Malthouse Season 2

Last night the Malthouse announced its second season for the year, and Ms TN selflessly trotted along and consumed the bubbly in order to bring you, dear readers, the news. I do think the Malthouse programming this year has a certain assurance, joi de vivre, whatever, which gives the seasons an immediate attraction... nothing to do with the champagne, of course.

What first catches Ms TN's eye are the plays. Many years ago I saw Julie Forsyth perform Samuel Beckett's Happy Days at Anthill, and the first play this season is a reprise of this performance, directed by Michael Kantor, with the inimitable Peter Carroll playing Winnie's husband. Back then Forsyth was riveting: now she's older, I anticipate something even more special. The other play is David Harrower's elemental masterpiece Knives in Hens. Anyone who saw the MTC's production of Blackbird last year will know how well Harrower writes: this, his first play, is an entirely different proposition, set in pre-industrial England. Robert Menzies and Dan Spielman will be on stage with Kate Box, directed by Geordie Brookman.

Away from chamber theatre, John Romeril makes a welcome return to the stage, with a theatrical adaptation of his film One Night the Moon, with music by Paul Kelly, Kev Carmody and Mairead Hannan performed by, among others, Mark Seymour, and directed by Wesley Enoch. The dance component continues with performances of Lucy Guerin's Structure and Sadness, her dance about the collapse of the West Gate Bridge which I missed on its premiere; a new commission from Meryl Tankard for dancer Paul White, The Oracle, which is based on Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and a new work from butoh cabaret artist Yumi Umiumare, En Trance. Also on in the Tower is Aphid's Care Instructions - a delightful show I saw last year at La Mama. And the Malthouse have continued their three month residency program, this year inviting My Darling Patricia in to make their show Africa.