Jump to content

Matthew Lutton

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matthew Lutton is an Australian theatre and opera director. He was associate director of the Black Swan Theatre Company in 2006. He was the founder and director of ThinIce theatre company (2002–2012) in Perth, Western Australia. Moving to Melbourne in 2011, he was first associate artist (directing), and from 2015 artistic director and co-CEO of Malthouse Theatre. In March 2025 he was appointed artistic director of the Adelaide Festival for three years, starting with the 2026 festival.

Early life and education

[edit]

Matthew Lutton was born in Perth, Western Australia.[1] He grew up in the suburb of Wembley, and spent much time as a boy playing on the shores of Lake Monger. His maternal grandmother, Bethwyn Taylor, was a theosophist and painter. She died when Lutton was 17, and the family moved into her house, where his mother, Susan, had grown up, in Doubleview, near Scarborough Beach.[2]

He attended Perth's Hale School, an Anglican school, graduating in 2001.[3][2]

He studied theatre arts at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.[4]

Career

[edit]

Theatre

[edit]

In 2002 Lutton formed the ThinIce theatre company,[5] which staged Ionesco's The Bald Prima Donna at the 2003 Perth International Fringe Festival. For ThinIce he directed the premiere of Brendan Cowell's play Bed at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts[6] and devised two new works with Eamon Flack, The Gathering in 2005 and The Goose Chase in 2007. The Goose Chase was a solo piece for Flack, co-produced with Deckchair Theatre.[citation needed]

Lutton was appointed the artistic director of Black Swan Theatre Company's emerging artists' program at the BSX-Theatre in 2003[5] where, between 2003 and 2006, he directed Harold Pinter's Mountain Language, Mrozek's Striptease, Büchner's Woyzeck and Dürrenmatt's The Visit.[citation needed] He became the associate director of the Black Swan Theatre Company in 2006,[5] and in 2007 directed Mishima's The Lady Aoi for the Perth International Arts Festival.[citation needed]

In 2008 Lutton was Michael Kantor's assistant director on Malthouse Theatre's production of Molière's Tartuffe in Melbourne. Kantor fell ill two days before rehearsals commenced and Lutton was invited to take over the production as director.[7][8] He then went on to direct the world premiere of Tom Holloway's play Don't Say the Words at Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company[9] and Red Shoes (a version of the Hans Christian Andersen story adapted by Humphrey Bower) for ThinIce and Artrage.[citation needed]

In 2009 ThinIce was appointed triennial funding from both the Australia Council for the Arts and ArtsWA. Over the next three years ThinIce created six new works in partnership with other Australian arts organisations. These included a new production of Antigone (adapted by Eamon Flack and featuring singer Rachael Dease) with the Perth International Arts Festival; The Duel (a Dostoevsky adaptation written by Tom Wright) with Sydney Theatre Company;[10] Tom Holloway's Love Me Tender with Belvoir Street Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company; and The Trial (adapted from the Kafka novel by Louise Fox) with Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre.[11][4] In November 2009 Lutton directed part one of The Mysteries: Genesis at Sydney Theatre Company. Parts two and three were directed by Tom Wright and Andrew Upton.[12][13]

Lutton was appointed associate artist (directing) at Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre in 2011.[5] He closed down ThinIce in 2012.[5] In this role, Lutton directed award-winning productions including On the Misconception of Oedipus by Tom Wright[5][14] and The Bloody Chamber, based on the short story by Angela Carter and adapted by Van Badham (2013).[15][16][17]

In 2015 Lutton was appointed artistic director and co-CEO of the Malthouse.[18][5]

In April 2016, Lutton directed a Malthouse-Black Swan joint production in the world premiere of an adaptation of the novel Picnic at Hanging Rock, which was performed at The State Theatre, Perth, April 1 to 17.[8][2] The play was invited to be performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh and the Barbican in London.[citation needed]

Other directing highlights include the five-hour stage adaptation of Tim Winton's Cloudstreet, co-produced with the Perth International Arts Festival;[citation needed] the Australian premiere of Tom Waits' musical The Black Rider co-produced with Victorian Opera;[19] The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man,[20] David Greig's Solaris in a co-production with the Lyric Hammersmith in London and the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh;[citation needed] John Harvey's First Nations epic, The Return, co-directed with Jason Tamiru as part of RISING Festival;[21][22] and Australia's largest immersive theatre production, Because the Night, in 2021.[23]

Lutton resigned from his role at Malthouse Theatre as of the end of March 2025.[24][25]

Festival director

[edit]

In March 2025 was announced as the artistic director of the Adelaide Festival for a three-year term.[1]

Opera

[edit]

In 2007 Lutton attended the Jerwood Opera Writing Foundation Program, directed by Giorgio Battistelli, at the Aldeburgh Festival in England. While at Aldeburgh he collaborated with Czech composer Miroslav Srnka for the first time. In 2008 Srnka and Lutton received fellowships from the Jerwood Foundation and Aldeburgh Music to create a new opera, Make No Noise, commissioned by the Bavarian State Opera. The opera, with a libretto by Tom Holloway, is based on Isabel Coixet's film The Secret Life of Words, and had its world premiere at the Munich Opera Festival on 1 July 2011.[26][27]

In 2012 Lutton directed Strauss's Elektra for West Australian Opera, Opera Australia, ThinIce, and Perth International Arts Festival, with Danish soprano Eva Johansson singing the title role.[28][29][30]

In 2013 Lutton directed Wagner's The Flying Dutchman for New Zealand Opera, and in 2022 Kurt Weill's Happy End for Victorian Opera.[citation needed]

Other roles

[edit]

In 2008 Lutton was the West Australian representative on the Australia Council for the Arts Theatre Board.[5]

Lutton has been a judge on the theatre panel at the Helpmann Awards, and has been a non-executive director on the board of the Stephanie Lake Company since 2018.[5]

Awards

[edit]

Personal life

[edit]

In 2016 he revealed that he was in a relationship with Russell Hooper, a policy writer for the Victorian Government.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Marsh, Walter (3 March 2025). "Adelaide Festival names new artistic director". InDaily. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d Dow, Steve (20 February 2016). "New Malthouse artistic director Matthew Lutton". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 10 March 2025. This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on February 20, 2016 as "The equaliser".
  3. ^ "Old Haleians recognised for outstanding service". Old Haleians Association. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "Matthew Lutton awarded WA Citizen of the Year". Australian Stage Online. 31 May 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Name: Mr Matthew Lutton; Award: Medal of the Order of Australia". Australian Honours Search Facility. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). Retrieved 10 March 2025. For service to the performing arts as a director.
  6. ^ "Bed - ThinIce Productions" Archived 25 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Perth Institute of Performing Arts, 30 November 1999
  7. ^ "Love in the depths of war and violence". Sydney Morning Herald 3 July 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2012
  8. ^ a b Taylor, Belle (29 March 2016). "Perth theatre: Matthew Lutton's production Picnic at Hanging Rock opens". PerthNow. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Don't Say the Words by Tom Holloway", Griffin Theatre Company, 2008
  10. ^ Simmonds, Diana: "The Duel", Stage Noise, 11 June 2009
  11. ^ Croggan, Alison: "Horror persists in superb reworking of Franz Kafka's nightmarish classic", The Australian, 20 August 2010. [dead link‍]
  12. ^ "The Mysteries: Genesis". Australian Stage Online. 1 December 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  13. ^ "The Mysteries: Genesis". AusStage. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  14. ^ "Chess the big winner at the Green Room Awards". Australian Arts Review. 7 May 2013.
  15. ^ Penton, Jennifer (7 August 2013). "The Bloody Chamber". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Matthew Lutton and David Chisholm, The Bloody Chamber". Partial Durations. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  17. ^ a b "Full list of 2014 Green Room Award Recipients". Australian Stage Online. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  18. ^ Robin Usher (16 July 2015). "'Entertaining, subversive, sexy': New artistic director Matthew Lutton's vision for Malthouse Theatre". Sydney Morning Herald.
  19. ^ Cameron Woodhead (21 September 2017). "Black Rider review: A delicious descent into hell". Sydney Morning Herald.
  20. ^ Cameron Woodhead (10 August 2017). "Elephant Man review: A poetic and accomplished telling of The Elephant Man story". Sydney Morning Herald.
  21. ^ "RISING: The Return". 2022.rising.melbourne. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  22. ^ Liversidge, Reuben (23 May 2022). "Theatre review: The Return". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  23. ^ Tahney Fosdike (12 April 2021). "Theatre Review: Because the Night, Malthouse Theatre". ArtsHub.
  24. ^ "Matthew Lutton to step down as Artistic Director of Malthouse Theatre". AussieTheatre.com. 30 January 2025. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  25. ^ Blake, Jason (30 January 2025). "Matthew Lutton leaves Malthouse". Limelight. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  26. ^ Annual Reports, Jerwood Foundation (2009) p. 33. Retrieved 27 June 2012 Archived 29 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ "Make No Noise", Bavarian State Opera (2011). Retrieved 27 June 2012
  28. ^ Laurie, Victoria (6 February 2012). "Night inside the mind of madness". The Australian. Retrieved 27 June 2012
  29. ^ "Elektra - Richard Strauss" Archived 28 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, West Australian Opera, 2012
  30. ^ Yeoman, William: "Opera Review: Elektra", The West Australian, 10 February 2012
  31. ^ "Matthew Lutton", Australian of the Year Awards
  32. ^ "Matthew Lutton Recieves [sic] Medal (Oam) of the Order of Australia". 14 June 2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Matthew_Lutton&oldid=1280207262"