Walking into Australian Theatres Unveiled at fortyfivedownstairs felt like stepping into a shared archive of nights out, opening chords, interval chats and that breath right before the house lights go down. Each framed print felt like an invitation to turn to a friend and say, “Remember the time we…?”—standing under that glowing marquee, waiting at that side entrance, losing track of ourselves in that velvet-and-gold foyer.
Cameron’s photographs pulse with saturated colour and considered composition, so every detail—the curve of a balcony, the glow of a neon sign, the texture of an old facade—feels intentionally preserved. Some images lean nostalgic and vintage, others hum with a retro, almost cinematic energy, but all of them carry that quietly electric feeling of being in a space built for stories.
If you’ve followed our theatre coverage, you’ll know how much we value the spaces that hold these experiences.
Who is Cameron Grant (Parenthesy)?
If you follow Australian live performance photography, you’ve almost certainly encountered Cameron’s work—even if you didn’t realise it at the time. He is a Melbourne-based live performance photographer and Director of Parenthesy, specialising in theatre, musical theatre, live music, dance and circus.
A Victorian College of the Arts acting graduate (2018), Cameron started his life in these buildings on stage before moving firmly behind the lens. That performer’s perspective shows: his images understand how it feels to call a theatre a “second home”—the dressing rooms, kitchenettes, backstage wings and shadowy corridors that many of us never see, but performers live in.
Over recent years, his photography has appeared in outlets such as Rolling Stone Magazine, Deadline, Disney Official, The Guardian and Aussie Theatre, and he has shot major productions including Beetlejuice, Miss Saigon, The Talented Mr Ripley, Anastasia and Disney’s The Lion King for organisations like Arts Centre Melbourne, Michael Cassel Group, GWB Entertainment and Crossroads Live. That portfolio gives him rare access—and deep trust—across Australia’s live performance sector, which this exhibition channels into a visual archive.
The first instalment of Australian Theatres Unveiled showed in his Brunswick East studio in 2024, attracting industry leaders and strong public interest. This 2026 season at fortyfivedownstairs marks the project’s most ambitious outing yet, and you can feel that intention in the room.
A National Tour of Theatre Icons, from Foyers to Stage Doors
One of the joys of this series is recognising theatres you know and discovering the character of venues you haven’t yet visited in person. The collection features theatre facades and details from across Australia—including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Tasmania—each one honoured as both cultural landmark and emotional landmark.
You’ll spot familiar Melbourne favourites like the Regent Theatre, Princess Theatre, and the Her Majesty’s Theatre, their ornate fronts and signage captured with a mix of reverence and playfulness. For Sydney theatre-lovers and travellers, there are facades from major houses such as the Capitol Theatre and other central venues that have lit up countless nights out. Interspersed are images from further afield, like His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth and Capri Theatre in Adelaide—cinematic, instantly recognisable to locals, and seductive to anyone who loves heritage buildings.
You can browse the full list of venues and works—featuring the unique facades of the major theatres across Australia, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Tasmania — in the online collection.
fortyfivedownstairs: The Perfect Melbourne Home for This Exhibition
fortyfivedownstairs has become one of Melbourne’s favourite spaces for art that quietly disrupts the mundane work week. Housed in a historic basement in the city, the gallery already has strong theatre DNA—hosting bold independent productions and visual art that sits in dialogue with performance.
For Australian Theatres Unveiled, that context matters. The exhibition runs from 5–14 February 2026, with free admission and extended weekday hours (Tuesday–Friday, 12pm–7pm; Saturdays and Sunday 8 February, 12pm–4pm). There’s a gentle rhythm to wandering the space: you move from grand, almost postcard-like facades to intimate angles of stage doors and hidden corners, all within a venue that knows what it means to champion independent, artist-led work.
Ticket registration (free, but helpful for managing numbers and a nice little digital souvenir) is via SimpleTix:
Free tickets
If you’ve read my previous take on theatre in this very venue, “Othello”, a classic shakespeare tragedy reimagined, you’ll know how special it is to see a show here that reflects on theatre buildings themselves as artworks.
What It Feels Like to Stand Among the Prints
My first instinct on entering was to slow down. The room is filled with around 60–70 works, each print hanging at that conversational height where you find yourself leaning in, tracing lines and colours with your eyes.
Some pieces pulled me straight back into specific memories:
- A glowing facade that reminded me of waiting under lights on a warm summer night, full of pre-show buzz.
- A quiet backstage passage that echoed those between-acts conversations and nervous actor energy.
- A side door that felt like the real entrance for “those in the know”, where creatives, crew and late-arriving friends slip in.
The colour treatment is vivid without feeling artificial; it feels more like how your memory remembers the night than how a neutral lens might record it. Other reviewers have described the show as a love letter to design and architecture, which it absolutely is, but what struck me most was how human the spaces felt—like portraits of communities rather than just buildings.
A Post-COVID Archive of Theatre Emotion
Cameron’s artist statement speaks directly to something many of us in the arts world feel but rarely pause to articulate: after COVID, walking back into these venues carried a deeper weight. Spaces that once felt like a given suddenly felt precious, fragile, and fiercely worth protecting.
He reflects on the “second homes” performers form in dressing rooms, kitchenettes and pitch-black sidestage wings, and you can sense that lived experience in the work. Photography here is not just documentary; it is a way of saying “this mattered”—to performers, to audiences, to cities that wear their culture on their streets.
In that sense, Australian Theatres Unveiled doubles as both celebration and archive. It preserves a national theatre landscape in a way that feels contemporary and highly collectable, not museum-like. And by elevating these venues into limited-edition fine art prints, Cameron invites us to play curator of our own emotional histories.
Can’t Get to Melbourne? You Can Still Take Theatre Home
If you are in Melbourne during the exhibition dates, I highly recommend carving out an hour to experience the series in person at fortyfivedownstairs. The scale, the hanging, and the subtle dialogue between works make the visit feel like a theatre night in its own right.
If you are interstate, overseas, or simply booked solid, the good news is that the collection lives on beautifully online. You can browse the works, read about the series and purchase prints via Parenthesy Prints:
Online collection & shop
For lifestyle entrepreneurs, creatives and theatre lovers building homes or studios that reflect who they are, these pieces are powerful visual anchors. They carry memory, identity and that quiet promise of “one more show to come”.
Disclaimer: Glamorazzi representatives Roslyn Foo and Paul Tu attended the opening night of Australian Theatres Unveiled on 4th February 2026 at fortyfivedownstairs, invited by GoodHumans PR. All opinions expressed are our own.
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Photos by (@lazyfairr)
