Matt is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, where he teaches and directs on the Musical Theatre course
He began his directing career as an associate to Trevor Nunn and John Caird on Cameron Mackintosh’s original production of Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre in London, subsequently staging productions of the show in Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong and on tour in the UK.
He assisted Gale Edwards on the first UK touring production of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Aspects of Love, and then became associate director of Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. This gave him the opportunity to direct the show’s Australian premiere at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney as well as the original British touring production. During this time he also staged the Boublil and Schönberg segment of Hey, Mr Producer! at the Lyceum Theatre.
In the UK, Matt continues to direct classic and contemporary musicals. Productions include Sweeney Todd, Company, Cabaret, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Carousel, Oklahoma!, Nine, Grand Hotel, Merrily We Roll Along, The Rink, The Wiremen, Hello Again, Pal Joey, Michael John La Chiusa’s The Wild Party and First Lady Suite, Rent, Carnival!, Assassins, William Finn’s Elegies, A Doll’s Life, Promises, Promises, The Light in the Piazza, Lady in the Dark and the London premieres of Jane Eyre, Violet, A Man of No Importance, Bernarda Alba, A Catered Affair and Is There Life After High School? (Time Out Critics' Choice).
He directed the European premiere of Pasek and Paul’s Dogfight at Southwark Playhouse (Evening Standard nomination for Best New Musical) and Jamie Muscato in a new one-man musical Stay Awake, Jake at the Vaults, Waterloo East (Winner of the Origins Award for outstanding new work, VAULT Festival). He has also directed and devised shows for Frances Ruffelle (Beneath the Dress/Paris Original), Clare Burt (Now You Know) and Philip Quast (Divas at the Donmar).
He has worked extensively in the Netherlands with productions of Miss Saigon, My Fair Lady (John Kraaijkamp Musical Award for Best Director), Evita and La Cage aux Folles. Other work in Europe includes The Importance Of Being Earnest at the English Theatre, Frankfurt, and La Cage aux Folles at the Aarhus Theatre, Denmark.
Most recently, he has directed touring productions of Tim Firth and Gary Barlow’s musical Calendar Girls and Tom MacRae and Dan Gillespie Sells’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
Image: Richard Southgate