Madeleine Swain

Originally from England where she trained as an actor, Madeleine Swain has over 30 years’ experience as a writer, editor and film reviewer in print, television, radio and online. She is on the Board of JOY Media and is a Life Member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival.

Madeleine Swain's Latest Articles

Theatre of Dreams at Adelaide Festival 2026. Photo: Andrew Beveridge.
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Theatre of Dreams review: dance that channels such stuff as dreams are made on

Theatre of Dreams explored what happens when we close our eyes and drift away.

Year of the Rooster. Photo: Cameron Grant.
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Year of the Rooster review: bold costumes and wild buffoonery are not quite enough

The third play in a series dubbed The Beast Trilogy, Year of the Rooster is a visual treat.

From left, Ben Prendergast, Ngaire Dawn Fair, Emily Goddard and John Leary in Kid Stakes, performed by Red Stitch Actors' Theatre as part of The Doll Trilogy. Photo: Chris Parker.
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The Doll Trilogy review: Red Stitch makes a marathon feel like a sprint

My word, she’ll be right… Ray Lawler’s pioneering The Doll Trilogy still makes for a stimulating day (and night) in…

Malthouse Theatre's Black Light. Photo: Pia Johnson.
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Black Light review: Jada Alberts throws the spotlight on the matriarchy

Navigating kinship across generations, this world premiere of Black Light opens the Malthouse’s 2026 season.

The best Australian plays of the 21st century.
Opinions & Analysis

The Melbourne Theatre Company is too woke? Go back to sleep

Nobody benefits from disparaging words and lazy critique – certainly not those of us working in the arts.

Alison Bell and Fayssal Bazzi in Much Ado About Nothing. Photo: Gregory Lorenzutti / MTC.
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Much Ado About Nothing review: belly laughs and barbs from the Bard

Shakespeare’s mid-career comedy is given a gleeful airing in the MTC’s first new staging of the work in 30 years.

A profile of a woman with short silver hair, Lynette Ramsay Silver, author of Sister Bullwinkel.
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Sister Bullwinkel review: a biography by Lynette Ramsay Silver tackles the truth after 80 years

Lynette Ramsay Silver’s account about Sister Bullwinkel, Australia's wartime nurse, makes for grim reading, but we shouldn’t look away.

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