Who would have thought a sinkhole could be the centre point of a contemporary theatre production where speech and dance set out to express human terror, courage and risk-taking? Well, Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre has, and seriously, investing heavily in every aspect of production and presentation. On its own, Paul Jackson’s almost palatial set of strong geometric planes, sculpted pillars and elliptical skylights could house any play from Sophocles to Pinter, or opera from Vivaldi to John Adams. His lighting of many sudden changes or unfolding shadows, too, is exceptional.

Kimball Wong and Alison Whyte, Monsters, Malthouse Theatre and Stephanie Lake Company, 2022. Photo © Pia Johnson

Monsters is another COVID child, investigated during lockdowns and beyond by writer Emme Hoy, choreographer Stephanie Lake and director Matthew Lutton (Malthouse’s Artistic Director). Inspiration lay, in part, in the ‘terrifying monsters beneath the ground’ found in mysterious and frightening novels by H.P. Lovecraft. An odd character – racist, eugenicist, hater of foreigners changing American culture – Michael Calia wrote of him in The Wall Street Journal in 2014, “He was the first writer of supernatural literature to understand the psychological consequences of the...