Laughs stories and music as Melbournes summer stage returns
âItâs all about being able to get back together as a community,â says Malthouse Theatreâs artistic director Matthew Lutton.
Malthouseâs 300-seat outdoor venue, in the theatre courtyard â" a pandemic brainwave that proved a huge hit last summer â" is coming back with more music, comedy and cabaret, and with a âbigger and betterâ redesign.
Artistic director Matthew Lutton with singers Rita Satch and Thando from Women of Soul.Credit:Eddie Jim
âItâs about laughing out loud, itâs about entertainment and having a good time together,â Lutton adds. âWe all need a chance to shake everything off.â
It kicks off with Emma Donovan and the Putbacks in late November, followed by an evening of storytelling with Uncle Jack Charles and the music of Women of Soul. December brings a two-week run of a new cabaret comedy, SS Metaphor, a pointed ode to freedom set on a luxury cruise liner.
And there will be more to come: the outdoor program is due to run at least until the Comedy Festival in April.
Since COVID hit, Malthouse has been in a mood for innovation. Last year the outdoor stage arrived and the first half of 2021 brought the phenomenally successful Because the Night, an âimmersive theatre adventureâ that mashed Hamlet with Twin Peaks in a purpose-built warren of rooms and surprises.
Jaws dropped in the theatre community, and some industry noses tweaked out of joint, but it managed a long run, was a rare source of employment for the industry, and attracted a new, young demographic to the building.
Then there was Monsters, a dance/theatre hybrid created by Lutton and star choreographer Stephanie Lake, starring Pamela Rabe (Wentworth), which was on the verge of opening its doors then disappeared when the latest long lockdown hit.
For 2022, Malthouse is dialling things back a tad. The year will include revived shows that the pandemic put on pause, Lutton says. âThose shows that are absolutely vibrant and alive and want to be shared now.â
He also has a âhuge wellâ of 25 plays and projects under commission.
âItâs all about new work written by new writers. Thereâs a full range; adaptations of classic Australian stories that have been reinvented, also political work, a lot of work looking at different identities. A lot of comedies. Itâs really trying to introduce new voices and arouse curiosity and give fuel for thought.â
If a theme comes through the works, Lutton says, itâs âthat optimism to move forward is always countered by the tragedies and mistakes of the pastâ: a reflection on the unresolved traumas of the past that bubble up unexpectedly in the present.
âYou ignore the past at your peril,â he says. âItâs not all tragedy and doom and gloom, but itâs certainly about the past that canât be ignored.â
Rather than present a full subscriber season, Malthouse will announce a few shows at a time â" beginning late next month â" with its community of supporters getting early access and concession tickets. Itâs a permanent change, says Lutton, that will allow it to be more flexible: to hold on to hits or bring them back for encore seasons, without having to wait a year to reprogram.
While there is no immersive Because The Night-like show about to be revealed, Lutton has it âon our radar as the type of experience we want to be able to offerâ.
âThere was an enormous new audience that came to the Malthouse [in 2021]; about 70 per cent of the people that bought tickets hadnât been to the Malthouse before. They were responding to a different type of theatre experience, and we want to be able to offer [that].
âWeâre free to think creatively, bigger, differently.â
Nick Miller is Arts Editor of The Age. He was previously The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald's Europe correspondent.Connect via Twitter, Facebook or email.
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