Matthew Lutton is an Australian theatre and opera director. He was associate director of theBlack Swan Theatre Company in 2006. He was the founder and director of ThinIce theatre company (2002–2012) inPerth,Western Australia. Moving toMelbourne in 2011, he was first associate artist (directing), and from 2015 artistic director and co-CEO ofMalthouse Theatre. In March 2025 he was appointed artistic director of theAdelaide Festival for three years, starting with the 2026 festival.
Matthew Lutton was born in Perth, Western Australia.[1] He grew up in the suburb ofWembley, and spent much time as a boy playing on the shores ofLake Monger. His maternal grandmother, Bethwyn Taylor, was atheosophist and painter. She died when Lutton was 17, and the family moved into her house, where his mother, Susan, had grown up, inDoubleview, nearScarborough Beach.[2]
He attended Perth'sHale School, an Anglican school, graduating in 2001.[3][2]
He studied theatre arts at theWestern Australian Academy of Performing Arts.[4]
In 2002 Lutton formed the ThinIce theatre company,[5] which stagedIonesco'sThe Bald Prima Donna at the 2003Perth International Fringe Festival. For ThinIce he directed the premiere of Brendan Cowell's playBed atPerth Institute of Contemporary Arts[6] and devised two new works withEamon Flack,The Gathering in 2005 andThe Goose Chase in 2007. TheGoose Chase was a solo piece for Flack, co-produced with Deckchair Theatre.[citation needed]
Lutton was appointed the artistic director ofBlack Swan Theatre Company's emerging artists' program at the BSX-Theatre in 2003[5] where, between 2003 and 2006, he directedHarold Pinter'sMountain Language,Mrozek'sStriptease,Büchner'sWoyzeck andDürrenmatt'sThe Visit.[citation needed] He became the associate director of theBlack Swan Theatre Company in 2006,[5] and in 2007 directedMishima'sThe Lady Aoi for thePerth International Arts Festival.[citation needed]
In 2008 Lutton was Michael Kantor's assistant director onMalthouse Theatre's production ofMolière'sTartuffe 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 playDon't Say the Words at Sydney'sGriffin Theatre Company[9] andRed Shoes (a version of theHans Christian Andersen story adapted by Humphrey Bower) for ThinIce and Artrage.[citation needed]
In 2009 ThinIce was appointed triennial funding from both theAustralia 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 ofAntigone (adapted by Eamon Flack and featuring singer Rachael Dease) with the Perth International Arts Festival;The Duel (aDostoevsky adaptation written byTom Wright) withSydney Theatre Company;[10] Tom Holloway'sLove Me Tender with Belvoir Street Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company; andThe Trial (adapted from theKafka novel by Louise Fox) with Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre.[11][4] In November 2009 Lutton directed part one ofThe Mysteries: Genesis at Sydney Theatre Company. Parts two and three were directed byTom Wright andAndrew 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 includingOn the Misconception of Oedipus byTom Wright[5][14] andThe Bloody Chamber, based on theshort story by Angela Carter and adapted byVan 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 novelPicnic at Hanging Rock, which was performed at TheState Theatre, Perth, April 1 to 17.[8][2] The play was invited to be performed at theRoyal Lyceum Theatre inEdinburgh and theBarbican inLondon.[citation needed]
Other directing highlights include the five-hour stage adaptation ofTim Winton'sCloudstreet, co-produced with thePerth International Arts Festival;[citation needed] the Australian premiere ofTom Waits' musicalThe Black Rider co-produced withVictorian Opera;[19]The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man,[20]David Greig'sSolaris in a co-production with theLyric 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 ofRISING 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]
In March 2025 was announced as the artistic director of theAdelaide Festival for a three-year term.[1]
In 2007 Lutton attended theJerwood Opera Writing Foundation Program, directed byGiorgio Battistelli, at theAldeburgh Festival in England. While at Aldeburgh he collaborated with Czech composerMiroslav 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 theBavarian State Opera. The opera, with a libretto byTom Holloway, is based onIsabel Coixet's filmThe Secret Life of Words, and had its world premiere at theMunich Opera Festival on 1 July 2011.[26][27]
In 2012 Lutton directedStrauss'sElektra forWest Australian Opera,Opera Australia, ThinIce, and Perth International Arts Festival, with Danish sopranoEva Johansson singing the title role.[28][29][30]
In 2013 Lutton directedWagner'sThe Flying Dutchman forNew Zealand Opera, and in 2022Kurt Weill'sHappy End forVictorian Opera.[citation needed]
In 2008 Lutton was the West Australian representative on theAustralia Council for the Arts Theatre Board.[5]
Lutton has been a judge on the theatre panel at theHelpmann Awards, and has been a non-executive director on the board of the Stephanie Lake Company since 2018.[5]
In 2016 he revealed that he was in a relationship with Russell Hooper, a policy writer for theVictorian Government.[2]
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on February 20, 2016 as "The equaliser".
For service to the performing arts as a director.