Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) has unveiled an ambitious 2027 season featuring a diverse range of new productions, including a speculative drama about a pivotal 1980s meeting between former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, media mogul Kerry Packer, and cricket legend Clive Lloyd. The season, announced by MTC Artistic Director and CEO Anne-Louise Sarks, promises a blend of world premieres, Australian stories, and compelling reinterpretations of classic narratives.
Reimagining a Secret Meeting: ‘Rebels’
At the heart of the 2027 program is Julian Larnach’s new play, Rebels. The production delves into the intriguing, yet sparsely documented, meeting that occurred in January 1985. Actor Alpha Kargbo will portray Clive Lloyd, stepping into the shoes of the former West Indies cricket captain during a period when the worlds of politics, media, and sport converged in Australia.
Larnach explained his fascination with the era stemmed from a desire to understand how political change is enacted. “I’ve always been interested in how we make political change in this country,” he stated. His research into the Hawke government led him to articles that painted a picture of Australia awash with wealth but potentially at risk of moral decay. An article in The New York Times described a nation “flooded with cash that was at risk of having its moral fibre snapping.”
Further piqued by a report from The Age‘s chief cricket writer about a clandestine meeting, Larnach began to connect the dots. “My brain, as it wants to do, started connecting the dots around that, and started going, ‘What if the plan to save Australian cricket was actually about saving the soul of the nation?'” the playwright mused.
While historical records confirm that Hawke offered Lloyd the opportunity to develop a new Australian cricket team, the specifics and outcomes of their discussion remain largely unknown. “We know the meeting occurred. We know that Hawke wanted to offer Clive Lloyd this job, and that that never happened. And yeah – that’s kind of it,” Larnach noted, highlighting the limited concrete details available for the real-life event.
Kate Mulvany’s Solo ‘Richard III’
Another significant premiere in the 2027 season is a groundbreaking solo performance of Shakespeare’s Richard III, spearheaded by acclaimed actor Kate Mulvany. Mulvany, recently seen in Netflix’s adaptation of My Brilliant Career, previously garnered critical praise for her portrayal of the complex monarch in Bell Shakespeare’s 2017 production. This new venture will see her inhabit the role entirely on her own.
Mulvany shared that her extended engagement with the character has illuminated Richard’s profound sense of isolation. “He has to invent worlds within himself because his exterior world just doesn’t want him around,” she explained. Her interpretation will explore the possibility of viewing all characters through Richard’s internal perspective, filtered by his unique worldview.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s me playing all of the characters completely differently – it’s me playing Richard playing the characters, which is a very different take,” Mulvany elaborated on her approach.
Living with severe scoliosis, a condition resulting from childhood cancer treatment, Mulvany finds a deep personal connection to Richard III. “Shakespeare’s Richard is used and discarded because of his disability, and he’s literally called a dog, bunch-backed toad. He’s called deformed, unfinished, a homicide, and if you call someone a dog, they are going to bite eventually,” she stated, referencing the historical character’s ostracization.
Mulvany is a vocal advocate for disability inclusion in the arts. “I work now with so many disabled artists, and you know, we love Richard. He’s ours – but he’s only really become ours in the past 10 years because for so many years it was male, able-bodied kind of Brits playing him, and now we’ve busted down that door.” She highlighted how her previous Bell Shakespeare performance allowed her to reveal the extent of her disability publicly for the first time, fostering a sense of pride and a desire for greater representation.
“I hope to be able to give this play adaptation to any disabled actor, and to give them the opportunity to also play able-bodied characters,” Mulvany expressed. “I’m really, really lucky, but many, many, many other disabled actors just simply do not get the chance to play Lady Anne or Queen Margaret or King Edward.”
A Season of Australian Voices and Global Stories
The 2027 season, comprising 11 works, features six world premieres and seven plays by Australian writers, underscoring MTC’s commitment to local talent and new narratives. This focus on Australian stories comes at a crucial time, following MTC’s reported $3.9 million net deficit for 2025. However, Sarks pointed to the success of the 2026 season, particularly the strong audience demand for local productions like West Gate, The Jungle and the Sea and My Brilliant Career, as a source of optimism.
“The beautiful thing about 2026 is that the works that have the most demand – that there is clearly a hunger for from audiences – are new Australian works, and that was very emboldening because that has been the core of everything we’re about at MTC and those are the works that are resonating and that are selling out our seasons,” Sarks remarked. “It really has galvanised that strategy that I came to the company with, which is to tell stories about us for us. And the beauty in 2027 is that these stories are hyperlocal and also global.”
The season opens with Stereophonic, featuring music by Will Butler of Arcade Fire and starring Geraldine Hakewill and Alex Malone. Sarks herself will direct John Proctor is the Villain, a play that enjoyed a successful Broadway run and is slated for a film adaptation starring Sadie Sink.
Further highlights include:
- A new adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds by award-winning author Claire G. Coleman.
- Andrew Bovell’s Every Second Wednesday, directed by Sarah Goodes.
- Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical, directed by Sheridan Harbridge.
- Dirty Diamonds, a co-production with Sydney’s Belvoir inspired by the Argyle diamond mine heist, starring Ruby Henaway and Logie award winner Lila McGuire.
- Winsome Pinnock’s The Authenticator, directed by Zindzi Okenyo.
- Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, featuring Sigrid Thornton, Nadine Garner, and Erik Thomson.
- Clarice, starring Rachel Griffiths as artist Clarice Beckett, marking her return to MTC after 20 years.
A Call for Connection Through Theatre
Reflecting on the upcoming season, Sarks emphasized the fundamental human need for storytelling. “I love to be told a story. I always have – and I think there’s something very human and shared about that need,” she said. “And it is more important than ever, as we feel more fractured and more worn down by the world, to stop and to come together and to listen and to be surprised and to discover something new.”
