About Us
Mark Raymond Yeates, Founder
Founded by Mark Raymond Yeates in 2016, Artefact Theatre Co. exists to create great theatre with great people. The company was named for what theatre aspires to be and what truly special theatre inherently becomes - momentos that remain in the minds of audiences long after the event itself. That theatre can live beyond the performance is the very reason this age-old tradition continues, and it’s why we do what we do.
Commencing with Proof by David Auburn, Artefact jumped deep into the complexity of this riveting text that explores the concept of identity, family dysfunction and the blurred line between genius and madness. Directed by Emily O'Brien-Brown, Artefact’s Proof played at the Alex Theatre in St. Kilda.
Tackling mathematics in their first show, the company continued the academic theme, taking on Theresa Rebeck’s Seminar, a five-hander that explores the New York literary world. Focusing heavily on the relationships developed between four eager writers and their private tutor, Seminar was directed by Matthew Cox and presented at Chapel Off Chapel in late 2016.
In early 2018, Artefact staged the first of two successful seasons of the Oscar Wilde classic, The Importance of Being Earnest. A far cry from the highly intellectual works of Auburn and Rebeck, this historical farce, again directed by Matthew Cox, was staged at St. Martin’s Youth Theatre in South Yarra. It celebrated such success that it went on to mount a second season in early 2019 at Chapel Off Chapel.
“Matthew Cox (He/Him) is a Naarm-based theatre Director, and presently a Co-Artistic Director of Artefact Theatre Company (ATC) alongside Mark Yeates. He is one of the co-founders and former president of OCPAC, an award-winning, alumni-led Amateur Theatre company, through which he directed Tartuffe by Louise Fox in 2010 and produced both Urinetown (2012) and Seussical The Musical (2014). His Directing credits include Seminar: A Comedy (Chapel Off Chapel, November 2016), The Importance of Being Earnest (St Martins Theatre, Chapel off and Chapel 2018 and 2019), Much Ado About Nothing (St Martin’s Theatre, October 2019) and The Real Inspector Hound (St Martin’s Theatre, 2022). He was also a contributing artist for A Night of Songs and Scenes for Bushfire Relief (fortyfivedownstairs, 2020). He is also a lecturing director at JMC Academy’s Acting program, through which he directed An Ideal Husband (2022) and Romeo and Juliet (2023).”