Malthouse Theatre has announced its 2019 season, with Nick Enright and Justin Monjo’s adaptation of Tim Winton’s novel Cloudstreet returning to the stage – some 20 years after its premiere – in a brand new production directed by Malthouse Artistic Director Matthew Lutton.

“A story like Cloudstreet, I think the more you tell it the more it reveals about who you are at the current moment,” Lutton tells Limelight. “Tim’s characters are just incredible, I think they’re characters that you see yourself in, they’re beautiful. You just fall in love with them.”

Cloudstreet. Photo © Zan Wimberley

The theatrical adaptation of Winton’s novel opened in Sydney in 1998, directed by Neil Armfield and produced by Company B and Black Swan State Theatre as part of the Sydney Festival. The five and a half hour play went on to tour internationally and took out the Helpmann for Best Play in 2002.

Lutton won’t be making huge changes when the play opens at Malthouse in May, though he says that performing it over two nights will create a slightly different structure. “I guess I’m interested in bringing out...