Here are just a few of the 2025 Rising shows that caught our attention.
Rising runs from 4 - 15 June. Enjoy!
The Butterfly Who Flew into the Rave
We loved this NZ dance work during Melbourne Fringe 2024, and we’re so pleased to see these incredible dancers return for another season. It’s limited with only 3 shows, so hop to it.
Day Tripper
Across Melbourne Town Hall, Night Trade, The Capitol and Max Watt’s, this music festival lineup includes queer acts such as BKTHERULA, Ela Stiles, Andras & Oscar and Guy Blackman Band, with guest appearances from The Butterfly Who Flew into the Rave.
MONOLITH - Joel Bray
Queer First Nations dancer and choreographer Joel Bray returns with a new work at Arts House that echoes and honours generations of protest and rebellion.
The Act
Amrita Hepi is one of Naarm/Melbourne’s pre-eminent voices in contemporary dance and Tilly Lawless is a writer and sex worker who shares sharp and heartfelt insights into queer romance and the stigma faced by sex workers. Through movement and intimate dialogue, they interrogate the delicate balance between personal expression and professional service, between artistic integrity and market demands.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Starring Seann Miley Moore and Adam Noviello, this new Australian production of the Broadway smash hit rock musical channels the raw, anarchic spirit of the original.
The Wrong God's
A gripping family tale from S. Shakthidharan, best known for his Sri Lankan-Australian epic Counting and Cracking, which played to standing ovations at RISING 2024 and toured Australia, UK, and New York. This is a mother-daughter struggle with the economics of progress. A deal with the devil. Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne.
Fountain
Choreographed by Phillip Adams, Fountain sends an exceptional group of dance and production students through the psycho-physical gauntlet of an audition. VCA Dance students pivot, step and face off.
Library Up Late x Make Believe
We absolutely adored the Library Up Late for Midsumma and this Rising edition looks exquisite, featuring Scotty So and House of Silky, DJs in the dome and exhibition Make Believe, Encounters with Misinformation.
Japanese Breakfast
Music that’s eclectic, elegant and alive with literary wit. Playful even when it’s dark. Willing to verge into dream pop, glide into shoegaze or do some tasteful rock theatrics, as the moment suits.
Country Struts
Dust off your boots and shine your belt buckle. It’s a boot-scooting spectacular in Melbourne Town Hall. If you enjoyed the boot scooting at Victoria’s Pride this year, get down to the new offering from the founder of No Lights No Lycra.
Wrap it Up - Zoe Coombs Marr
Wrap It Up! Is a live, late-night taping of your favourite variety TV show, hosted by the unflappable and inflammable Zoë Coombs Marr. Nothing but the very best five minutes of television, non-stop for 60 minutes, every night. Goodnight.
Hamlet
A neurodiverse cast give “to be or not to be?” a new, life-affirming perspective in this dazzling Shakespearean mash-up.
Kill Me
Kill Me is Argentine choreographer Marina Otero’s latest dive sideways into the limits of autobiography. It’s the third chapter in the Remember to Live series—her ongoing commitment to making radical work about her life until the day she dies.
Rising Star Karaoke
Rock up, pick a song show us what you got in this Karaoke party hosted by Mummy’s Plastic in Capitol Arcade.
