Plied & Prejudice, writer
Presented by Woodward Productions and De Bortoli
“Laden with crude jokes, coarse language, and uproarious hilarity, Semple had the audience laughing from start to finish!”
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in Regency England must be in want of a very stiff drink.
From the team behind A Very Naughty Christmas, we’re back to lovingly ruin another cultural icon. Plied and Prejudice is a hilarious adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel, telling the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mister Darcy as you’ve never seen it before. With five actors scrambling to play twenty characters in only eighty minutes, all notions of respectable theatre (and British etiquette) get thrown out the door! And with a different actor getting plastered each night, no two shows will ever be the same! What could possibly go right?
Bring your eligible bachelors, your unmarried daughters, and the lover you’ll settle for if your cousin won’t have you, for an unhinged night of love, lust, and libations. Settle in with a drink (to calm your poor nerves) and get ready for all the highs and lows that Austen has to offer, from awkward proposals and scandalous elopements, to the wettest of wet t-shirt contests. Whether you’re an Austen die-hard or you’d rather be watching Die Hard, you’re sure to love it—most ardently!
The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst, Composer/Lyricist (In development)
EG Productions, in Collaboration with Metro Arts & Paul Dellit OAM
Her hair, her outfits: each one another design.
Drawing inspiration from Helen O’Neill’s Biography, The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst is a new musical in development by Elise Grieg and Matt Semple.
It most recently was workshopped in collaboration with Metro Arts, with funding from Arts Queensland, in early 2023.
A Very Naughty Christmas, Writer (2017-2024)
Woodward Productions
A brainchild of Alex Woodward, executive producer of Woodward Productions, A Very Naughty Christmas has been an annual staple of Brisbane's theatre scene since its 2017 debut. Matthew wrote the first Naughty Christmas and has since worked as a writer, collaborator and script advisor for its subsequent iterations.
“With sugar and spice and all things both naughty and nice, it is a wonderful celebration of the sentiment of this special time of year, full of delightful fun and rather-not-know revelations like why Santa needs to get the sleigh reupholstered so often.”
The Threepenny Opera, Musical Director (2023)
Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University
Matt worked as musical director for the 2024 Class of the Queensland Conservatorium’s Musical Theatre degree, who performed an in-house production of Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera.
Hers: A Cabaret, Creator (2020)
Queensland Cabaret Festival
Behind every successful man is a great woman—or more likely, a few dozen. Acclaimed cabaret artist and writer Matt Semple celebrates the feminine in Hers: a love letter to mothers, sisters, partners, and self-identifying women everywhere.
Accompanied by a four-piece band, Matt tracks his journey of feminism through the influence of female role models in his own life and across the world.
Equal parts funny and heartfelt, Hers explores a personal side of feminism through the music of pop, rock, and musical theatre.
Into the Woods, Music director (2020)
Savoyards Musical Comedy Society Inc.
Sondheim’s classic Into the Woods was produced by Savoyards Musical Comedy Society Inc. in 2020, with Matthew Semple as Music Director. He lead a sixteen-piece orchestra and the cast of seventeen to successfully tackle one of the Musical Theatre canon’s most technically and musically challenging works. This was Matthew’s baton-conducting debut, and a recent professional highlight.
“Under the musical direction of Matthew Semple, they were the best live musical theatre orchestra I’ve heard in a community theatre production.”
The Gospel According to Matthew, Creator (2016-2017)
Heaven of Invention
In the beginning, there was a 10-minute preview at the 2016 Short and Sweet Cabaret Festival. The full one-act, one-man show has since toured to Melbourne’s Butterfly Club and Brisbane’s Powerhouse, receiving rave reviews for its acerbic comedy, music, and writing.
“…Real, honest and upfront. Semple is doing what established comedians do best with a no-holds-barred approach to humour.”