| HELEN HOWARD & MICHAEL FUTCHER |
Performance Rights Enquiry | Downloadable
CV |
Michael
Futcher and Helen Howard have made their careers in acting, directing and more
recently in writing for the theatre, both in Britain and Australia. Michael
wrote THE BUSH GENIE, which toured with the Queensland Arts Council for over
500 shows during the 1980s, but it was the partnership with Helen which inspired
a greater output, born of a need to supply their theatre company, Matrix, with
original material.
Their
writing collaborations include DISOBEDIENTLY YOURS, EDMUND KEAN (at London’s
Hen and Chickens Theatre); EXPLOSIONS (for Queensland Theatre Company’s
Education Program); THE KING AND THE CORPSE! (performed by Matrix Theatre in
Brisbane’s Mount Coot-tha Botanical Gardens and for the 1996 Brisbane
Festival, and winner of a 1995 Matilda Award); 1347 and CUTTING LOOSE (both
for Matrix Theatre); THE RISE AND DEMISE OF KATIE WHO and THE GYPSY'S GIFT (for
secondary school students in partnership with Clayfield College); RAPUNZEL and
THE MAGIC JEWEL (for their own Krakajak children’s theatre company); THE
DUEL (an adaptation of a Chekhov short story performed by QUT students); THE
MASTER AND MARGARITA (adapted from Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel, performed
as a rehearsed reading by Matrix at the Powerhouse in 2001) and CITIZEN JANE
for Queensland Arts Council and Queensland Premier's Department in 2002.
A BEAUTIFUL LIFE (published by Currency Press), written for Matrix in a co-production with La Boite Theatre, and Queensland Performing Arts Trust, won a Matilda Award in 1998, an Australian Writers’ Guild AWGIE award nomination in 1999, and four Melbourne Green Room Awards in 2000, including Best Director (for Michael), Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Ensemble.
Their latest work, THE DROWNING BRIDE (published by Currency Press) premiered at La Boite Theatre in 2005 and was a recipient of a 2005 Matilda Award.
Helen and Michael are married and live in Brisbane with their two sons.
