David Berthold
David Berthold is an Australian theatre and festival director, who has also been artistic director of several major Australian arts organisations.
Early life and education
[edit]David Berthold was born in Maitland, New South Wales.[1]
He spent some years training as an opera singer, and won the Joan Sutherland Scholarship at the Sydney Opera House.[citation needed].
Career
[edit]Berthold has been active in theatre since at least 1984, acting and directing.[2] He began his career as an actor, one of his earliest roles being in the Hunter Valley Theatre Company's production of David Williamson's The Perfectionist in April to May 1984.[3]
He has been director of several theatre companies in Australia.[4] He was associate director of Sydney Theatre Company from 1994 to 1999,[5] before being appointed artistic director and CEO of Australian Theatre for Young People in 1999. He then took up the post of artistic director and CEO of Griffin Theatre Company from 2003 until 2006.[6][7]
Between 2008 and 2019, Berthold led major arts organisations in Brisbane. He was artistic director and CEO of La Boite Theatre Company from 2008 until 2014.[8][7]
He was then appointed as artistic director of the Brisbane Festival, serving in that role from 2015[5] until 2019.[7] He transformed the festival into Australia's largest major international arts festival, presenting more works to more people than any other.[9]
Since January 2020, Berthold has been artistic director-in-residence at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.[7]
Other activities
[edit]He was on the judging panels of Time Out's 2021 Future Shapers Awards,[10] Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting in 2020/21,[11] and the Sydney Theatre Awards in 2023.[12]
As of September 2023[update] Berthold was a member of the NSW Government's Theatre and Musical Theatre Arts Advisory Board.[13]
As of September 2024[update] he is on the boards of Hothouse Theatre[14] and Australian Plays Transform.[15] He is also a trustee of the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award.[16]
Recognition and awards
[edit]In 2010, Berthold was nominated for a BroadwayWorld UK Award for Best Direction of a Play, for his London West End production Holding the Man.[17]
In 2010, Berthold won a Matilda Award for his "repositioning of La Boite Theatre Company and his direction of Hamlet".[18][19]
Productions
[edit]Berthold's productions as listed on Ausstage.[20]
Sydney Theatre Company
[edit]Productions for Sydney Theatre Company playing at The Wharf and the Sydney Opera House:
- Saturn's Return (Tommy Murphy). World Premiere, August 2008. Revised production transferred to larger STC theatre in July 2009.
- Blackrock (Nick Enright). World premiere. Two seasons, plus invitation to Australian Theatre Festival, Canberra.
- Chasing the Dragon (Nick Enright). World premiere.
- Third World Blues (David Williamson). World premiere.
- The John Wayne Principle (Tony McNamara) Two seasons, plus transfer to Playbox (Melbourne). World premiere.
- The Jungle (Louis Nowra). World premiere.
- Solitary Animals (Elaine Acworth). World premiere.
- Darling Oscar (Vanessa Bates). World premiere.
- The One Day of the Year (Alan Seymour). Plus tour.
- Betrayal (Harold Pinter)
- After the Ball (David Williamson). Plus tour.
- Love for Love (William Congreve)
- Stiffs (Karin Mainwaring)
- Poor Super Man (Brad Fraser). Australian premiere.
- Simpatico (Sam Shepard). Australian premiere.
- The Price of Prayer (Louis Nowra) and In the Club (Stephen Sewell), two new short plays as part of Sydney Stories.
Griffin Theatre Company
[edit]His productions for Griffin Theatre Company include world premieres of:
- Holding the Man (by Tommy Murphy from Timothy Conigrave's memoir
- The Emperor of Sydney (Louis Nowra)
- The Peach Season (Debra Oswald)
- The Marvellous Boy (Louis Nowra)
- Nailed (Caleb Lewis)
- Strangers in Between (Tommy Murphy). Toured nationally in 2008.
- The Woman with Dog's Eyes (Louis Nowra)
- Torrez (Ian Wilding). Tour to Playbox (Melbourne), Black Swan (Perth) and regional WA.
- The Secret Death of Salvador Dali (Stephen Sewell); tour to La Boite Theatre (Brisbane)
La Boite Theatre Company
[edit]- Hamlet (Shakespeare)
- I Love You, Bro (Adam J A Cass)
- Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)
- Ruben Guthrie (Brendan Cowell)
- As You Like It (Shakespeare)
- Tender Napalm (Philip Ridley)
- Holding the Man (by Tommy Murphy from Timothy Conigrave's memoir)
- The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams)
- Così (Louis Nowra)
Australian Theatre for Young People
[edit]For ATYP his productions include:
- Brokenville (Philip Ridley) (Tour to Cottesloe Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London).
- Hamlet (Shakespeare).
- Sparkleshark (Philip Ridley).
- Kinderspiel (co-production with Theater an der Parkaue, Berlin for the 2002 Sydney Festival at the Sydney Opera House).
- Operation Marlowe (Edward the Second, adapted by Berthold, in repertory with The Massacre at Paris, in a version by Tommy Murphy).
- Birds (new version by Stephen Sewell from Aristophanes, for the 2000 Olympic Arts Festival at the Sydney Opera House).
- Spurboard (Nick Enright) (in association with Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney and regional tour, World Premiere).
- The Dance of Jeremiah (Matthew Ryan).
Queensland Theatre Company
[edit]For QTC, he directed:
- The Heidi Chronicles (Wendy Wasserstein).
- Diving for Pearls (Katherine Thomson).
- Jumping Stories. Queensland regional tour.
- Hotel Sorrento. (Hannie Rayson).
- Composing Venus (Elaine Acworth). World premiere.
Other
[edit]- Black Box (Paul Hodge), Queensland Performing Arts Centre, 2024.
- The Coronation of Poppea (Monterverdi and Elena Kats-Chernin). NIDA and Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 2023.
- Falsettos. NIDA, 2022
- Rolling Thunder Vietnam. Australian national tours, 2014, 2016 and 2023
- Mark Colvin's Kidney (Tommy Murphy) Belvoir, 2017
- Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare). NIDA, Sydney, 2014.
- Così (Louis Nowra). NIDA, Sydney, 2013.
- Così fan tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart). Opera Queensland.
- Holding the Man (adapted by Tommy Murphy from Timothy Conigrave's memoir). London's West End, produced by Daniel Sparrow and Mike Walsh, 2010.
- Edward the Second (Christopher Marlowe). QUT, Brisbane.
- The Shape of Things (Neil LaBute). NIDA, Sydney.
- Blackrock (Nick Enright). QUT, Brisbane.
- Low (Daniel Keene). Theater an der Parkaue, Berlin.
- The Fruits of Enlightenment (Leo Tolstoy). NIDA, Sydney
- All My Sons (Arthur Miller). Auckland Theatre Company, New Zealand.
- Road (Jim Cartwright). La Boite Theatre, Brisbane.
- Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Gioachino Rossini). Associate Director, Opera Queensland, Brisbane and tour.
- Noye's Fludde (Benjamin Britten). Noye's Fludde Opera.
- The Piper of Hamelin (John Rutter). Noye's Fludde Opera.
- Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare). University of Newcastle Drama Department.
- Cloud Nine (Caryl Churchill). University of Newcastle Drama Department.
- Magic Afternoon (Wolfgang Bauer). University of Newcastle Drama Department.
- The Song Room (Louis Nowra). University of Newcastle Drama Department.
- Hansel and Gretel (Engelbert Humperdinck). Assistant Director, English National Opera, London Coliseum.--->
References
[edit]- ^ "Up north, it was a hotbed of talent". 8 October 2003.
- ^ "David Berthold". AusStage. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "The Perfectionist". AusStage. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "David Berthold".
- ^ a b Bochenski, Natalie (16 February 2014). "David Berthold takes reins of Brisbane Festival".
- ^ "Top honour for teen actors". 20 July 2003.
- ^ a b c d "David Berthold". NIDA. 19 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "The David Berthold Era". 26 March 2015.
- ^ "Brisbane Festival unveils dazzling program packed with revelry, revelation and romance" (PDF). Brisbane Festival. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ Boon, Maxim; Knowlton, Cassidy (14 June 2021). "Introducing Time Out's Future Shapers, celebrating the people changing Sydney for the better". Time Out Sydney. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting". Archived from the original on 29 November 2020.
- ^ "Sydney Theatre Awards". Archived from the original on 6 December 2023.
- ^ "Artform Advisory Boards". 26 June 2019. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023.
- ^ "Our People". Hothouse Theatre. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "David Berthold". Australian Plays Transform – The Home of Australian Playscripts. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "The Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award". Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ Dunn, Carrie (13 September 2010). "Karimloo, Boggess, Ellis, Smith All Nominated In First BWW:UK AWARDS!". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ Queensland Government Ministerial Media Statement: Matilda Awards for Brisbane's top theatre Queensland Government, Finance and Arts, The Honourable Rachel Nolan [Media statement] (8 March 2011)
- ^ Berthold, David (8 March 2011). "Matilda Awards winner David Berthold" (Interview). Breakfast with Spencer Howson. Interviewed by Howson, Spencer. ABC Radio 612 Brisbane. Archived from the original (audio) on 30 September 2012.
- ^ https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/3913