Culture corner: Matthew Lutton, ThinIce

WABN: Describe a day at work.

ML: "If I am preparing for a new show, I lead and host a rehearsal room full of actors, designers and artists towards the creation of a new performance."

WABN: What is the best piece of advice you can give someone to motivate a team?

ML: "To inspire your team you need to make your energy and vision contagious.

By revealing your own personal ambitions and dreams to a group, you can gain their trust, and give them permission to voice their own desires. It is through a sense of sharing, that everyone in a group can feel ownership over the collective goal."

"As a theatre director, I have short bursts of working with large groups of artists, and then extended periods of solitary preparation. My motivation comes from day dreaming about stories and performances that I believe will transport an audience to a place where they can think about the world from a different point of view. This motivation comes from seeing how other artists have this affect on the world, and how I myself have been affected by art."

WABN: What has been the most challenging event in your career?

ML: "Learning and developing my skills in a very public arena. As a theatre director, you can only learn by 'doing', and this means putting yourself in front of critical audiences and media. I had to learn to deal with criticism. I realized that I can't please everyone, and that attempting to do this would be the death of my work. I decided that so long as I was bold in everything I did, I could never be accused of not taking risks - and that was my greatest fear."

WABN: What is the main quality are you looking for within your team members?

ML: "A shared passion and vision of what theatre 'could be' in Australia. Our theatre culture is so fragile and still trying to find some sort of identity in Australia, and it needs people that can see past the dull expectations that we place on theatre in this country. I collect artists that want to push boundaries, and won't shy away from making the bold and risky choice when put under pressure. It is also vital that I can spend hours and hours in the company of every team member, debating and creating. They have to be people that have rich and insightful ideas that they passionately want to share."

WABN: What's the best measurement of your performance, and can you name a highlight in your career?

ML: "How do I measure my performance as a director? Responses from audiences, colleagues, and my own sense of how close the production approached my ambition for it. I have never directed anything that I felt couldn't be improved. If I reach that point, I suspect I should probably retire. I don't mind if audiences cheer, or if they walk out mid-show and write me angry letters, so long so as they are presented with theatre that forces them to respond."

"A highlight in my career was when I was asked to take over a major new production of Tartuffe in Melbourne. I was working as assistant director to Michael Kantor, who fell ill the weekend before rehearsals commenced. On the first day of rehearsals, the theatre company (Malthouse Theatre) asked if I would take over the production. The fact that a major company would trust me to work on a large scale production with some of Australian's leading actors was an honour."

WABN: How do you deal with egos in your workplace?

ML: "I think it is important to have a level of ego as an artist - you need to hold your nerve when the times get tough. But theatre is made from the sum of all its parts. As a director, I try to paint a clear picture of where I think the production is going, and what my vision is for each particular moment. I talk about the performances, the music, the lights, the sets and costumes all endlessly. I try to brew up a rich world for everyone involved, so they realize that they are just one component in a richer tapestry, but every fiber is vitally important and balanced."

WABN: Is there an organization model that you strive to reach?

ML: "There are companies in Scotland, England, and Canada that I really admire. They are all theatre companies that have found ways to bridge boundaries and expectations. Either they focus on the work of a single artist or they set up multi-purpose facilities (Robert Lepage runs a company, that is dedicated to his work, and which produces new plays, operas and films all in the same building!) or they have thrown out archaic models and administrative structures and have found more flexible and forward-thinking ways to create contemporary art."

"Theatre is constantly evolving, and so many of the administration structures we use in Australia have been inherited from previous generations (or from different countries!) and they frequently suck the life out of the creativity. I hope that we can develop the confidence to evaluate what is really required in our arts industry, and not be afraid of throwing out the old and progressing forward."

WABN: What frustrates you the most about your sector and what would you do to change it?

ML: "That we still have to argue why the arts are important and need investment. Australia has no problem investing millions of dollars into sports initiatives that support an exclusive number of athletes, but baulk at investing in the arts unless they can see an obvious and immediate public outcome."

"I get frustrated with the mentality of creating theatre for "all" audiences. There is a constant desire to make theatre that pleases broader demographics which is ridiculous. Theatre isn't for everyone. That's why there are so many other art forms. It's not supposed to please everyone. And pleasing someone doesn't mean that it's good theatre. As soon as you try and capture larger audiences, you dilute your ideas and start making banal and obvious decisions that placate audiences. Why does anyone want this?"

"Theatre has never really been a part of our Australian culture. Literature, the visual arts and music has been embraced, but theatre, dance and opera are still trying to find their place in the national psyche. How do we change this? Through leadership from other sectors. Through politicians that are not afraid of creativity and intellectualism and champion art. Through businesses having pride in their communities and supporting the country's artists. And through artists responding to the contemporary life of Australia, rather than the iconic."

"The performing arts relies entirely on investment, social and financial, from its community to exist and thrive. As a community, if we value the arts and our artists, if we want Australia to be known around the world for its theatre and dance and opera, then we need to invest in it. It is as simple as that. At the moment, we don't care enough for the arts."

WABN: What are the specific hurdles that you meet on a daily basis in your sector?

ML: "Lack of time. A lack of financial support for the arts in Australia means that the time-frame for a creative process to occur within is continuously reduced. In other places around the world you can rehearse a play for three months. In Perth, we rehearse for four weeks. This means that as artists, we can not investigate the ideas as rigorously as we would like, we can't test and experiment concepts, and that so much of the meditation and subconscious process that is vital when creating a performance is denied."

WABN: Who is someone that you dream to work with?

ML: "Nick Cave"

WABN: What is your favorite hobby?

ML: "I'm not very good with hobbies. Is my Jack Russell a hobby?"

WABN: Which personality inspired you the most throughout your career?

ML: "Lots and lots. Watching David Lynch films inspired me. Looking at Matthew Blarney, Ewrin Olaf, Francis Bacon, Brett Whitely and Robert Parke-Harrison. Listening to Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Schubert, and Bach. Reading Kafka, Sophocles, Camus and Duras. The theatre of Romeo Castellucci, Robert Wilson, Robert Lepage, Barrie Kosky, and Bennedict Andrews. Is that too many? "

WABN: Who has influenced you personally?

ML: "My mother and my grandmother. Their unique and personal spiritual and theosophical views of the world and life are never far from my thoughts."

WABN: Who has influenced you professionally?

ML: "All the people I listed as my inspirations have influenced the development of my craft, and continue to do so. I owe so much to Tom Gutteridge at Black Swan Theatre Company who let me run wild at the company for over three years as I found my feet. And the mentor who taught me the most about working with actors was Neil Armfield."

WABN: What were you doing before your current position?

ML: "I was at school. This is all I have done."

WABN: What is your education background?

ML: "I graduated from high school in 2001, and then studied directing, writing and acting for three years at WAAPA (West Australian Academy of Performing Arts) finishing with a BA in Theatre Arts."