Offering a rare unfiltered glimpse into the hushed inner world of Melbourne’s nocturnal community, Malthouse Theatre presents The Nightline in the Bagging Room from 13 – 29 August 2026.
An intimate and deeply evocative immersive audio experience, The Nightline was created by renowned documentary theatre maker Roslyn Oades and ARIA Award-winning sound artist Bob Scott.
Inside the space, audiences are invited to take a seat at a solitary table, pick up a vintage telephone, and operate a switchboard to navigate a curated collection of real-life voice messages.
These personal recordings were left by the city’s residents between the hours of midnight and 6.00am – capturing the unfiltered thoughts of shift-workers, insomniacs, truck drivers, prank callers, emergency workers, new parents, and late-night revellers.
Originally commissioned by RISING for its inaugural 2021 program, the production’s highly anticipated Melbourne premiere was cancelled due to a pandemic lockdown on the festival’s opening night.
Since then, the acclaimed work has travelled widely, captivating audiences at the Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Gold Coast’s Bleach* Festival, and internationally at Canada’s Carrefour international de théâtre de Quebec.
For each iteration of the work, Oades and Scott seek a new batch of local voice messages from the host city, inviting contributions to their dedicated, anonymous hotline via late-night radio call-outs and night-community networks.
For the upcoming Malthouse season, the artists put out a fresh appeal to Melbourne’s night owls, capturing a contemporary, raw, and deeply specific snapshot of the city’s subconscious.
“There is a distinct, open-hearted honesty to the anonymous messages left for The Nightline under the cover of darkness,” reflected Co-creator and Director Roslyn Oades. “Bringing this work back to my home city of Melbourne, the place where the idea was dreamed up–in response to my own overnight experiences–is incredibly special.”
“We look forward to inviting local listeners to pull up a chair, pick up a receiver, and share a deeply human moment in the dark with their fellow Melburnians,” said Oades.
Guided into the space by The Nightline Concierge (played by Katia Molino), the production strips away traditional theatrical spectacle to focus on a deeper kind of listening. As the switchboard connects audiences to different voices, the boundary between stranger and confidant dissolves, turning a solitary auditory experience into an act of profound connection.
“Roslyn Oades and Bob Scott have created an exceptionally delicate, moving portrait of a city in its quietest hours. Since capturing the imagination of audiences across Australia and overseas, it is a privilege to bring The Nightline back to the city where it all began,” said Malthouse Theatre Executive Producer and co-CEO Vivia Hickman.
The Nightline features production design by Clare Britton, lighting design and coding by Fausto Brusamolino, and switchboard design by Greg Cameron. Technical direction & production management by Keith Tucker (MEGAFUN), and stage manager & operator by Jem Hoppe-Smith.
The Nightline Message Bank will be open to callers through to the end of the season. Messages left in July may be included in the upcoming run, while any messages recorded after that will be added to The Nightline collection for potential inclusion in future seasons. To contribute an anonymous late-night message to The Nightline visit www.nightlineproject.info
The Nightline
Bagging Room – Malthouse Theatre, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank
Season: 13 – 29 August 2026
Information and Bookings: www.malthousetheatre.com.au
Image: The Nightline Concierge Katia Molina – photo by Joshua Morris