Matthew will direct a revival of ★★★★★ I WISH MY LIFE WERE LIKE A MUSICAL by Alexander Bermange and presented by Seabright Productions this summer at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and historic Wilton’s Music Hall. A hilarious and heartfelt musical revue all about musical theatre, and the people who love it on both sides of the curtain! For more info click here
Matthew was recently named Best Director of a Musical at the 2023 OFFIE Awards for his work on Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story, which played at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2022. The star-studded ceremony took place at the stunning Alexandra Palace on 12 February 2023.
Matthew has been nominated for Best Lead Performance in a Play for his role as Anthony in The Play With Speeches which ran at The Jack Studio Theatre 11-22 October 2022.
Matthew’s ★★★★★ production of THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD & LOEB STORY has been nominated for 6 OFFIE Awards including Best Musical Production, Best Ensemble and Best Director for Matthew. This marks Matthew’s eighth nomination for Best Director at the OFFIE Awards. The show runs at Jermyn Street Theatre, West End until 5 Feb 2022. More info here
Matthew’s production of THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD & LOEB STORY is transferring to the West End. A dark and thrilling musical of masochism and murder, THRILL ME has become a modern classic. Matthew’s 2019 production for The Hope Theatre received numerous ★★★★★ reviews and its two leads, Bart Lambert and Jack Reitman, jointly won the OFFIE Award for Best Male Performance in a Musical. It runs 13 Jan to 5 Feb at Jermyn Street Theatre. More info here
Matthew’s ★★★★★ production of TRESTLE at The Jack Studio Theatre has been nominated for 4 OFFIE Awards including Best Production, both Lead Performers and Best Director for Matthew. This is Matthew’s seventh nomination for Best Director at the OFFIE Awards.
Matthew’s ★★★★★ production of TRESTLE (Jack Studio Theatre) has been nominated for a Standing Ovation Award by London Pub Theatres. Announcing the nomination LPT stated that TRESTLE was a “Delightful production directed by Matthew Parker, starring Timothy Harker and Jilly Bond giving three dimensional and compelling portrayals of characters in their 60s.”
The OffComm award nominated production of TRESTLE which Matthew directed for The Maltings Theatre is transferring to The Jack Studio Theatre in London this June. The production is the first one to reopen The Jack Studio Theatre after the 2020 lockdown; a theatre that means a lot to Matthew having directed, choreographed and acted in many shows there over the past 10 years. More info and tickets here
Matthew’s recent show TRESTLE has been nominated for an OnComm Award. The OnComm Awards are a branch of the Off West End Awards and celebrate online theatrical excellence. More info on TRESTLE including production photos here
Matthew’s production of TRESTLE (originally scheduled to be staged last November) will be broadcast as a Live Stream on Sat 27 March from The Maltings Theatre. Now you can watch this award-winning play from anywhere around the world from the comfort of your home. Tickets are just £10. Click here for more info.
Matthew’s 2019 show THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD & LOEB STORY was a double winner at this year’s OFFIE Awards with Bart Lambert and Jack Reitman both winning the Male Performance in a Musical award. Many of the THRILL ME team were there to celebrate Bart and Jack’s brilliant win.
Matthew’s 2019 shows THRILL ME and THE HOUSE OF YES appeared in 7 Best Of 2019 lists and won a Reggie Award for Best Actress (Colette Eaton).
THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD & LOEB STORY
Top 10 Shows of 2019, Paul Vale, The Stage
Top Shows of 2019, London Theatre1
Top Shows of 2019, Mind The Blog
OFFIE Finalist: Male Performance in a Musical: Bart Lambert
OFFIE Finalist: Male Performance in a Musical: Jack Reitman
OFFIE Finalist: Set Design: Rachael Ryan
THE HOUSE OF YES
WINNER Best Actress 2019: Colette Eaton, Reggie Awards, Everything Theatre
Top 3 London Plays of 2019, Reggie Awards, Everything Theatre
Critics Choice Best Shows (Top 3) of 2019, London Pub Theatres
Top 9 Plays of 2019, The Review Chap
Top 10 Shows of 2019, London Theatre Reviews
OFFIE Nominee: Director (Plays): Matthew Parker
OFFIE Finalist: Male in a Supporting Role (Plays): Bart Lambert
London Pub Theatres Standing Ovation Award nomination: Director Matthew Parker
Matthew’s recent production of THE HOUSE OF YES gained a stunning 6 ★★★★★ reviews plus 2 Off West End Award nominations inc. Best Director for Matthew.
Matthew has announced his final show at The Hope Theatre; a
revival of Wendy MacLeod’s dark comic-drama The House Of Yes. Playing this October it will be the last show Matthew directs whilst Artistic Director of The Hope. Info & tickets here
Matthew’s recent production of true-crime musical THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD & LOEB STORY gained a stunning 7 ★★★★★ reviews plus 3 Off West End Award nominations.
Matthew’s current production of THE LESSON at The Hope Theatre has been nominated for 4 Off West End awards including Best Director. This is Matthew’s fifth nomination as Best Director at the Off West End awards. More info on the show here
Matthew’s current production of Ionesco’s absurdist classic THE LESSON is running at The Hope Theatre until 13 Oct and has received a fabulous five ★★★★★ reviews. More info here
This summer Matthew directed Brendan Murray’s magical and moving The Angelic Aspiration as part of the Drama Studio London Grad Season. The show performed at the New Diorama Theatre on 12 & 13 July.
Matthew’s current show Brainville At Night is touring the UK in May & June 2018. For more info and tickets click here
Matthew has received his 4th Off West End Award nomination as Best Director for his current production of THARK, which runs at the Drayton Arms Theatre until 6 Jan 2018. More info here. His previous nominations as Best Director were for Lovesong of the Electric Bear, Sea Life and Her Aching Heart.
Matthew is now represented by Jean Diamond at Diamond Management. Founded in 2003 by Jean and Lesley Duff, Diamond is now one of the foremost theatrical agencies in London. More info here
Matthew recently wrote a blog for Drama Studio London on his journey from student (graduating in 2009) to award winning Artistic Director. Read it here
Matthew was named Best Artistic Director at the 2017 Off West End Awards for his work at The Hope Theatre in 2016, which included directing 3 ★★★★★, award winning in-house productions.
Matthew received nominations for Best Director at the Off West End Awards twice in 2016 (the only Director to do so) for his productions of SEA LIFE & HER ACHING HEART, both at The Hope.
Website updates have been a bit thin on the ground this past 2 years whilst Matthew focussed on his new role as AD at The Hope. But new updates will follow soon…
Matthew has recently signed with Burningham Associates. Read his profile on their website here
Matthew has just been announced as the new Artistic Director of The Hope Theatre, Islington. Read the full announcement in The Stage here. Matthew is now programming work for The Hope from October onwards. Please get in touch if you or your company have work you wish to stage.
DogOrange’s production of The Cherry Orchard is now running at the Jack Studio Theatre until 2nd August. Directed by Matthew it features music composed by Maria Haik Escudero and played live onstage by actor-musicians. The adaptation is by Writer’s Guild award winner Brendan Murray. More info here.
Tickets for Matthew’s next show: a new adaptation of The Cherry Orchard by Writer’s Guild award winning playwright Brendan Murray are now on sale here. The show runs from 15th July to 2nd August at The Jack Studio Theatre.
Matthew’s acclaimed production of Brainville At Night by Alexander Moschos, produced by First Draft, transfers to the Old Red Lion this Spring after a short run at the Jack Studio last year. More info here
DogOrange is proud to announce that they are the new Associate Company at the award-winning Jack Studio Theatre. More info here
Matthew is delighted to announce that he will be joining acclaimed London Classic Theatre as Assistant Director for their 2014 UK Tour of Entertaining Mr Sloane. More info here
The DogOrange production of A Scent of Flowers has received fantastic reviews including 5 STARS from What’s On London and What’s Peen Seen. More info here
Matthew is in pre-production for the upcoming DogOrange revival of James Saunders’ 20th century absurdist classic. More info here
Matthew has spent the summer assisting Alex Clifton, Artistic Director of Chester Performs, and the Olivier award winning Director Robin Norton Hale on the Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre’s summer programme.
The ghost of Mary Rose haunts on! I’m delighted to announce that DogOrange’s acclaimed, sell out production of J. M. Barrie’s classic ghost story Mary Rose will play for 5 weeks at the Riverside Studios from 28th March to 28th April. For more details click here
Matthew’s exciting revival of The Possibilities by Howard Barker is about to open at the Tristan Bates Theatre, Off West End on Monday 31st October. The show will run for 3 weeks until 19th November and tickets can be booked here
Following an initial staging at the Camden People’s Theatre in July, Matthew’s production of The Possibilities by Howard Barker is transferring to the Tristan Bates Theatre, Off West End for a 3 week run from 31st Oct to 19th Nov. More details here
Following a busy summer directing a sell out transfer of First Draft’s A Date to Remember at the Phoenix, Soho and a production of Howard Barker’s The Possibilities at the Camden People’s Theatre, Matthew is now taking a break (and a holiday!) before starting work on an exciting new production in the Autumn. More details to follow……
DogOrange’s sell out production of Mary Rose has been awarded 5 stars. Read the review here
DogOrange’s current production of A Woman Alone, directed by Matthew, has been awarded 4 stars from What’s On Stage and RemoteGoat and been given a fabulous write up in online culture journal Art Wednesday. For more details click here
Matthew recently did an interview with Behind The Fringe promoting the upcoming DogOrange production of A Woman Alone. Read the interview here
Booking is now open for DogOrange’s production of A Woman Alone – with 5 women! The show runs from 19th Oct to 6th Nov at the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre. Tickets are £10/8 and can be booked online (no booking fee) by clicking here
Matthew is delighted to announce that he will be directing at Sheringham Rep this summer as part of their 50th Anniversary Summer Season. He will be directing the 20th Century classic thriller The Late Edwina Black. More details to follow here soon…
DogOrange’s innovative, sell-out production of A Woman Alone has been awarded a 4 star review by Remote Goat for its scratch performance at the Horse, presented in association with First Draft in February. Read the review here. Due to the success of this first outing, this exciting new adaptation of A Woman Alone will now be given a 3 week run at the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre in October 2010. More details to be posted here soon…
New artistic venture First Draft, formed by actor/producer Laura Harling and director Matthew Parker, will now present fresh theatrical works of new writing and innovative adaptations on a monthly basis at The Horse, Waterloo. If you are a writer, performer or theatre maker with an idea you’d like to present at First Draft please contact Laura and Matthew at first.draft@yahoo.com