Art Starter: Celeste Cody

Why is a festival like Short + Sweet important? Short + Sweet is a vehicle for the fledgling artist to put on quality, supported work, and for the experienced artist to showcase new work to a respected and respectful audience. The fact that S+S has hundreds of participants is an indication of how important it is to have the festival. It is a colourful patchwork of Melbourne theatre.

As a participant in Short + Sweet in years past, what was it like creating a piece that went for ten minutes? I participated in S+S three years in a row as a director and as a creator in my last year. I found the concept of telling a rounded and interesting story in ten minutes hard at first, but by the third year I found it liberating. With ten minutes you can take the entire audience on a journey… You just have to make sure that you are creating something that's sincere.

What do you think is the most important aspect of being the Theatre Festival Director? Being open-minded and friendly. There are a lot of individual participants who all have a voice. Always keeping in mind that there are many individual artists in the festival is super important.

What's the most memorable Short + Sweet piece you remember seeing? Born In A Taxi did a fantastic physical theatre piece in the 2008 S+S.

What in your everyday life do you do that takes ten minutes? Blow-drying my hair, catching the train to the city, grabbing some soup at lunchtime, quick game of ping pong.

What was the first play you saw? I can't remember the first play I saw. I would have been very young. I did see The King And I and Hot Shoe Shuffle when I was very young. I remember not being allowed to see Blackrock when I was pretty young. The most memorable memory of a play I saw when I was younger was Stolen.

What do you think theatre should be? Anything and everything. I think a purist attitude to anything artistic is counter-productive. Theatre can be something isolating and distant, making you feel detached and emotional, or it can be warm and funny and make you want to happy kick all the way home. The validity of all theatre is in the eye of the artist.

WHAT: Short+Sweet

WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 21 November to Sunday 9 December, Chapel Off Chapel

Disclosure: Inpress Arts Coordinator Cassandra Fumi is participant in the Short & Sweet festival