MEOW MEOWs THE RED SHOES
MALTHOUSE | BELVOIR | BLACK SWAN
From a chorus of hairy fawns to singing swans and showgirl stars, experience an unforgettable, frenetic song-and-dance into meaning. Having wowed New York's Carnegie Hall, the world-renowned performer behind Meow Meow’s Little Match Girl and Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid now urgently remedies ‘The Red Shoes’. This fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen brutally punished its covetous protagonist with an ever-dancing curse that propelled her far from heaven’s gates.
MALTHOUSE 2025 | BELVOIR 2025 | BLACK SWAN 2026
RETROGRADE
MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY
In this gripping Australian premiere, Bert LaBonté (Topdog/Underdog) directs a taut dramatisation of a young Sidney Poitier’s career-defining encounter with Hollywood powerbrokers, starring Donné Ngabo (Last Days) and Alan Dale (Lost).
Written by Ryan Calais Cameron Retrograde is a witty interrogation of identity, power and integrity conjures a real encounter from Poitier’s past, ten years before he would become the first Black man to win the Best Actor Oscar. Retrograde exposes the racial fault lines beneath Hollywood’s glossy facade and the choices faced by those who dared to cross them.
FAIRFAX STUDIO | ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE | MAY 2026
BREAK OF DAY
MALTHOUSE THEATRE
Out on the edge of a satellite city, is Burra Creek, home to the world’s largest online retail warehouse, and tonight Pam (Kat Stewart) is working the nightshift, while her daughter Rae, back home, is also pulling an all-nighter, for very different reasons.
Premiering at Malthouse Theatre after winning the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award and The Australian Writers Guild Prize for Playwriting, Steve Rodgers’ Break of Day also sees Sarah Goodes and Kat Stewart collaborate again after the success of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Red Stitch, Comedy Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company). This is a story that asks how far determination can go to change the course
MALTHOUSE THEATRE | AUGUST 2026