Malthouse Melbourne

COMMISSIONS TO THE WORLD

In March this year, Malthouse Melbourne debuted on Broadway with our commissioned translation of Ionesco’s Exit the King, adapted by Geoffrey Rush and Neil Armfield. Partnering with Company B in 2007 to produce the adaptation, Malthouse Theatre premiered the work which then transferred to Belvoir St, Sydney. The creative team, lead by Neil Armfield and a brilliant Australian cast including Geoffrey Rush, Julie Forsyth, Rebecca Massey, Gillian Jones, Bille Brown and David Woods, enjoyed rapturous praise and twelve weeks of sell-out performances.

The three month New York season, a restaging of the original production, was the toast of Broadway. Geoffrey Rush, leading an all-american cast, won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.
Last year we partnered with Bell Shakespeare’s Mind’s Eye program to produce Marion Potts’ adaptation of Venus and Adonis (with a divine score by Andrée Greenwell). Venus and Adonis subsequently enjoyed great success in 2009 seasons for the Sydney Theatre Company and the Auckland Festival.
This year, our commission of Optimism, adapted by Tom Wright and directed by Michael Kantor, sold out at the 2009 Edinburgh International Festival and, in 2010, will perform during the Sydney Festival in a co-production with both festivals and the Sydney Theatre Company.

These three productions are among a number of national and international projects presented under our touring moniker Malthouse Melbourne. All were originally developed and premiered in Melbourne by Malthouse Theatre.