"Mitchell is both an extraordinary performer and incisive director but, more than that, he is a storyteller of the highest order and a person I have the deepest respect for… South Australia is in for a wonderful adventure," Brookman said. Outgoing artistic director Geordie Brookman said he would depart knowing the company was in good hands. Mitchell Butel said he plans to push the boundaries in Adelaide - a city with 'real energy'. "I think Adelaide the city is quite vibey at the moment, there's a kind of real energy on the street, the nightlife is very good certainly compared to Sydney, which is now quite moribund," he said. 'Real energy on the street' in Adelaideīutel said he would produce work that appealed to traditional State Theatre Company audiences, while also pushing the boundaries in a city he said now had one-up on his hometown of Sydney. "So I want Adelaide to be a place for the best of kind of South Australian talent, but also the best national talent in a way… like Chicago is to New York," he said. He said he hoped to attract as many high-profile people as possible, with David Wenham, Damon Herriman, Richard Roxburgh and Kate Box all touted for the next few years. "Obviously they cost a lot of money so they won't be huge scale ones, but I do think there's a gap in the market in Australian theatre companies creating small chamber music pieces."Įngagement with smaller Adelaide companies such as Vitalstatistix will also play a part, while he will investigate again setting up an ensemble of South Australian actors as Brookman did over two years.īutel said he would use his extensive contact book to attract big names to perform in Adelaide. "Definitely some music theatre will be a feature for my programming - it's something I've done a lot of," he said. Musical theatre will be on the cards for the 2020 year. Not surprisingly for an award-winning singer, musicals will play a significant part in his first program in 2020. "So a lot more music, a lot more physical theatre, other disciplines, perhaps like puppetry." Plans to feature musical theatre "Programming with a view to becoming the best multi-disciplinary theatre company in the country, in that text is still very important part of our company's work, but in a way in which we make the work is also using as many kinds of different skills and different parts of the theatrical landscape as we can," he said. "I found out when I got off the plane, here for Rumpelstiltskin in the cab on the way from Heathrow to London, I got the call from Jodi so that trip was very joy-filled and probably the grey old London took on a new and delightful kind of appearance," he said.Īs for the vision that won over the selection panel, he said he would work to build on Brookman's successful reign but with his own twist. Mitchell Butel hopes to attract high profile names to Adelaide.