Career Profile: Matthew Lutton, director

What’s your background/training?
I trained at WAAPA for three years studying a multi-disciplinary course called Theatre Arts. So I trained in acting, directing and writing. Although, I am certainly not an actor!

Was directing something you always wanted to do?
Yes, I decided I wanted to direct theatre when I was at high school. Before that, I wanted to be a conductor. So I have always been attracted to the role of the creator – the individual who leads and guides a cohort of artists to shape and manifest a vision.

How would you describe your job to a complete stranger?
I direct theatre. I work with other artists to tell stories. Sometime I decide what the story is, sometimes people bring me the stories. And then I spend frequently up to two years preparing and developing that story until it is ready to be shared with a live audience

What’s the first thing career related you usually do each day?
That’s a hard question, as the line is very blurred. When I read the paper, I am always looking for stories and references. The music I play while eating breakfast often helps me think about what I need to rehearse that day. I eat a different breakfast when I am in full-time rehearsals! So, my career affects even my most standard of daily rituals.

Can you describe an “average” working day for you?
Well, it depends if I am in rehearsals or not. At the moment, I wake at 7:30, buy a paper and eat breakfast. I then usually look over my notes from the previous night, or read the scenes I am going to tackle that day. I rehearse from 10 – 6. Lunch often involves a meeting with a member of the production team, or a publicity call. After rehearsals, I am usually meeting someone else from the production team (lighting, sound, set or costume). I then have dinner (valuable alone time), and sit down on the couch and begin thinking and dreaming for the next day. A DVD episode, and then bed just after midnight. And then it starts all again. For six days a week. Although, my evenings are often interrupted by nights at the theatre, and vital drinking sessions with friends and colleagues.

Did you have a professional mentor? If so, can you tell us a bit about them and how they helped your career develop? If not, is this something you would have wanted or found helpful?
I have many mentors, from many different stages of my career. My most recent mentor is Neil Armfield. I was Neil’s assistant last year at Company B, and he is my companion artist on Tartuffe. Neil basically comes to one rehearsal a week, gives me notes, offers thoughts and opinions (some of which I accept, some of which I disagree with), and usually leads a discussion with the company. So it is a fantastic way of opening out the process with a regular collaborator. Neil has taught me how to listen to text, and how to find the music in words. The more time I spend with Neil, the more I feel I learn off him.

What’s the one thing – piece of equipment, song, book, security blanket – that you can’t be creative without?
A good couch and a good notebook. A really good notebook. I am very fussy about what I write in. Especially because I draw and sketch a lot. I need to have music. And at home, I rely on my Jack Russell for distraction. Whenever I need a break (an important part of the creative process), I go and annoy my Jack Russell.

What gets you fired up?
Ignorance and the ability not to inspect your own motives and life. People who aren’t able to look at themselves honestly or with objectivity get me fired up.

In the theatre, I loathe theatre that that tells me how to think. Sentimental theatre. And I have little toleration for theatre that should be turned into television. If the story would be better told through a camera, then don’t put it on the stage. I want to make theatre that can’t be translated or dulplicated on film.

Who in the industry most inspires you? Who would you most like to work with and why?
Lots of people inspire me, usually for their boldness and strong sense of self. I feel like Barrie Kosky teaches me even though I have never met him. I think Benedict Andrews is defining the current generation of theatre-makers in Australia. I am inspired by Italian director Romeo Castellucci and his unrelenting vision and philosophies. I devour the ideas of Robert Lepage and Robert Wilson, stealing their thoughts and making them my own. I like to work with people that I think are better than me, and can bring layers to my projects that I can’t. Therefore, I am always inspired to work with new people.

What’s the most challenging theatrical style or genre you’ve worked in?
Devising new theatre collaborative is by far the most challenging genre for me. Working with four actors and a bunch of designers to make a new piece of theatre from scratch (without a writer) is the most addictive, thrilling, satisfying, infuriating, and transforming process I have ever gone through. In the last twelve months I have work on new operas, dance theatre, Japanese Noh theatre, a one-man show, Greek Tragedy, new Australian theatre and currently, classic comedy. But group devised theatre still remains the most tantalizing and terrifying form of theatre I know.

What’s the best thing about your job? The worst?
The best thing, is the fact that the greatest concerns of my life are centered around art. That is a privilege and an honor. I find joy in the fact that I get to work with other amazing artists in an attempted to explore the most important invisible fibers that can unite our community.

The worst thing, is trying to convince people why the arts are important, and the shame that Australia hasn’t yet been able to find a way to fully embrace its artists

What’s the most exciting thing about stepping up to the plate at the Malthouse?
To be offered amazing resources, both human and material. I have inherited an amazing cast (one which I wouldn’t be able to attract on my own), and an amazing team of creatives, who had already crafted a tantalizing skeleton for the play. I felt like I was surround by options and ideas, and had to rapidly start making decisions of what ideas I was going to pursue, and how to realize them.

I arrived in Melbourne with nearly no preparation, as I believe that you can be a better assistant director if you don’t arrive with lots of your own ideas. So I have been forced to rapidly dig into the material. However, working so frantically means that impulses are running high, and that the imagination is just flowing constantly. A wonderful state of creativity emerges when you don’t have time to think.