You might not think it, but being an artistic director is no bed of roses. Despite its prestigious status, it's a job wrapped up in compromises and frustrating shortcomings. Grand ideas are mercilessly pruned as clashing schedules and prohibitive budgets take their toll and drab reality takes over. The selection that reaches the public eye is often a far cry from the original vision, but on some rare occasions, the planets align, schedules fit and budgets balance. As Matthew Lutton's 2017 season for Malthouse Theatre proves, they may be seldom seen, but these programs (when they happen) are definitely worth the wait.
This level of artistic serendipity might be a once in a career thing, and this isn't lost on Lutton, as he talks me through his program. There's a very faint tremor in his voice; the magnitude of this personal achievement is almost audible. "About midway through the process of putting the season together, we began to see the potential for it. We could see everything lining up, that we were going to pull it off, but it wasn't easy," he confides. "We had to work bloody hard to make sure everything stayed in place, but that also allowed me to have a lot of brilliant conversations with some incredible artists."
As Lutton unveils his second season helming Melbourne's "post-dramatic" theatre company, it's clear that his tenacity has paid off - it's a program that pulls no punches and forces its way to the far extremities of the human experience (and in some instances, even further than that). There are familiar signatures of Lutton's, building on his canon of radical adaptations of existing stories, but there is also plenty of new territory explored in the coming year. Knotty and topical psycho-sexual, political and societal narratives will be explored through a kaleidoscopic range of mediums, including opera, dance and advanced sound design.
"It's absolutely about taking it up a notch from last year," Lutton says of the dynamism on offer in 2017. "Some of that is connected to the way these stories are told, and next year certainly is more eclectic in its forms, but it's also been about being uncompromising with the content. I've looked for work that is more politically provocative, more outspoken; work that has real heart and empathy and defiance." Through this wild variety, there is one galvanising principle: anarchy. "I like having something to disrupt," Lutton explains. "The more you pry and investigate a story, the more you see the cracks opening up. It's all about challenging ideas, expectations and assumptions, about our society and about ourselves. But more than that, it's about disrupting the question of what theatre is and what it can be."
Malthouse is wearing its rebel heart on its sleeve, with a season moto that proudly trumpets a year of "new productions that revolt against the status quo, invite us to seek out empathy in unexpected places, and celebrate the matriarchy." And yet, for its wonderful belligerence, there is, in fact, a carefully judged balance in Lutton's 2017 selection, with a considered equilibrium of familiar faces, Australian stories and tried-and-true productions, alongside shows that rail against the norms.
Among the stellar roll call of actors lined-up next year is Wentworth star Pamela Rabe, who will perform Colm Toibin's provocative post-Christian monologue, The Testament of Mary, and cabaret legends Paul Capsis and Meow Meow, who will appear opposite each other in the Australian premiere of Tom Waits' Black Rider: The Casting of Magic Bullets, a co-production with Victorian Opera.
Ensuring audiences have some reassuring reference points has been a key part of Lutton's programming strategy. "You can't just introduce artistic risk for the sake of it. You have to invite an audience to take a risk, but you also have to build trust. It's a dance with your audience; it's a collaborative spirit, that engages them in a conversation through touchstones and familiar waypoints, but that makes them more open to surprises. Hopefully, that combination of familiarity and open-mindedness creates a feedback loop that leaves people wanting more."
In the "familiar" column of Malthouse's 2017 is a new work by one of Britain's most acclaimed companies, Complicite, and it's a major coup for Lutton. The Encounter has been globally hailed as one of the most remarkable accomplishments in theatre of recent years, and following sold-out seasons in London, New York and Edinburgh, this remarkable show is now headed Down Under. Michael Gow's much-loved Away, which examines the crushing loneliness of bereavement, is another trusted favourite, although with Lutton directing you can expect some unexpected twists in this production.
Among the unknown quantities on offer, following in the same vein as his divisively innovative re-imaginings of Picnic at Hanging Rock and Edward II earlier this year, Lutton will stage a new biopic of Joseph Merrick, aka the Elephant Man, by Tom Wright. Artistic Director of Chunky Move, Anouk van Dijk will create the first dance work staged at Malthouse during Lutton's tenure. Anti Gravity toys with the perception of natural forces, sublimating the push-pull of up vs down.
Several works in 2017 will shine a light on the enduring injustices found in contemporary society. Revolt, She Said. Revolt Again, by British playwright Alice Birch, is a raging ode to the fury of modern women. Gender-fuck firebrands Sisters Grimm will present a new play by long-time collaborator Declan Greene. Homosexuals, or Faggots, is a caustic reaction to the "absurdity of Australian politics and bipartisan hypocrisy." Celebrated Indigenous storytellers John and Margaret Harvey's Heart is a Wasteland, will star Ursula Yovich and Aaron Pedersen in a work that studies the social conflicts that persistently confront present-day Aboriginal communities, set against the scorched desert of central Australia.
