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[title]Theatre Works is looking to 2022 with hope – hope for a better future after two years of interrupted shows and dashed plans. It’s a goal the team is fully invested in, with the Theatre Works 2022 season featuring almost 50 shows, plus residencies, festival programming and even a brand new artist space, the Explosives Factory (located just around the corner from the main building).
Many scuppered performances will make a comeback, with Theatre Works committing to restaging every single show that was postponed during 2020 and 2021, should that be the artists’ wish. At the same time, 2022 is the start of something bright and new, with the company presenting works that are urgent, ambitious and look to the future.
You can explore the full program online – in the meantime, here are our picks of the top shows to look forward to at Theatre Works in 2022.
Theatre Works 2022 season highlights
Mullet Fest (Jan 10-22)
Mullet Fest (Fringe on the other side – geddit?) kicks off 2022 at Theatre Works with the shows that were originally planned to run at the theatre for Melbourne Fringe 2021. Seven works will run across three stages (Theatre Works, Explosives Factory and the outdoor stage adjoining Blackbox Café). These shows include The Beep Test (a comedic, musical take on the horror of the high school beep test), Shakespeare Aliens (the film Aliens but as told by Shakespeare) and St Kilda Big Lost Band (a huge band of musicians from all skill levels playing at Catani Gardens, with all welcome to join).
Midsumma programming (Jan 23-Feb 13)
Theatre Works is traditionally a hub of activity during Midsumma, and 2022 is no different. Works this year include Long Live the King (a political drag cabaret based on Shakespeare’s Richard III), Acetravaganza (a variety night featuring top local asexual and aspec artists, all led by Nikki Viveca and Artemis Muñoz) and The (Sour Glitch) Two-Step Refusal (a non-binary escape room experience set in a 1980s corporate office).
Betty (Feb 16-26)
When you’re being looked after by your parents as a child, it’s rare that you think about how, one day, you might be looking after them. Betty is a 2021 reprogram exploring the relationship between a mother and daughter and the matriarch’s health declines. It’s an unflinching look at the ageing process and the past, and how these can affect relationships.
The Darkening Sky (Mar 16-26)
Melbourne’s inner suburbs are the setting for this neo-noir production that spans seven decades. The Darkening Sky follows Jamie, who lives a quiet life and spends much time at his local café. A past that he wasn’t even aware of comes back to haunt him, however, while at the same time a detective reopens a cold case concerning the disappearance of a young woman in the 1980s. For those who love the thrill of a crime mystery, The Darkening Sky is the all-action Australian work for you.
When the Rain Stops Falling (Apr 27-May 14)
When the Rain Stops Falling was one of the productions cut short at Theatre Works due to 2021 lockdowns. It didn’t stop our reviewer from giving the show four stars though, calling the work “an undeniable classic”. It’s a story of two families over four generations and how a prediction made in 1959 London, plays out in 2039 Alice Springs. It’s a multi-layered work
of magic realism that shines in its use of damage to the environment as a metaphor for damage between generations.
The View From Up Here (May 18-28)
In a country increasingly threatened by climate change-induced disasters, The View From Up Here addresses some of the uncomfortable questions and scenarios we may all soon have to face. A catastrophic fire has ripped through the farm and family home of Eva and Lily. The family matriarch, Maggie, refuses to leave the scorched land though, living in a campervan on the property and tending to a new veggie garden built out of the blackened earth. When faced with unimaginable devastation, how can we look to each other to find hope?
Caligula (Jul 13-23)
Caligula stands as one of Rome’s most famous emperors, largely for the supposed “make my horse a consul” debacle. In Caligula, Burning House theatre company takes the story of the Roman emperor and splices it with American Psycho and RuPaul’s Drag Race. Come expect an intense, nihilistic portrayal of Rome and Caligula complete with plenty of blood...and glitter.
Medea: Out of the Mouths of Babes (Jul 30-Aug 13)
In another work inspired by antiquity, Medea: Out of the Mouths of Babes retells Euripdes’ play Medea from the perspective of the most innocent of victims – that is, Medea’s children, who she kills as revenge for her husband’s philandering. It’s a dark tale that is made strangely playful in Steven Mitchell Wright’s version, which plays out a bit like a live music video.
Day After Terrible Day (Nov 1-12)
Did you know that the character of Miss Havisham, the wealthy spinster left at the altar in Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, was based on a real woman? A real Australian woman?! Day After Terrible Day is the story of Eliza Emily Donnithorne, who lived in Sydney in the 1880s and allegedly wore her wedding dress for the rest after her groom failed to show on her wedding day. The provocative production dances between Australian larrikinism and Victorian-era restraint as it looks at catastrophe and what we choose to do in the aftermath.