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

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

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

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

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

From 1984 until the present (2024), Berthold has assumed the role of actor, adaptor, artistic director, assistant director, director, and co-director on numerous productions, notably with the Sydney, Griffin, La Boite, and Queensland Theatre companies as well as the Australian Theatre for Young People.^[2]

References

1. "Up north, it was a hotbed of talent". 8 October 2003.
2. "David Berthold". AusStage. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
3. "The Perfectionist". AusStage. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
4. "David Berthold".
5. Bochenski, Natalie (16 February 2014). "David Berthold takes reins of Brisbane Festival".
6. "Top honour for teen actors". 20 July 2003.
7. "David Berthold". NIDA. 19 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
8. "The David Berthold Era". 26 March 2015.
9. "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.
10. 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.
11. "Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting". Archived from the original on 29 November 2020.
12. "Sydney Theatre Awards". Archived from the original on 6 December 2023.
13. "Artform Advisory Boards". 26 June 2019. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023.
14. "Our People". Hothouse Theatre. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
15. "David Berthold". Australian Plays Transform – The Home of Australian Playscripts. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
16. "The Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award". Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
17. Dunn, Carrie (13 September 2010). "Karimloo, Boggess, Ellis, Smith All Nominated In First BWW:UK AWARDS!". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
18. 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)
19. 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.