Emily LeQuesne: 'Without the arts, what are we for?'

How did you start out in theatre?

I loved putting on plays as a kid and was also fortunate to be taken to many fringe theatre shows and theatre festival fields. Every year we would go to the Glastonbury Festival, and I would spend at least one full day in the theatre fields and cabaret tent soaking everything up. My school didn’t do drama, so I joined a local youth theatre and was lucky to have a supportive grandma who paid for me to attend summer schools in performing arts at Bath Theatre Royal.

What is the best piece of advice you have for drama students and graduates today?

Learn as many things as you can. Add lots of skills to your CV. You might be a wonderful actor but you’re more likely to get paid work if you can play an instrument, write, produce, stage manage, run workshops or make things.

What would you change about the industry if you could?

The attitude that theatre is a luxury or an ‘extra’ to the serious business of capitalist life. Without the arts, what are we for? Everyone is happier and more enriched emotionally and intellectually when they have access to creative activity and entertainment. A career in the arts should be for anyone, not just those who don’t need to worry about the rent.

What is the best part of your job?

Helping others to realise the stories and shows in their heads by playing, exploring, talking, questioning and laughing – this is what a dramaturg does.

Who are the arts practitioners you admire and why?

Emma Rice for making and adapting the shows she would like to see and imbuing each with joy, excitement, theatrical visual imagery and pure entertainment. Each show also has something to say about the world today, but the theatricality comes first. And Bee’s Knees’ Aila Floyd. I’m a bit partial because she is my sister, but she’s run her 1920s-style dance company for 20 years now, performing all over the country and in Europe. She manages a career doing what she loves and supplements it with teaching dance and choreography for others. I admire her tenacity, passion and work ethic.

What is the one skill that every successful theatre professional should have?

Is tenacity a skill or a characteristic? Either way, it is needed.