.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
If you hate Henry VIII then this is the musical for you
It would appear that & Juliet has been pipped at the post by Six the Musical for the poppiest show ever inspired by the 16th century.
- by Cameron Woodhead, Vyshnavee Wijekumar, Andrew Fuhrmann, Bridget Davies and Barney Zwartz
Any fan of Oscar Wilde should enjoy this salacious twist on his masterpiece
This take on The Importance of Being Earnest isn’t just terrific fun, it’s tethered to a deep appreciation of the interplay between Wilde’s biography and his art.
- by Cameron Woodhead, Jessica Nicholas and Andrew Fuhrmann
Charming, awkward: This pop star’s joy is infectious
Girl In Red made her Australian debut in 2023 – and this year returns to play a venue seven times the size.
- by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, Cameron Woodhead, Tony Way and Sonia Nair
Two powerful performances in this Streetcar make it a bare-knuckle fight
In this MTC production Nikki Shiels plays a Blanche DuBois who isn’t mad – her Blanche is quite fun, witty, and as likely to self-deprecate as self-dramatise.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Barney Zwartz
Lady Macbeth deserves a better fate. Does this play offer that chance?
Horrors both supernatural and human abound in this creative and provocative re-working of The Scottish Play.
- by Cameron Woodhead, Barney Zwartz, Andrew Fuhrmann, Vyshnavee Wijekumar, Michael Dwyer, Jessica Nicholas and Tony Way
It might be a tale as old as time, but this musical is pure delight
Musical theatre lovers with fond memories of seeing Beauty and the Beast as children will find them refreshed in this production (and kids will love it too).
- by Cameron Woodhead, Tony Way and Jessica Nicholas
★★★★★
What’s on
The ghostly theatre classic you should see at least once in your life
Daniel MacPherson and John Waters star in The Woman in Black – the second-longest running play in London, after Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.
- by Cameron Woodhead, Nadia Bailey and Andrew McClelland