Chrissy Amphlett tributes, singing robots and Ned Kelly: Ballarat’s wild 2026 arts season
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ArtsTheatre
18.12.2025

Chrissy Amphlett tributes, singing robots and Ned Kelly: Ballarat’s wild 2026 arts season

Words by staff writer

Her Majesty's Theatre Ballarat has unveiled a massive 2026 program spanning 18 productions.

The 150-year-old venue is swinging big with its new season, locking in a mix of theatre, dance, music, opera, cabaret and family programming that punches well above its regional weight. With eight regional exclusives and a bunch of acclaimed touring productions making the trek out west, Her Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat is making a serious case for the day trip.

The programming spans wildly — a cabaret celebrating Divinyls legend Chrissy Amphlett sits alongside an experimental viola concert that bounces sound off the internet, while a supergroup featuring members of Dirty Three, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and Magic Dirt shares the calendar with a kids’ show about a wombat trying to marry the sky. There’s Ray Lawler’s complete Doll Trilogy crammed into one marathon day, Sondheim performed with a full orchestra, and a solo cello performance inspired by three real-life lightning strikes.

Her Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat’s 2026 program

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

Digital Echoes

This one’s genuinely weird in the best way. Composer Aaron Wyatt and Speak Percussion have cooked up a performance where viola melodies get fired across the internet to five locations around Australia, then pinged back to the theatre where they vibrate through percussion instruments in real time. The unpredictable delays create a kind of sonic map of the country’s digital infrastructure — part concert, part tech experiment. Audiences get invited onto the stage for a closer look at the whole operation. Wyatt developed the work using JackTrip and the Decibel ScorePlayer, two coding projects he’s contributed to, drawing on themes of landscape and connection to Country that he previously explored with Ensemble Dutala, Australia’s first First Nations chamber ensemble. This is a regional exclusive.

Amplified: The Exquisite Rock and Rage of Chrissy Amphlett

The Divinyls frontwoman built a career on blending vulnerability with raw power, schoolgirl uniform and all, dragging her band from pub sticky carpets to international chart success. This cabaret digs into her story through songs and tales gathered from fans and people in her orbit. Sheridan Harbridge — known for her work in Prima Facie — fronts the band, backed by musical director Glenn Moorhouse on stage. Director Sarah Goodes (Julia) co-created the show, which premiered at the University of Melbourne’s Union Theatre as part of RISING in 2025. The production was commissioned and developed by the University of Melbourne Arts and Culture with support from Geelong Arts Centre.

Bleak Squad

Four heavyweights of Australian art-rock have formed an unlikely band. Mick Turner from Dirty Three and Mess Esque joins Mick Harvey (whose CV includes Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey and The Birthday Party), Adalita from Magic Dirt and Marty Brown of Art of Fighting. Their debut record Strange Love landed an Australian Music Prize shortlist nod, built from spontaneous jam sessions where everyone swapped instruments and shared songwriting duties. Adalita and Harvey trade lead vocals across nine tracks of moody, noir-tinged rock anchored by Turner’s signature skewed guitar work. Expect fizzing guitars, slippery basslines and the kind of chemistry that only happens when musicians with decades of history finally get in a room together.

Lighting the Dark

Adelaide-based choreographer Chris Dyke, who lives with Down syndrome, takes the lead in this Dancenorth Australia production. Dyke directed and co-choreographed the work alongside Amber Haines and Kyle Page, drawing inspiration from Banksy, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury — artists whose boundary-pushing spirit resonates with his own creative vision. The Dancenorth Ensemble joins him on stage for a 60-minute piece exploring what it means to be human, with Dyke transforming the theatre into what the production describes as a portal where love and light cut through darkness. Anna Whitaker handles composition and sound design, with additional lyrics and composition from performer Felix Sampson.

Reg Livermore’s Ned Kelly The Musical

 

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Victorian Opera is dusting off a piece of Australian theatre history. Reg Livermore wrote the book and lyrics for this Ned Kelly musical back in the late 1970s, with Patrick Flynn on music, and now it’s getting a new production exclusively at Her Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat. Stuart Maunder directs and Simon Holt conducts the Victorian Opera Chamber Orchestra, with Holt also contributing additional music and orchestration. The real drawcard? Livermore himself appears in a cameo role. The show tackles the eternal question of whether Kelly was folk hero or cold-blooded killer, charting the bushranger’s life through to that famous armoured last stand. It’s part of Victorian Opera’s regional programming commitment.

Play Date

All The Queens Men bring their day-doof disco to Her Majesty’s Theatre, aimed squarely at the two to seven age bracket and their families. Performers Tristan Meecham (Turtle) and Bec Reid (Sugar Rush) lead the party through original pop tracks including Different, Frown to Crown, Fruit Time and My Chosen Family, all written with Bec Sandridge and produced by Dave Jenkins Jr. The show covers identity, body positivity and imagination, with Auslan-inclusive dance moves taught throughout. An hour before showtime, kids and adults can head to the Long Room upstairs to make rainbow crowns, fruit salad headpieces and other costume bits. Music mixing comes from Dave Jenkins Jr at Rising Tide Studios.

Trophy Boys

A female and non-binary cast performs as students at a fictional elite boys’ school in this satire about toxic masculinity and institutional power. The setup: it’s the Year 12 debating final, the topic is whether feminism has failed women, and a sexual assault accusation lands mid-preparation. Writer Emmanuelle Mattana and director Marni Mount use drag, camp and sharp comedy to examine the pipeline from private school privilege to positions of power. A Soft Tread production in association with The Maybe Pile, it runs 75 minutes without interval. The matinee includes a post-show Q&A. Content warnings flag homophobic and misogynistic slurs, references to underage drinking, sexual violence and image-based abuse.

Where Is The Green Sheep?

Mem Fox and Judy Horacek’s picture book gets the puppet-and-animation treatment from Monkey Baa Theatre Company. Three farmers hunt for the elusive green sheep while audiences meet the blue, red, bath and bed varieties along the way. Director Eva Di Cesare co-created the production with students from Bankstown West Public School, whose voices feature as narrators throughout. Horacek serves as visual art director, with puppet design and making by Kay Yasugi and puppetry direction from Kailah Cabanas. It’s a co-production with QPAC’s Out of the Box, made in association with Arts Centre Melbourne, Sydney Opera House and The Art House in Wyong. The 45-minute show suits all ages.

AUTO-TUNE

Re:group performance collective — the crew behind Coil, UFO and POV — drop a 55-minute gig-theatre piece set in early-2000s Wagga Wagga. The protagonist Michael is a Silverchair obsessive who discovers he can time-travel to erase his most embarrassing moments, much like auto-tune fixes dodgy pitch. The show runs through 17 original songs with live video captions, channelling millennial nostalgia hard: Nokia 3315s, underage drinking, Limp Bizkit worship and regrettable choices. Mark Rogers wrote the text and performs alongside Ashley Bundang and Liam ‘Snowy’ Halliwell, with Solomon Thomas directing and designing. It’s pitched as feeling like stumbling across your new favourite band at a festival side stage. Regional exclusive.

The Doll Trilogy: The Complete Series

Red Stitch tackles all three of Ray Lawler’s Doll plays in sequence on a single day — something that hasn’t happened in 40 years. The marathon starts at 11am with Kid Stakes (set in 1937 Depression-era Carlton), continues at 3pm with Other Times (1945, post-war) and wraps at 7.30pm with the famous Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1953). One ensemble performs all three, tracking the decades-long story of cane cutters Roo and Barney and Melbourne locals Olive and Nancy. Ella Caldwell directs a cast including Ngaire Dawn Fair, Ben Prendergast, Damian Walshe-Howling, Emily Goddard, Caroline Lee, Khisraw Jones-Shukoor and Lucinda Smith. Each play runs around two hours 20 minutes with interval. Regional exclusive.

Robot Song

Jolyon James wrote, directed and designed this family show about an 11-year-old named Juniper May whose classmates present her with a petition declaring her the most hated kid in school. She stops eating, refuses to attend, and her desperate parents eventually turn to an unconventional solution: a giant singing robot. Based on a true story, the production uses animatronics and digital technology alongside an original score from composer Nate Gilkes. James built the show for isolated children and the parents trying to reach them, framing creativity and unconditional love as transformative forces. Nicholas Clark Management co-produces. The 60-minute performance suits all ages.

Under the Canopy

Melbourne Chamber Orchestra teams up with accordionist James Crabb for an evening program spanning Baroque to tango to Scottish traditional. The setlist moves through Jean-Philippe Rameau (Suite from Six concerts en Sixtour, arranged for strings by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski), Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (Harpsichord Concerto in A, arranged by Crabb for accordion), Tomás Gubitsch (In a tango state of mind) and Scottish traditional pieces arranged by Crabb. Aaron Wyatt contributes Under the Canopy, a work exploring Australian landscape, identity and connection to Country. Crabb has built a reputation for interpretive depth and stage presence — this program showcases the accordion’s range from chamber music delicacy to folk energy. Sophie Rowell serves as MCO artistic director.

Wurtoo: The Wombat Who Fell in Love with the Sky

Earlier that same day, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra presents a 50-minute kids’ show at 2pm. Five MCO string players perform Aaron Wyatt’s score accompanying an abridged narration of Tylissa Elisara’s novel about a wombat named Wurtoo who sets out to marry the sky. Elisara drew on Narungga, Kaurna and Adnyamathanha heritage alongside influences from Winnie the Pooh and Blinky Bill. The show opens with string instrument introductions and interactive activities designed to guide young listeners. Wyatt, a Noongar, Yamatji and Wongi composer, wrote the music. Emily Sullivan curates. Themes cover friendship, adventure and facing fears — accessible for all ages.

The Nervous Atmosphere

Cellist and theatre-maker Zoë Barry built this Chamber Made solo show around three personal encounters with lightning and what unfolded afterward. It’s part meditation on connection — to nature, to ground, to self and others — and part exploration of awe, rupture and isolation when confronting uncontrollable forces. Bosco Shaw’s sculptural lighting design places Barry amidst storm imagery, atop clouds, conducting lightning with her bow. Direction and dramaturgy come from Ingrid Voorendt, with sound design by Jed Palmer and costumes by Renate Henschke. The show runs 60 minutes and uses sudden loud sounds, brightness extremes, blackouts and strobe effects. Regional exclusive.

Heartbreak Hotel

New Zealand company EBKM (behind Yes Yes Yes) bring their 75-minute two-hander about what physically happens when hearts break. Performer and writer Karin McCracken tracks through a breakup’s aftermath — bad Tinder dates, following a friend to the Berlin club scene, learning synth, shrinking to cellular level to examine the anguish clinically. Simon Leary plays the ex-loves and friends along the way. Lo-fi covers of breakup classics thread through the narrative. Eleanor Bishop directs, Te Aihe Butler handles sound design, and Filament Eleven 11 manages production and lighting. The show won Best Play at Time Out Melbourne’s Arts and Culture Awards 2025, while McCracken took Actor of the Year at the 2024 Wellington Theatre Awards. Regional exclusive.

Unwoman (The Protest)

 

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The Rabble’s live art event invites participants to take the stage one after another and share testimonies about birth, fertility, pregnancy and parenting. Created by Emma Valente and Kate Davis and produced by Performing Lines, it’s framed as an act of courage and rebellion — a response to laws affecting bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. The event welcomes people with children and without, those who wanted kids and couldn’t have them, those who chose not to, and everyone in between. Audiences can stay as long as they want. Those interested in sharing can sign up via the venue website. Community engagement liaisons include Cassandra Fumi, Dana Miltins and Mary Helen Sassman. Free event, bookings required.

Into the Woods

 

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  • 4–5 September
  • Her Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat
  • Tickets here

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical gets the concert treatment with a full orchestra on stage. Matthew Henderson directs and produces, with Sarah Barlow as musical director and Natalya Munro choreographing. The cast features Gorgi Coghlan as the Witch, Andrew Lorenzo as the Baker, Jess Ryan as the Baker’s Wife and Duncan Esler as the Narrator, alongside Brittany Kirby, Sally-Anne Cowdell, Joey Appleton, Lizzy Faulkner, Jesse Simpson, Amalee Eden, Rob Muirhead, Sarahlouise Younger, Caitlin Garner and Ruby Penhall. The plot weaves together Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and Rapunzel as a baker and his wife try to break a witch’s curse, with consequences unfolding once wishes come true. Three performances across two days. Regional exclusive.

Untrained

 

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Lucy Guerin Inc closes the season with a 60-minute work featuring four men: two professional dancers and two Ballarat locals with zero movement training. All four receive identical instructions, but execution reveals each performer’s physical history and character. The piece examines how bodies carry experience and how training shapes movement, with unavoidable comparisons emerging between the skilled and untrained performers. Guerin directs, with music from Duplo Remote’s Cusp and Ally Harvey producing. The two local participants are committing to a full hour of live performance with no dance background — the production frames this as brave territory few would enter. Regional exclusive.

For more information, head here.

This article was made in partnership with Her Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat.