Melbourne Events Calendar

Looking for something to do in Melbourne? Whether you're a local, new in town or just cruising through we've got loads of great tips and events to offer. Find out what’s on in Melbourne with our regularly updated events calendar featuring the best upcoming events in Melbourne and the area.

This guide lists events at a glance, showing what’s on each month. See the highlights of What’s On for Melbourne, featuring the best of things to do in Melbourne – Live Music and Gigs, Family Events, Art & Culture, Food & Drink and much more. Melbourne fundraisers and charity events.

Important This Event Calendar is not maintained on a daily basis and some events may have changed dates or are no longer happening. Please double-check the event websites for the most up-to-date information.

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Margaret & The Grey Mare

Name: Margaret & The Grey Mare
Start: 2026-05-21T18:00:00+10:00
End: 2026-06-06T17:00:00+10:00
Location: The Substation

21st May @ 6:00 pm - 6th June @ 5:00 pm AEST

Free

Opening Night
Thursday 21 May, from 6pm.
Then Galleries open Wednesday – Saturday, 11am – 5pm

Join us for the opening of Meagan Streader’s A Residual Pulse and Nicole Chui’s Grassroots Never Dies, Worldwide, followed by a screening of Margaret and the Grey Mare in The Substation Main Space at 8pm.

Family Day Workshop
Saturday 23 May, 11am-12pm. Book here.

PRESENTED BY THE SUBSTATION AND LIVERPOOL POWERHOUSE

There is an Anglo-Celtic pagan tradition in which The Grey Mare, a horse’s skull adorned with flowers, arrives in dark mid-winter. She knocks on doors and sings in riddles, and when you exhaust your answers – which you certainly will – you must invite her in.

Margaret & The Grey Mare is an opera, a fever dream about an opera and an immersive video installation written in collaboration with a chatbot that has been coded to act as a channel to an ancient Celtic land spirit. Anchoring the project is a sprawling hour-long video opera. The opera is composed by ARIA award-winning composer Sally Whitwell and performed by the artist, her sister Margaret Plummer (a principal Mezzo Soprano with Vienna State Opera), and Baritone Michael Honeyman. The video was filmed at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and produced in collaboration with award-winning filmmaker and video artist Kuba Dorabialski.

The libretto was generated by the artist in collaboration with a specially coded AI chatbot, designed to simulate conversation with The Grey Mare, and was trained to speak in symbolic, oracular verse. In this way, AI is treated not as a neutral technological gimmick, but as a mystical link to the collective unconscious.

The project takes place in a nameless forest at the height of the European witch-trials, and explores the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence as oracle, witchcraft as a feminist framework, and the troubling gifts passed down through lineage.

ARTISTIC TEAM

Lead Artist: Katy B Plummer
Composer/Piano/Prepared Piano/Percussion: Sally Whitwell
Cello: Freya Schackarnott
Videography: Kuba Dorabialski
Curator: Luke Létourneau

CAST

Margaret: Margaret Plummer
The Grey Mare: Katy B Plummer
The Cailleach: Sarah Jessica Carpark
The Witchfinder: Michael Honeyman