It all began in a little pink bedroom in Southport, UK, when I was around 5 years old. My mum was an avid catalogue shopper, and once she finished with the magazines, I would eagerly grab them, rushing to my room to cut out the things that captured my imagination – models, furniture, clothes, accessories, cosmetics, household items, and garden furniture. I had boxes and boxes filled with these cut-out people and 'stuff'.
"Little Cowgirl Lindsey!!!"
For hours on end, I would create intricate scenarios, breathing life into these paper characters. They had names, personalities, relationships, backstories, homes, and belongings. To me, they were real, and they were my friends. I would lay out their cut-out 'homes' on my bedroom floor, allowing the characters to live out their lives, meeting and interacting with one another. I would craft dialogues for them, knowing their thoughts and feelings, and I would create situations for them to navigate.
This passion bordered on obsession, continuing for several years. Years later, when I became a writer for theatre, director, and producer, I was being interviewed for a magazine article. The journalist asked, 'When did you start making theatre?', and I had a sudden flashback to that little girl sitting on her bedroom floor, surrounded by cut-outs. I realised then that those humble beginnings were the start of my journey into creating theatre – I was casting, creating characters, directing, writing dialogue, and producing, all in my own simplistic 5-year-old way!
Now, as I create artworks, I realise that I am creating in this same way once again – by selecting images, crafting narratives, using words and layers. My process for creating theatre and visual art is incredibly similar. I am amazed when I think back over 50 years to those humble beginnings and realise that 'little Lindsey' was destined to follow this path of creating for the stage and the page!
