Keith Gow

July 2026: By now you've probably heard the sad news that 'Waitress the Musical' won't be heading to Sydney when it wraps up in Melbourne on July 19 – so consider this your reminder to catch the sweet-as-pie show starring Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Rob Mills before it's officially finished for good. For two epic doses of girl power though, don't miss 'Six the Musical', which is serving up power ballads with a side of history, and 'Steel Magnolias', for that perfect balance of humour and heartbreak, with a witty script. From the toe-tapping to the cathartic, consider this your ultimate guide to all the best Melbourne theatre shows happening this month. When stuck for things to do between shows, you can also always rely on our catch-all lists of Melbourne's best bars, restaurants, museums, parks and galleries, or consult our bucket list of the best things to do in Melbourne before you die.  Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox. Want something else to do this month? Check out our guide to the city's best exhibitions.

January is typically a quiet month vis-à-vis Melbourne theatre. But January 2021 is the exception, with the month largely marking the return of Melbourne's theatre industry following almost a year of darkened stages.  It's not business as usual, but there's still a small, curated pool of live performances for audiences to get stuck into this January. RECOMMENDED: The best art exhibitions in Melbourne this month.

In a year when Melbourne Theatre Company has committed to programming mostly new works by local writers, this production of Uncle Vanya by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov bucks that trend a little bit – with a new adaptation by world-renowned Aussie writer, Joanna Murray-Smith. Murray-Smith has dedicated much of her career to analysing the frailties and blind spots of middle-class Australians and is perfectly suited to tackle this particular Chekhov adaptation – freely adding in the occasional f-word and making concrete the comedy in a play that focuses a lot on boredom. A play about boredom? Is it a bore? Chekhov’s work has lived in a complicated space between comedy and tragedy and each production has to give his text a tweak to figure out where it will land each time. Murray-Smith turns up the comedy, without losing sight of the inherent drama, while also giving female characters like Yelena and Sonya more clear interior lives and agency than the original suggests. This version of the play is masterful, crafting a new vision, without compromising what Chekhov was exploring. Uncle Vanya focuses on the owners and managers of a Russian estate, dissecting the deep-seated feeling they have wasted their lives. Enter Yelena, married to esteemed professor Alexandre Serebryakov, whose first wife used to own the home. Vanya, brother to Alexandre’s first wife and manager of the estate, and local doctor, Astrov, fall for Yelena and try to seduce her in an attempt to add some exciteme

The modern myth of the superhero is a kind of wish fulfilment, though the concept of the “superman” or ubermensch comes from Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1883 work, Thus Spake Zarathustra. His idea was that humans would continually improve; a more ideal form is waiting for people in the future. Comic books find ways to speed along this evolution. So, we watch stories of heroes who fly, cannot be hurt, cannot be touched or, in some cases, are billionaires using their wealth for good. A real fantasy. Emilie Collyer’s new play, Super, which is currently running at Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre, is interested in more intimate powers that might help you day-to-day. Phoenix (Lucy Ansell) has the ability to dissipate someone’s anger; calm them down without a fight. Rae (Caroline Lee) brings people into her emotional vulnerability; if she cries, everyone else cries. And Nel (Laila Thacker) is so efficient, she can do the most basic tasks in the blink of an eye – and she can whip up a spreadsheet that will blow your mind. The origin story of Collyer’s latest dramatic work begins with a year of treatment for breast cancer. Her experience is deeply embedded in the play; these characters have been misdiagnosed or otherwise mistreated by the medical establishment. Their powers are pathologized or dismissed and they have to form their own support group to work their way through these radical changes. Phoenix is desperate to use her new ability ethically and with empathy. Nel has helped local clubs w