The 36th annual Matilda Awards, Queensland’s leading awards for performing arts, took place on Monday 26 February at Brisbane’s Powerhouse.

Best Mainstage Production was awarded to Queensland Theatre’s Drizzle Boy, Ryan Enniss’ coming-of-age play about a young autistic man navigating his first semester of university. Daniel Evans also collected the Best Direction award for his work on the show, “a joyful, visceral, and affecting piece of theatre with beautifully integrated technical elements,” according to Limelight’s reviewer.

Drizzle Boy, said the judging panel, “represents a ground-breaking moment in Australian theatre. The work was written and performed by neurodivergent artists and hit a sweet spot of shining a light on living with autism in a way that informed and entertained mainstream audiences without alienating disability and neurodiverse audience members.”

Drizzle Boy. Photo © Ivy PR

The award for Best Independent Production was presented to THAT Production Company and Metro Arts for its staging of Every Brilliant Thing. Actor Jason Klarwein collected the trophy for Best Performance in a Leading Role in an Independent Production for his work in the production.

Chenoa Deemal was judged to have delivered the Best Performance in a...