Awards often get it wrong, but not the Matildas. That’s because the big winner for 2024 is one of the most heartwarming productions evert to hit the stage at QPAC.
On Monday night at Brisbane Powerhouse the biggest winner at the Matilda Awards (our version of the Tony and Olivier awards) was the ambitious and culturally significant Straight from the Strait – a co-production of Opera Queensland, Yumpla Nerkep Foundation and QPAC, in association with Brisbane Festival.
This show took home four awards from six nominations, including the Judges’ Award for outstanding theatrical endeavour.
Everyone who saw this show seemed to love it and the only complaint really was that its season was a tad truncated. It tells the story of how on May 8, 1968, a group of remarkable Torres Strait Islander workers on the vast expanse of the Mount Newman railway construction project shattered a world record as they laid down an astonishing 7km of track in a single day, an unparalleled feat that still stands unchallenged. At the heart of their extraordinary achievement is the power of song – songs that are unique to Australia, that tell a passionate and inspiring story.
Straight from the Strait reverberates with the power of song, a harmonious fusion of traditional Torres Strait music and contemporary melodies. Through the vibrant ancestral languages of Meriam Mir, Kala Lagaw Ya and Torres Strait Creole combined with English and the backbeat of a contemporary band, it tells a tale that pulses with passion and inspiration.
It deserved to blitz The Matilda Awards.
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The Matilda Award-winning Strait from the Strait. Photo: Jade Ellis
The best and brightest of Queensland’s stellar performing arts industry were recognised for their contributions on and off the stage at the star-studded ceremony at Brisbane Powerhouse.
Flipside Circus was awarded the prestigious Gold Matilda. It was honoured for its consistent growth since the 1990s and its ingenuity and resilience in continuing to deliver education, training, performance and advocacy following a heartbreaking fire at its purpose-built Brisbane Circus Centre in January 2024. The company moved back into the repaired premises in late 2024.
Receiving two awards each were 37, a co-production between Queensland Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company, for Best Mainstage Production and Best Direction for Isaac Drandic; and Scenes From a Yellow Peril by The Reaction Theory & BIPOC ARTS AUSTRALIA, which won Best Ensemble and Brisbane Powerhouse Award for Best Independent Production.
Thomas Weatherall, the young talent behind the one-man tour de force Blue, presented by La Boite Theatre, won The Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work and Best Performance in a Leading Role – Mainstage Production.
This year also marked the beginning of an exciting partnership between the Matilda Awards and the Actors’ & Entertainers’ Benevolent Fund of Queensland, which welcomed two new awards.
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The inaugural Carol Burns Award for a Mid-Career Performer was presented to Ashlee Lollback while the Tony Gould Award for an Independent Arts Company/Collective was awarded to THAT Production Company. Best Video Design was won by Alethea Beetson, Sasha Parlett, Boneta-Marie Mabo and Ken Weston for Meet Your Maker (Alethea Beetson, Blak Social, Brisbane Festival and Brisbane Powerhouse).
Minister for the Arts John-Paul Langbroek thanked all 2024 Matilda Award winners and nominees for the incredible quality and diversity of their work.
“It is critical that home-grown talent and stories are shared on local and global stages,” Langbroek said. “The Crisafulli Government is proud to invest in the state’s performing arts sector, including Gold Matilda winner Flipside Circus and the multi award-winning development and presentation of Straight from the Strait at Brisbane Festival last year.
“The Matilda Awards honour excellence in the sector and the role it plays in strengthening our state’s cultural reputation, as we look to grow our creative workforce and visitor economy in preparation for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Matilda Awards lead judge Sue Rider said it was both a pleasure and privilege to be entertained by talented artists and fearless productions staged in Queensland last year.
“This year honours a thrilling mix of award winners, spanning works of scale to solo performances,” Rider said. “I am especially moved by the strength of First Nations voices in the creation of compelling theatre: Straight from the Strait, 37, Blue, Meet Your Maker and Dangerous Goods together claimed 10 of the 20 awards.
“In the independent sector, The Reaction Theory and BIPOC Arts Australia punched well above their weight with Scenes From a Yellow Peril receiving two awards from five nominations. Other independent winners were Banana Crabtree Simon from de Mooi Media; PIP Theatre’s Fun Home; Ready or Not from Gold Coast-based White Rabbit Theatre; and the hard-working Salad Days Collective who produced three productions in 2024 and jointly won the Bille Brown Best Emerging Artist Award.
“Collectively, the judges viewed 100 productions, more than half of which were independently produced, and what we observed painted a vibrant and promising picture for the future of our state’s theatre sector.”
The Matilda Awards are proudly supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, Brisbane City Council and Brisbane Powerhouse.