Sarah Miller
Why is bad theatre so excruciating? Why is it so much worse than bad film? This question vexes many of us who spend a reasonable amount of our professional lives sitting in uncomfortable spaces enduring the slings and arrows of tragic theatre. So when the word gets out that something good is happening, we are prepared to endure a stinking hot night and a venue renowned for back-breaking seating and zero oxygen. Who and what was the cause of all this selfless devotion? Blame Matthew Lutton, whose outstanding physical and truly absurd production of Ionesco’s The Bald Prima Donna, had audiences in raptures during the 2003 WA Fringe Festival. Not surprisingly, it was awarded Best Fringe Production.
Lutton has packed a lot into his young life. At a mere 19 years of age, his credits include director, writer and performer. As a performer, he has been clown, acrobat, puppeteer and actor. With his company, ThinIce Productions, he has adapted and directed several productions. In 2002, he wrote and directed the sell-out physical theatre piece Trading Fates at the Blue Room Theatre and presented a self-devised work at PICA during Putting on an Act. So far this year, Lutton has directed the epic masked production of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and worked as assistant director on Be Active BSX’s Six Characters in Search of an Author and Black Swan Theatre Company’s The Merry Go Round in the Sea. In 2004 he is looking to direct Bed, a new script by Sydney writer Brendan Cowell in a multi-dimensional, audio visual and visceral production at PICA. Lutton is definitely across the boards (sic). He has just been appointed Director of BSX, a company for young artists producing new and contemporary theatre works with professional support from Black Swan Theatre Company. Oh, did I happen to mention that Lutton is currently completing his 2nd year of Theatre Arts at WAAPA. Long live good art.
RealTime issue #57 Oct-Nov 2003 pg. 32