Rachel Griffiths will play the painter Clarice Beckett in a world premiere that closes Melbourne Theatre Company's 2027 season, one of 11 productions the company announced on Friday evening.

Clarice, written by Trudy Hellier and directed by Simon Phillips, runs at Southbank Theatre's Sumner from 2 November to 18 December 2027. It is Griffiths' first MTC role since Proof in 2002, according to the ABC. MTC's own announcement puts her absence from its stage at 20 years.

“I haven't come across something I've wanted to bleed for until now," Griffiths told ABC Arts. "This is a snapshot of 30s Melbourne and how hard it was for women artists of the time to practise and be collected." Beckett died in 1935 aged 48. Almost 2,000 of her works sat in a farm shed near Benalla until 1970, and only 359 could be saved.”

The season has six world premieres and three Australian premieres. Kate Mulvany adapts Richard III and plays every role herself at the Fairfax Studio from 13 February, nine years after she took on the part for Bell Shakespeare. Claire G. Coleman, a Wirlomin Noongar writer, adapts The War of the Worlds, which plays the Lawler in May before touring Victorian regional schools.

Julian Larnach's Rebels puts Bob Hawke, Kerry Packer and Clive Lloyd in Kirribilli House in 1985, with Simon Gleeson as Hawke. Andrew Bovell's Every Second Wednesday, about the families of people living with addiction, has Danielle Cormack and Debra Lawrance in the cast. Abbie-lee Lewis writes and directs Dirty Diamonds, drawn from the 1980s Argyle diamond heist, in a co-production with Belvoir.

The imports open and anchor the year. Stereophonic, which MTC bills as the most Tony-nominated play in Broadway history, opens the season at the Sumner on 25 January, co-produced with Queensland Theatre and Belvoir. Sigrid Thornton, Nadine Garner and Erik Thomson lead Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance from April.

Artistic director and chief executive Anne-Louise Sarks said six of the 11 works came through the company's NEXT STAGE writers' program and five are MTC commissions. Speaking to the ABC, she was frank about the direction of the sector. "The danger is that over time there will be fewer shows," she said. On the growing number of co-productions: "It is something companies are needing to do more."

The numbers behind that caution are in the company's 2025 annual report. MTC took $13.4 million at the box office from about 190,000 paid attendances, but total revenue fell from $26.6 million in 2024 to $24.5 million, against expenses of $28.3 million. The year ended with a deficit of $3.87 million. Commonwealth grants rose to $3.06 million, and government money made up 16 per cent of income.

Board chair Martin Hosking wrote in that report of "a continued softening of the subscription model and price sensitivity that delivered lower average ticket prices despite a relatively stable volume". Sarks called the conditions "structural, not temporary".

The 2027 season is the first response to that on the ticketing side. MTC is converting its subscription program into memberships, with discounts of 10 per cent for three to six plays, 15 per cent for seven to nine and 20 per cent for 10. Payment can be split into four instalments. Tickets are currently sold only as part of a membership; MTC has not yet published a single-ticket on-sale date.

MTC is a department of the University of Melbourne and is funded by the federal government through Creative Australia and by the Victorian government through Creative Victoria. The season opens with Stereophonic on 25 January.