Mitchell Butel

Mitchell Patrick Butel (born 10 February 1970) is an Australian actor, singer, director and writer. He is best known for his work in theatre, including musical and opera productions. He was the artistic director of the State Theatre Company of South Australia from 2019 to 2024 and will take up the position of artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company in November 2024.

Early life and education Mitchell Patrick Butel was born on 10 February 1970 and educated at Marcellin College Randwick. He became interested in theatre as a child after seeing the musical Song and Dance and later Little Shop of Horrors.

He attended the University of New South Wales and studied for a degree in arts/law, majoring in Theatre Studies and working as a paralegal in a law firm between terms. He has since then worked for many theatre companies.

In 2012 he played Friar Laurance in Kip Williams' production of Romeo and Juliet with the Sydney Theatre Company.

He has also worked in a number of musical theatre productions, and as of 2018 was the voice of the Play School theme song.

In 2017, Butel played two characters, Mr Burns and Gibson, in Mr. Burns, a post-electric play, a co-production between Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre and the State Theatre Company South Australia. His performance was met with good reviews, and won a Helpmann Award. The play was performed at Space Theatre in the Adelaide Festival Centre in April–May 2017 and at the Belvoir in May–June 2017.

Writer and director Butel's writing credits include Excellent Adventure and Killing Time and he wrote additional material for Meow Meow's Little Match Girl, Belvoir St Theatre's production of The Government Inspector and Opera Australia's production of The Mikado. Violet had its Melbourne season at Chapel Off Chapel.

He directed the winning play of the 2016 Lysicrates Prize for New Australian Playwriting, Mary Rachel Brown's Approximate Balance. In 2016, Butel directed Spring Awakening for Australian Theatre for Young People which won Best Production for Young People at the Sydney Theatre Awards and Porgy and Bess at the Sydney Opera House for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Also in 2018, directed Funny Girl and The Bernstein Songbook for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

In September 2018, he directed a production of the operetta Candide, staged at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Sydney Youth Orchestra, and stars from Opera Australia, and also played the part of Dr Pangloss as well as the narrator. Alexander Lewis played Candide, Annie Aitken was Cunegonde, and veteran actress Caroline O'Connor took the part of The Old Lady.

In 2019, he directed Mary Rachel Brown's Dead Cat Bounce for Griffin Theatre and Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's Caroline, Or Change for the Hayes Theatre.

State Theatre Company of South Australia In March 2019 Butel was appointed artistic director of State Theatre Company South Australia (STCSA), taking over from Geordie Brookman. It was one of largest pieces of online theatre in the world.

In September–October 2022, Butel acted in The Normal Heart, a play set in the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s in New York City, in an STCSA production directed by Dean Bryant.

In May 2024, he again directed and performed Candide in a co-production by the STCSA and State Opera South Australia, performed for three nights in Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, with the three main actors reprising their roles.

Sydney Theatre Company In 2024, Butel was appointed as the artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, replacing Kip Williams. He took up the position in November 2024.

Film Butel has acted in a number of films, including Dark City (1998); Strange Fits of Passion (1999); Two Hands (1999); The Bank (2001); Gettin' Square (2003); Dance Academy: The Movie (2017); and A Sunburnt Christmas (2020), as well as many TV series, including Bordertown (1999); Janet King, Deep Water (2016); and Stateless (2020). In February 2013, he took part in another Opera Australia production, Orpheus in the Underworld, where he played the role of John Styx. Later in 2013, Butel performed the part of Luther Billis in Bartlett Sher's production of South Pacific for Opera Australia.

Music Killing Time is a live album Butel recorded during the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2010, and consists of songs with a time-related theme, as well as poetry and anecdotes. The album features a mixture of genres including jazz and cabaret. The album was released in March 2012 and was mixed and mastered by Tony King. and was deputy president of Actors Equity and vice president of superseding body the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance from 2009 to 2013.

Butel is a trustee of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, a member of the advisory councils of the Sydney Philharmonia Choir and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, a peer of the Australia Council, and a fellow at the Australian Institute of Music. Summer Rain (2006) and The Republic of Myopia (2004).

He was nominated for two Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film for Gettin' Square (2003) and Strange Fits of Passion (1999).