Musical Theatre

Director Matthew Lutton explores the themes of loneliness and acceptance through performances of dance, music and theatre in his latest offering, ‘Die Winterreise’.

Based on the 1827 song cycle created by Franz Schubert, Lutton has reworked the original and put a modern take on it. “We conceived a theatrical work around a man in the middle of Australia listening to this song cycle. It’s a piece for an actor, singer and a dancer and it is inspired by these songs.”

Lutton was drawn to create the performance by the haunting melodies included in Schubert’s work. “It was about the music - I found this music incredibly moving, confusing and haunting,” he says. â€œWhen I first listened to the songs it was a mixture of feeling emotionally confused yet addicted. I wanted to listen to them again, and like all great things that are very beautiful, they hurt a bit.”

The modern take on the work however was inspired by Lutton’s curiosity and his desire to explore the work of Schubert. “It was about a few things. Firstly it was about why would someone listen to these songs nowadays - they are German songs and come from a very distinct source of past European era,” he says.

“I wanted to create a character and a world where someone listens to this music almost on a daily basis to deal with or purge their loneliness or find comfort. Thus it became about who might listen to these songs today and who might associate the story of someone wandering through the snow in their own life.”

As Lutton prepares to show ‘Die Winterriese’ at Brisbane Festival, he stresses how important these kinds of festivals are for the arts.
“I think Australia relies heavily on its art festivals as focus points for culture and creativity, sharing and imagination,” he says. “It’s important that there are places of risk-taking and this project is exactly that. It has been developed but has been a great risk and that took confidence and trust for the Brisbane Festival to support it.”

‘Die Winterreise’ as part of the Brisbane Festival 2011 plays at the Powerhouse Theatre from Sept 28 - Oct 1.