Melbourne Theatre Company defied an 11 per cent fall in box office receipts to post a small surplus in 2024, thanks to an unusual fundraising campaign instigated by its outgoing chair Jane Hansen.

But there was no such philanthropic rescue at Victoria’s second-largest theatre maker, Malthouse, which annoyed some donors in February 2024 when it hosted a show by anti-Israel activist Clementine Ford, at the same time as Jewish musical Yentl played at its main theatre.