After much demand, Malthouse Theatre presents the return season of The Tell-Tale Heart as the final production for Michael Kantor's artistic programming. The first performance appeared as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival 2007 and sold out before opening. One critic wrote, "if you have tickets, guard them well and be very glad you got them when you did. This is theatre at its addictive best."

From the "Master of Horror", via Australia's own theatre terror Barrie Kosky, comes a tale of suspense, murder and madness that has played to sell-out houses at the 2009 Sydney Festival and 2008 Edinburgh International Festival.

The Tell-Tale Heart is part play/part musical, based on the classic short story by Edgar Allan Poe, a writer whose legacy haunts our bookshelves. A classic of the horror genre and an extravagant psychological portrait, the darkest black humour pervades Poe's macabre and most famous short story The Tell-Tale Heart.

With original music composed by Barrie Kosky, it features songs by Bach, Purcell and Wolf. Sets, costumes and design adaptation is mastered by Anna Treloan, with lighting by Paul Jackson. Austrian actor, Martin Niedermair's angelic singing is accompanied by multi-award winning Australian pianist Michael Kieran Harvey and presents a horrifying yet engrossing monologue that journeys into the human abyss of insanity, fear and obsession.

Their performane is eerily juxtaposed with the chilling details of the crime he describes. A man – a murderer – sits alone upon a staircase, pursued by shadows of darkness and demons. If at first he seems a mass of neuroses, his tics and spasms the symptoms of a terrible guilt, soon enough he is revealed as the dark soul of our age and, eventually, of the state of a theatre trembling on the edge of obsession and madness.

"Sickening then soothing, this is the stuff of fevered nightmares." The Guardian.

"...It's as if all your fireside Halloweens have come at once... It's a deliciously wicked rendering of a dark-hearted flight of self-destructive fancy." The UK Herald.

Come along, if you dare. The Tell Tale Heart runs from Friday, November 19- December 2 at the Merlyn Theatre, The Cub Malthouse (113 Sturt St, Southbank). Performances are Tuesdays at 6.30pm and Wednesday to Sunday at 7.30pm. Ticket prices are $23-$49.

For further infrmation and to book, visit The Malthouse website or phone them on (03) 9685 5111.