Published: 20/06/22

This week we speak to long-time supporter of LRT, Eloise Fetterplace, about the “voice” of a small independent theatre company and how artistic methodology can be employed more broadly. 

Eloise Fetterplace is a Senior Project and Reporting Officer at Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney

As a long term supporter of LRT do you have a favourite work and why?

 

Billie, was the first LRT work had the pleasure of seeing back in 2010, so it will always have a special place in my heart, but I think my favourite work has been Black Crows Invaded Our Country. It was so masterfully put together, both in the way it challenged the idea of the public lecture, but also in the way it had audiences inhabit the otherwise inhabited halls of the University of Sydney after dark. Thematically, the parallels between the complex issue of human migration and the treatment of invasive non-human species were so beautifully explored and I found the work incredibly moving. As with everything that Michelle creates, Black Crows really stayed with me for days after the experience.
I also have to give an honourable mention to the foul of the air. To me, this work was perhaps the most profound example of Michelle’s incredible ability to create haunting and spectacular images, imbued with such complex meaning, within the backdrop of a seemingly ordinary space.

 

As our marketing strategist, what do you feel is important in the LRT voice that needs to be heard?

 

The LRT voice is one that redefines contemporary theatre as we know it and this is so important, especially within the Sydney theatrescape. I think the social commentary that’s embedded in many of Michelle’s works, including her mission to give “voice to the voiceless”, combined with LRT’s genre-bending style, makes it unique and incredibly bold. The LRT voice challenges audiences to think beyond what they know theatre to be, what they know dance or performance to be, and I think we can all benefit from having our worlds expanded in this way.

 

You have worked as a project manager on two academic projects ‘Anastasia’ and ‘Sites of Violence’ alongside Michelle St Anne. How has the arts shaped the way you manage non artistic teams?

 

I have learnt so much working alongside Michelle, observing the way she applies an artistic sensibility to managing projects and I’ve taken away many key learnings from being exposed to projects at the intersection of art and academia. I think the most important takeaway for me has been to recognise the equal value of all types of knowledge, whether that be scholarly or artistic, and the magic that can happen when disciplinary boundaries are removed and these seemingly disparate forms of knowing are allowed to come together to clash and blend. It’s at this point of tension, that I’ve been able to watch truly brilliant ideas form.

Eloise Fetterplace has completed a Masters in Communication Management at UTS and majored in Public Relations. She has a background in sociology, completing a Bachelor of Socio-legal studies at the University of Sydney. She is interested in media framing and representation of marginalised groups.

As LRT’s strategist, Eloise is developing the engagement campaign with Extrablack to build LRT’s profile and audience base.
She likes wine, hiking and post-apocalyptic fiction… she is still unsure about whether she likes cats.