David Berthold
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David Berthold is a leading Australian theatre director. He was Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre Company (2003-06), Artistic Director of the Australian Theatre for Young People (1999-2003), Associate Director of Sydney Theatre Company (1994-99), and Artistic Associate of the Queensland Theatre Company (1991-94). He has also directed work for Playbox Theatre, Black Swan, Company B, the Sydney Opera House, NIDA, QUT, La Boite, Opera Queensland, Auckland Theatre Company, the Royal National Theatre, London, and Theater an der Parkaue, Berlin. He was the Festival Director of World Interplay 2007, the world's largest festival of young playwrights.
Arts Hub, a leading international online publisher of creative industry information, claimed in 2006 that Berthold "turned Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company into one of the country's most visible arts companies." [1]
Berthold has directed many premieres of plays by major Australian writers and is particularly associated with the work of Nick Enright, Louis Nowra and Tommy Murphy.
In 1992 he won a Matilda Award for his Contribution to Theatre in Queensland and in 1993 served on the Queensland Government's Arts Advisory Committee. He has served on many panels and committees as an arts advocate and advisor, including at the Australia Council, NIDA, the Australian Musical Foundation, and several universities.
Berthold was born in Maitland, NSW, also the birthplace of Nick Enright, John Bell, Ruth Cracknell and Abbie Cornish, and studied (and later taught) at the University of Newcastle, where he took an honours degree in English literature. He spent some years training as an opera singer and won the Joan Sutherland Scholarship at the Sydney Opera House. In 1989, he undertook a secondment with the English National Opera. He has since directed some opera.
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[edit] Productions
[edit] Griffin Theatre Company
His productions for Griffin, Australia's leading new writing theatre, include world premieres of:
- Holding the Man (adapted by Tommy Murphy from Timothy Conigrave's memoir). Four seasons, including transfers to Sydney Opera House and Company B at the Belvoir St Theatre. Brisbane Powerhouse and Melbourne Theatre Company in 2008.
- The Emperor of Sydney (Louis Nowra)
- The Peach Season (Debra Oswald)
- The Marvellous Boy (Louis Nowra)
- Nailed (Caleb Lewis)
- Strangers in Between (Tommy Murphy). Touring 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).
[edit] Sydney Theatre Company
Productions for Sydney Theatre Company, Australia's largest theatre company playing at The Wharf and the Sydney Opera House:
- Saturn's Return (Tommy Murphy). World Premiere, August 2008.
- 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 shorts as part of Sydney Stories.
[edit] Australian Theatre for Young People
For ATYP, Australia's national flagship youth theatre, 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 2, 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).
[edit] Queensland Theatre Company
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.
[edit] Other
- Blackrock (Nick Enright). QUT, Brisbane.
- Low (Daniel Keene). Theater an der Parkaue, Berlin.
- The Fruits of Enlightenment (Tolstoy). NIDA.
- All My Sons (Arthur Miller). Auckland Theatre Company, New Zealand.
- Road (Jim Cartwright). La Boite Theatre, Brisbane.
- Il Barbiere di Siviglia (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 (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 (Humperdinck). Assistant Director, English National Opera, London Coliseum.
