Playwright

Henry Mason

Henry Mason is a playwright and theatre director. Born in London, he grew up in Germany and Austria and studied German language and literature as well as theatre practice in Great Britain. A bilingual theatre professional, he has worked across a wide range of genres; his primary areas of focus include theatre for young audiences, the works of William Shakespeare, and all forms of musical theatre ‒ from Baroque opera and Mozart to contemporary musicals. As a librettist, Mason, in collaboration with composer Thomas Zaufke, has twice won the »German Musical Theatre Prize« in the »Best Musical« category.

This versatile, multi-award-winning artist has written and directed for institutions including the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Volksoper and State Opera, the opera houses of Leipzig, Graz, Dortmund and Innsbruck, the Landestheater Linz, the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, the Bühne Baden and the RSAMD in Glasgow. His leadership roles have included head of the theatre for young audiences at the Landestheater Linz, deputy artistic director of the Theater der Jugend in Vienna, and co-director of the Theater in der Kulturfabrik in Upper Austria. Furthermore, he has led and directed numerous independent projects ‒ such as the unconventional Shakespeare productions with the group »Shakespeare grådaus« ‒ and has frequently appeared on stage himself.

In addition to his work as a translator, Henry Mason is the author of numerous plays ‒ many of them for young audiences ‒ as well as musical libretti. Musicals he has co-created with Thomas Zaufke include »Der Hase mit den Bernsteinaugen« (2019), »Die Königinnen« (2024), »Die wunderbare Reise des Nils Holgersson« (2024), and, most recently, »Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl«, based on the novel by Judith Kerr. His Shakespeare translations include »The Winter’s Tale«, »Cymbeline« and »Pericles«, as well as versions of »A Midsummer Night’s Dream« and »The Comedy of Errors« for the Salzburg Festival. His musical translations include, among others, »Gypsy«, »Carousel« and »Just So«, as well as Zaufke/Lund’s »Big Bad« (»Grimm!«) and Lund/Böhmer’s »Stella«.

A three-time recipient of the »Upper Austrian Performing Arts Prize« (1998, 2012, 2026), he was nominated for a »Nestroy« Theatre Prize in 2011; furthermore, in 2019, he won the »German Musical Theatre Prize« in the category of »Best Lyrics«.