IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HAUS? CRAIG McLACHLAN LEADS A DELICIOUSLY DARK NIGHT OF SCHADENFREUDE AT SPIEGEL HAUS MELBOURNE

This spring, Melbourne is being invited to indulge one of its guiltiest pleasures, with a dark new cabaret of music, circus, magic, burlesque, puppetry and spectacularly bad behaviour taking over Spiegel Haus Melbourne.

Schadenfreude arrives at Spiegel Haus Melbourne from 28 October, transforming the venue into the consulting room of the gloriously devilish Dr Schadenfreude, played by Gold Logie, ARIA and Helpmann Award winner Craig McLachlan.

Dr Schadenfreude's speciality? Examining that wonderfully inappropriate little thrill we get when somebody else's perfectly ordered world goes completely awry.

Across a night of original music, twisted takes on familiar songs, circus, magic, burlesque, puppetry and audience participation, the good doctor sets out to examine exactly why other people's misfortune can feel so terribly entertaining.

Unfortunately for him, his patients have other ideas. As Dr Schadenfreude's "treatments" quickly descend into absurdity, he begins to lose control of the case studies. Before long, the line between observer and patient disappears and the audience is no longer safely watching from the waiting room.

At the centre of the chaos is McLachlan, stepping into a role built for theatrical excess. One of Australia's most recognisable stage and screen performers, his career spans Neighbours and The Doctor Blake Mysteries, an award-winning musical career and celebrated turns in The Rocky Horror Show. As Dr Schadenfreude, the role lets McLachlan move between actor, musician and master of ceremonies, often within the same scene.

"Dr Schadenfreude is the sort of man who walks into a room absolutely certain he is the smartest person in it. Naturally, that makes watching him lose control enormously satisfying," McLachlan said.

"What I love about this show is that the doctor begins with such authority, eager to educate the audience on all things schadenfreude. He takes the opportunity to include patients in demonstrating typical examples of schadenfreude, only to find, in the most outrageous ways, how easy it is for the lunatics to take over the asylum," McLachlan said.

"And what's more, the audience won't be simply sitting politely in the dark watching the mayhem. They become very much part of Dr Schadenfreude's spiralling session and, by the end of the show, they may have learnt something slightly uncomfortable about themselves."

McLachlan is joined by patients and accomplices, including Rocky Horror Show alumnus Kristian Lavercombe, alongside Brendan Irving.

Lavercombe has played the role of Riff Raff in more than 2,600 performances of The Rocky Horror Show.

Joining them is Stellar Perry, a 2020 grand finalist on The Voice Australia who went on to play Magenta in the 50th Anniversary Australian tour of The Rocky Horror Show, with further stage credits including Bell Shakespeare's The Lovers and Jesus Christ Superstar.

"After that many nights in Rocky Horror, I know the real electricity comes when the audience feels the show could escape its cage at any moment," Lavercombe said. "Schadenfreude has that same live-wire energy. It is bold, funny and beautifully theatrical, but underneath it all there is a delicious sense that nobody, least of all the doctor, is entirely safe."

Holding the reins, or at least attempting to, is Olivier Award-winning producer, director and performer Guy Masterson, whose international career spans more than 150 productions.

Masterson produced and directed Morecambe, which transferred to London's West End and won the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, and co-wrote and directed The Shark Is Broken, which travelled from the West End to Broadway following an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Comedy.

For Schadenfreude, that pedigree is being turned towards something altogether more unruly: a cabaret that keeps shifting beneath the audience's feet.

"Schadenfreude is one of those impulses almost everybody recognises and almost nobody is particularly proud of," Masterson said.

"That gives us wonderful territory for comedy. We can be elegant one minute, completely ridiculous the next, then suddenly put the audience in a position where they realise they've been laughing at something they probably shouldn't. That tension is where the show really lives."

Behind the music is acclaimed Australian conductor Vanessa Scammell as Music Supervisor, bringing another heavyweight theatrical pedigree to the production.

Scammell's credits span Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, all of the major Australian symphony orchestras, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Orchestra Victoria. Productions include The Merry Widow, The Phantom of the Opera, My Fair Lady, Chicago, CATS and West Side Story.

"Musically, Schadenfreude has to seduce the audience before it starts pulling the floor out from under them," Scammell said. "The joy is in making it seem precise and completely in control, while leaving just enough danger in the room for everything to come gloriously undone."

Together, the company is building a night that moves from seduction to spectacle, laughter to discomfort and polished cabaret to glorious collapse, all inside the intimate world of Spiegel Haus Melbourne.

Because Schadenfreude is not really asking whether we enjoy watching things go wrong.

It is asking how much fun we are prepared to have when they do.

Schadenfreude plays Spiegel Haus Melbourne from October, with performances Wednesday to Sunday.

ENDS

Ticketing Link: https://www.universe.com/events/schadenfreude-tickets-W1K59X

NOTES TO EDITORS

Schadenfreude is a dark-comedy cabaret combining original music, musical reinterpretations, circus, magic, burlesque, puppetry, theatrical comedy and audience participation.

IMAGES HERE

Season: From October 2026

Venue: Spiegel Haus Melbourne

Running time: 100 minutes

Age restriction: Strictly 18+

Performance schedule:

Wednesday: 7.00pm

Thursday: 7.00pm

Friday: 7.00pm

Saturday: 4.00pm and 8.00pm

Sunday: 4.00pm and 8.00pm

Performance times remain subject to final confirmation.

Available for interview/comment:

Craig McLachlan (Cast)

Kristian Lavercombe (Cast)

Guy Masterson (Director)

Vanessa Scammell (Music Director)