![Malthouse Theatre’s Matthew Lutton to step down Malthouse Theatre’s Matthew Lutton to step down](https://oscalenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/6387e645fad5d412ca734718cac65aa11d07afed.jpeg)
Malthouse has faced headwinds in the wake of COVID, and finished 2023 with “a rather large deficit,” says Hickman, which saw the company quietly cancel the show Under the Skin. However, both Lutton and Hickman say Malthouse is in a more stable position now, and point to strong ticket sales for the 2025 season.
“[We’re] back to the strength that we were pre-pandemic, so it felt like to me that this was a good moment,” says Lutton. “The company’s in a really healthy place creatively and financially, and I can pass the baton to someone else.”
Hickman and Lutton have shared the CEO position, but whether this model will continue is uncertain. “There’s every chance that it will, but the board and I will be having discussions,” says Hickman.
![Matthew Lutton (centre) directing a rehearsal of Cloudstreet in 2019.](https://oscalenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Malthouse-Theatres-Matthew-Lutton-to-step-down.jpeg)
Matthew Lutton (centre) directing a rehearsal of Cloudstreet in 2019.Credit: Eddie Jim
In his nine years at the helm Lutton has driven a lot of new programming, as well as directing shows himself. He counts among his proudest accomplishments the works the company has taken overseas, as well as centring previously untold stories and supporting both established and emerging artists.
“That’s been really important to me, to be able to rethink what we consider the canonical stories in Australia,” he says.
Both he and Hickman point to Because the Night, a sprawling and ambitious immersive show staged during the height of the pandemic, as a particular highlight.
“It was a very bold move of us as a company, and I think we were rewarded for our boldness,” says Lutton. “I was very proud we did that together as one big community.”
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