Melbourne’s fortyfivedownstairs has announced its 2024 season, 18 productions and the return of the Chamber Music Festival it launched in 2023.

Programmed by pianist Coady Green, the mini-festival (12–24 March) features 14 events, including multiple Australian premieres, collaborations with Lyric Opera and the Wilin Centre, and performances from a line-up of artists such as pianist Michael Leslie, soprano Antoinette Halloran, Songmakers Australia and the Divisi Chamber Singers.

The Exact Dimensions of Hell. Photo © Gregory Lorenzutti

The fortyfivedownstairs season opens in January with the Australian premiere of the epic two-part Tony and Olivier Award-winning The Inheritance. Inspired by E. M. Forster’s Howards End and featuring a stellar cast of 13, the play spans generations in what the UK’s Telegraph described as an “exquisitely truthful and funny” exploration of love and legacy.

Late summer productions continue with Brodie Murray’s The Whisper, a story set against the racialised backdrop of 1940s Australia, and Milked, the Australian premiere of British writer Simon Longman’s black comedy.

In Bridget Mackey’s The Exact Dimensions of Hell (18–28 April),...