Adelaide Festival names new artistic director
The former artistic director of a prestigious Melbourne theatre has been tapped to lead Adelaide Festival for the next three years.
Ex-Malthouse Theatre artistic director and co-CEO Matthew Lutton OAM will take over as Adelaide Festival artistic director, the festival has announced today.
Lutton spent nine years at the Melbourne theatre company, a tenure that saw him helm productions of the Joan Lindsay classic Picnic at Hanging Rock, the Tom Waits musical The Black Rider, and a Hugo Weaving-starring take on Stanisław Lem’s Solaris. The Perth-born director had previously run his own company, ThinIce, which he formed in 2002.
Before announcing his resignation from Malthouse in January, Lutton also steered the company through the Covid pandemic, mounting the ambitious Because the Night while navigating financial difficulties that prompted the cancellation of one show from its 2023 season. In an interview with The Age last year, Lutton said the current moment was “probably the hardest time I’ve ever seen to make theatre right now”.
“It is an extraordinary honour to be the next Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival,” Lutton said in a statement.
“As Australia’s premier international festival, it holds an astonishing artistic legacy. It is a festival renowned for large-scale international theatre, opera, dance, and music that can only be experienced in Adelaide, it launches daring new commissions that unite Australian and global artists, and it brings to life outdoor spectacles that astonish thousands.”
Lutton arrives at a challenging moment for the festival, which last year confirmed a deficit following lower-than-usual box office takings in 2024.
He’ll take over from Brett Sheehy, whose brief return to the directorship followed the surprise resignation of artistic director Ruth Mackenzie last August. Mackenzie was originally slated to lead the 2025 and 2026 festivals, but cut her tenure short just months out from the 2025 program announcement to take up a newly created policy role in the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
This year’s Adelaide Festival program is a mix of Mackenzie’s programming, last-minute wrangling by Sheehy, and groundwork laid by past artistic directors Rachel Healy and Neil Armfield — including the widely-celebrated opera centrepiece, Innocence by the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, which opened on Friday.
“Matthew’s visionary leadership at Malthouse Theatre, along with his profound understanding of contemporary performing arts, will ensure that Adelaide Festival continues to thrive as one of the world’s most respected and prestigious arts festivals,” Adelaide Festival Chair Tracey Whiting AM said of the appointment.
Subscribe for updates
“His passion for theatre and opera combined with his innovative artistic vision positions him perfectly to drive the continued evolution of Adelaide Festival as Australia’s premier cultural event —Australia’s International Festival.”
Adelaide Festival continues this week with Adelaide Writers’ Week and the opening of WOMADelaide on Friday.
Read more 2025 Adelaide Festival coverage here on InReview