Aubrey Mellor is an Australian theatre director, dramaturge and teacher. Mellor has had a multi-disciplinary practice, having also worked as a writer, adapter, set designer, translator, producer, and stage manager.

Early life and training

Brought up around

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

and

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

, Mellor trained in many fields as a young man. His experience traversed dance, music and visual art. He went on to graduate from a production course at the

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

in Sydney in 1969. In 1972 Mellor was awarded a

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

. This experience allowed Mellor to study the traditional theatre of the East with a view to incorporating principles observed in Japan where appropriate into the Australian theatre techniques.

Artistic direction

Mellor has directed a wide rage of performance from opera to dance and film, and held multiple artistic directorships during his career. Mellor was the Artistic Director of the Jane Street Theatre, which grew out of NIDA. He was Co-Artistic Director of

Nimrod Theatre Company The Nimrod Theatre Company, commonly known as The Nimrod, was an Australian theatre company based in Sydney. It was founded by in 1970 by Australian actor John Bell, Richard Wherrett and Ken Horler, and gained a reputation for producing more "g ...

in Sydney for a short time in the early 1980s. He was Artistic Director of the (Royal) Queensland Theatre Company from 1988 to 1993. He was also Artistic Director at Playbox (later renamed Malthouse Theatre) in Melbourne until 2004.

Education appointments

Aubrey is well known as an acting teacher across the Asia Pacific region. Mellor returned to NIDA as Director in 2005, succeeding John Clark after his nearly forty years in the role. Mellor stayed at NIDA until 2007. He was then Dean of the Performing Arts Schools at Lasalle in Singapore where he designed a new program bringing together the best European and Asian training. He was a Senior Fellow with Lasalle until 2017. Mellor continues his teaching work as a visiting professor to arts colleges in Mongolia, China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

Awards

In 2004 Mellor received an

AWGIE The AWGIE Awards is an annual awards ceremony conducted by the Australian Writers' Guild, for excellence in screen, television, stage and radio writing. The awards began in 1967. The awards are judged by over 50 writers, most of whom are previo ...

( Australian Writers' Guild) special award known as the 'Dorothy Crawford Award'. This prize is awarded for outstanding contribution to the writing profession. Mellor was the recipient of the

International Theatre Institute The International Theatre Institute ITI is the world’s largest performing arts organisation, founded in 1948 by theatre and dance experts and UNESCO. It has hosted various events through its history, including the Theatre of Nations, an intern ...

's 'Uchimura Prize', for best production at the Tokyo International Festival. Aubrey is listed in the

Matilda Awards The Matilda Awards are awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, theatre, and performance in southeast Queensland. History Established in 1987 by Alison Cotes and Sue Gough, the awards are an annual event held in February or March. ...

Hall of Fame for his contribution to the theatre industry in Queensland.

Honours

Aubrey was awarded an

Order of Australia Medal The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 1992 for his service to the arts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellor, Aubrey Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian theatre directors Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia National Institute of Dramatic Art alumni