Peter Goers: Vale, Matt Bryne, a fine, kind and generous critic

The arts world is mourning the death this week of popular actor, director, playwriter and critic Matt Byrne. Peter Goers pays tribute to his funny, idiosyncratic friend of 40 year years.

Actor, writer and producer Matt Byrne at the Shedley Threatre in 2015. Picture Campbell Brodie.

Matt Byrne was always late and now, so sadly, he really is the late Matt Byrne.

I always called him Matthew and I knew him for 40 years and each of those years were made more remarkable by him.

Actor, director, producer, impresario, playwright, journalist and critic, Matthew died this week at 63 after a complete breakdown early this year, followed by chronic depression and, eventually, pneumonia.

In many ways he was a Covid casualty. The pandemic constrained his life’s work in show business. His friend, fellow performer and director David Gauci, compared him to Robin Williams in that when Matthew couldn’t give joy, sorrow overwhelmed him.

Break, heart, break. It’s so sad.

He was a journalist with the Messenger, The News, TV Week (with Beth and Bert Stanbury and Mary Palazzo) and the Sunday Mail. A pro.

He worked as a publicist at the ABC and then freelanced for 30 years.

He was an excellent publicist and the most persistent of all. He was almost impossible to say no to. He was a fine, kind and generous critic.

Matt Bryne in a promotion image for this 2019 Fringe show Married at First Sight. Photo: Adelaide Fringe Media

A Gawler boy from a close, loving family, Matthew first found the limelight at his beloved Shedley Theatre at Elizabeth for the Northern Light Theatre Company. Thence to La Mama with Bruno Knez (whom he idolised) and other companies, before, in the great SA theatrical tradition, he started his own company, Matt Byrne Media in 1994. Until December last year, he never stopped producing plays, musicals and concerts, all but one ­directed by himself and generally (sometimes inexplicably) featuring or starring himself.

Byrne at Rossini's restaurant on Rundle Street with a “robot waiter”, August, 1985.

Kournalist, actor and theatre critic Matt Byrne goes through the process of having theatre makeup applied to transform into "Matt Byrne Wolf Man", July, 1985.

He was a ham but capable of sensitivity. His shows, including the strangely popular, corny Fringe comedies on a theme, were as energetic, driven and full of verve as he was.

What they sometimes lacked in style and taste they made up for in entertainment and attack.

He was no friend to subtlety.

Matthew Byrne gave a thousand performers (young and old) a welcome chance. His shows entertained many thousands of people.

His Evita was highly regarded and his production of The Addams Family was a rolled gold hit. It was so splendid I saw it twice. He brought many plays and musicals to Adelaide and the regions that we otherwise would never have seen.

Actor Matt Byrne with Angus Smith and Michael Williams in scene from theatre production "The Producers".

He was an eccentric, highly idiosyncratic bloke yet he had no side.

What you saw was what you got. He had the hide of a rhinoceros and was almost impossible to insult and believe me, I tried. He had more chutzpah than anyone I’ve ever known. The definition of chutzpah is the man who kills his parents who then pleads for clemency because he’s an orphan. That was Matthew Byrne. He’d have asked ­Abbott to give him Costello.

As a punster, he was the Thief of Bad Gags. Nine gags would make you groan but the 10th would be brilliant. No gag was too cheap or too low. Every post was a winning post. He well understood P.T. Barnum’s maxim that no one ever lost a dime underestimating the taste of the public.

John Kings, Irish Albert and Matt Byrne ready for Matt Byrne Media’s Christmas Cracker show, in 2020.

Matthew had many loyal fans, friends and collaborators such as Sue Pole, Sue Winston, Gus Smith, Michael Williams and the late Glenn Vallen. He wore his heart on his sleeve. He ran a theatre company for 27 years and kept it financially afloat - no easy task.

Matthew Byrne was a great fan of the Port Adelaide Football Club (and this comes from another annoying Power fan) and he was an appalling fan - the kind of fan who gives others a bad name. He loved the Power not wisely but too well.

It’s been very moving this week to see the depth of love, regard and respect for him. No one is completely ­irrepressible. His repression and depression can happen to us all.

Scratch an actor in SA and they’ll tell you a lot of outrageous Matthew Byrne stories (all true) and his star will shine in these stories until we all go home to our own darkness. Matt’s ­entertainment. Vale.

Peter Goers can be heard weeknights and Sundays on ABC Radio Adelaide

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