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Melbourne Theatre Company

Industry	Theatre
Founded	1953; 71 years ago (1953), as Union Theatre Reportory Company
Founder	John Sumner
Headquarters	Melbourne, Australia
Products	Theatrical productions
Website	www.mtc.com.au

The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia.

The company's Southbank Theatre houses the 500-seat Sumner and the 150-seat Lawler, and the company also performs in the Arts Centre Melbourne's Fairfax Studio and Playhouse, all located in Melbourne's Arts Precinct in Southbank. Considered Victoria's state theatre company, it formally comes under the auspices of the University of Melbourne. As of 2013 it offered a Mainstage Season of ten to twelve plays each year, as well as education, family and creative development activities, and reported having a subscriber base of approximately 20,000 people and played to a around quarter of a million people annually.

History

The Melbourne Theatre Company was founded in 1953 by John Sumner as the Union Theatre Repertory Company, based at the Union Theatre of the University of Melbourne's Student Union building. Sumner's original idea was to present a season of plays over those months when the Union Theatre was not being used by student drama societies. It was Australia's first professional repertory theatre, presenting a new play every two weeks during the season. Later, that became three weekly repertory. The first play, Jean Anouilh's Colombe, opened on 31 August 1953, starring Zoe Caldwell (who was later to have considerable success on Broadway), George Fairfax and Alex Scott.

Over the years, Melbourne Theatre Company has championed Australian writing, introducing the works of writers such as Alan Seymour, Vance Palmer, Patrick White, Alan Hopgood, Alexander Buzo, David Williamson, John Romeril, Jim McNeil, Alma De Groen, John Powers, Matt Cameron, Ron Elisha, Justin Fleming, Janis Bolodis, Hannie Rayson, Louis Nowra, Michael Gurr, Jack Davis, Michael Gow and Joanna Murray-Smith (to mention only a few) to mainstream Melbourne audiences. The first Australian play produced by the company, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler, in 1955 was quickly recognised as an Australian classic.

Lawler had by that time succeeded Sumner as Director of the company, taking it through the 1955 and 1956 seasons. When Lawler left to perform The Doll in London, he handed the directorship to Wal Cherry, who oversaw the company from 1956 until 1959. Cherry's experimental and daring approach to theatre did much to broaden the tastes of Melbourne theatre-goers, though the company suffered at the box-office. In 1959, John Sumner returned and subsequently steered the company through twenty-eight years of growth, watching it become, by the time he retired in 1987, the largest theatre company in Australia. Since then the company has had three artistic directors: Roger Hodgman (1987–1999), who steered MTC through the financially troublesome period of the late 1980s and 1990s; Simon Phillips, who was Artistic Director from 2000 to 2011; and Brett Sheehy from 2012. Robyn Nevin, Pamela Rabe, and Aidan Fennessy managed the 2012 season in the interim between Phillips and Sheehy.

Fennessy was Associate Director for some time.

The Melbourne Theatre Company has performed in many Melbourne venues in its history, including the Russell Street Theatre, the Melbourne Athenaeum, St Martins Theatre, the Merlyn and Beckett Theatres at the Malthouse, the Playhouse and Fairfax Studio of the Arts Centre Melbourne, the Comedy Theatre and the Princess Theatre.

Directors

Artistic directors

• 1953–1955 John Sumner
• 1955–1956 Ray Lawler
• 1956–1959 Wal Cherry
• 1959–1987 John Sumner
• 1959–1987 John Sumner
• 1987–1999 Roger Hodgman
• 2000–2011 Simon Phillips
• 2012 Robyn Nevin, Pamela Rabe, Aidan Fennessy
• 2013–2022 Brett Sheehy
• 2023– Anne-Louise Sarks

Associate directors

Petra Kalive was appointed associate director in 2020. In November 2024, she left to take up the appointment of artistic director of the State Theatre Company South Australia.

Awards and nominations

Helpmann Awards

The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia since 2001. Note: 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. Geoffrey Hutton (1975). "It won't last a week!": the first twenty years of the Melbourne Theatre Company. Melbourne: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-17506-9.
2. Annual report 2013
4. Cameron, Matt; Houghton, Peter (2021). "Vale Aidan Fennessy: Playwright, Director, Actor". Melbourne Theatre Company. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
5. "AusStage – Melbourne Theatre Company". AusStage. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
6. ^ "Former artistic leadership". Melbourne Theatre Company. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018.
7. "Meet Petra Kalive". Melbourne Theatre Company. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
8. "About". Petra Kalive. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
9. "State Theatre Company South Australia announces Petra Kalive as new Artistic Director and Co-CEO". Australian Arts Review. 21 November 2024. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
10. Keen, Suzie (21 November 2024). "Petra Kalive announced as State Theatre's new artistic director". InDaily. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
11. "Events & Programs". Live Performance Australia. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
12. "2001 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
13. "2002 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
14. "2003 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
15. "2004 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
16. "2005 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
17. "2006 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
18. "2007 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
19. "2008 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
20. "2009 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
21. "2010 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
22. "2012 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
23. "2013 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
24. "2014 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
25. "2015 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
26. "2016 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
27. "2017 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
28. "2018 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.
29. "2018 Helpmann Awards Nominees & Winners". Helpmann Awards. Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA). Retrieved 26 July 2022.

Bibliography

• Geoffrey Hutton (1975). "It won't last a week!": the first twenty years of the Melbourne Theatre Company. Melbourne: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-17506-9.
• Julian Meyrick, ed. (2004). The Drama Continues: MTC the first fifty years 1953–2003. Southbank: Melbourne Theatre Company. ISBN 0-9751712-0-8.

External links

• Official website

• 1953 establishments in Australia
• Theatre companies in Australia
• Landmarks in Melbourne
• Theatre in Melbourne
• Organisations based in Melbourne