After a Year with a Master
Selina Cartmell Talks About Her Year as a Rolex Protégée
Is the main thing you have in common artistically with Julie Taymor the fact that you are both interdisciplinary theatre-makers?
Yes, I think our collaboration with artists from various skills and backgrounds makes us both interdisciplinary artists. Neither of us views the work just through one filter, but from different perspectives and I think that is something that allows both of us to shift through different ways of seeing our artistic practice without feeling restricted or categorised.
How would you describe the time you spent watching Julie Taymor’s production of Grendel being put together? Was there a particular lesson you learned from that experience?
As it was my first time being inside an opera rehearsal room, it was a real eye-opener to the scale and complexity of bringing together all these extraordinary artists and elements in one room to create a new opera. I felt comforted by seeing Julie at work realising that the problems you encounter in a rehearsal room are universal. It is a rare opportunity to see a director at work and I felt privileged and inspired to be given an insight into the creation of Grendel.
Was there one piece of advice from Julie Taymor or one experience during the mentoring year that stands out?
I think it was during a press luncheon in New York and we were sitting next to each other. A journalist asked me how I would describe the style of my work. I remember her saying that you never need to categorise your work and I think from that point on I felt liberated enough as an artist to understand what that actually means.
Has working with Julie Taymor changed the way you work?
I think working with Julie has allowed me the confidence to take on projects that I would maybe have thought I wasn’t ready yet to direct in my career. For example after seeing Julie work on Grendel I was really interested in working in opera and the following year I directed Sweeney Todd, my first musical theatre production. I am also developing my first new opera for 2008/2009 which again came from having direct contact with Julie and Grendel.