My Gurus

Robert Lepage
I’ve chosen French-Canadian director Robert Lepage as my first Guru because it was his work which first introduced me to performing arts experiences that genuinely change you. In 1996 I was studying costume design at Wimbledon School of Art when the National Theatre was presenting Lapage’s ‘Seven Streams of the River Ota’. The production brought together drama, puppetry, Noh theatre and a host of other creative and technical disciplines to tell tragic and witty human stories in different languages. By the end of the saga I’d not only been emotionally overwhelmed by the performances, the humour and the measured, powerful staging; but the inventive combination of traditional theatre skills blended with technology had also overwhelmed my senses – seemingly breaking many of the ‘theatre rules’ I’d been learning while studying. I left the auditorium elated and slightly stunned, a little more grown up than I went in, and with a stronger fervor for the industry I was soon to be working in. 

Lisa Marie Trump is Chief Executive at the UK Centre for Carnival Arts.

http://www.carnivalarts.org.uk/Home.aspx