Articles

Rose Fenton’s Gurus

Rose Fenton reveals the people who have inspired her most

Arts Professional
3 min read

Judith Knight

Judith and Artsadmin (which she co-founded) were natural partners for London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) when I worked there. We co-produced a whole range of pioneering British artists working in unusual ways. In the process I learned a great deal from Judith: her quiet determination, her idealism and, above all, her passionate dedication to the artists with whom she works, nurturing ideas through sometimes tricky times with a generosity of spirit and an unwavering instinct that all will be alright on the night. And even if sometimes it wasn’t completely alright, well there’s always another night. And that risk-taking is a necessary part of the process. 

 

 Ritsaert Ten Cate

Ritsaert founded the Mickery Theatre in  Amsterdam, where he led the way in creating a platform for the international avant garde. He encouraged me to be open to the unexpected, to be curious and playful, to never stand still, to forge unlikely alliances and to generously share ideas in realising the ideas of others. By turns mischievous and patient, he helped to illuminate the road we were on. For him everything was possible. “Ha!” he would say, “And why not?” And at a time when many in Britain did not understand what we were doing, it was incredibly comforting.

He was adamant about the need to be obsessed by your ideas. He warned that if you copy someone else, you’re lost before you begin and if you repeat yourself, you’re on extremely dangerous ground. We took that to heart over the years, to the point that someone once said that we had “institutionalised uncertainty”!  Ritasert also showed us the way in stopping, when in 1991 he closed the Mickery because he had reached a point where enough was enough. This resonated with us in 2005 when Lucy and I took the decision to leave LIFT after 25 years. 

 

Barney Simon

The South African director Barney Simon co-founded the Market Theatre, Johannesburg in 1976. In defiance of the apartheid laws of the time, he created a venue in which South Africans of every race and creed could work together. Barney’s attitude was always not to teach others what he knew but to draw from them what was deep in themselves. We worked with Barney over many years and he had a profound influence on the participatory projects we developed at LIFT. Barney would say that whilst theatre could not change the world outright, it could “nurture a changing world… I know that theatre is a great educator of the human heart because the theatre moves human beings into empathy when witnessing the lives of others.” These words continue to inspire me in my international work today.