Lucy Lutte - Actor and Director

0:00Hello and welcome to Making Creativity Pay, the podcast where we talk to people in creative industries about how they promote the market their work. I'm Dan Barnett and on this episode I spoke to Lucy Lutte, who's founder of Arts Organization Limitless Presents and director of upcoming Play Extremism that is on at the cockpit theatre from 29th September to 2nd October. We talk about what it takes to put a play like this together, running workshops for actors and creating opportunities to help people break into the sector. I start about asking Lucy to give a brief introduction about herself. Thank you Dan. So my name is Lucy Lutte. I'm a professional actress. Writer was nominated two years ago for a Black British Theatre Award. For a play I did called the Audition Process, which was based on my very unique experience of drama school. I set up a production theatre company called Limitless Presents at the end of 2024, but we became very active 2025 until now. We're mainly known for putting on showcases for working class actors that you know don't have the luxury of getting into drama school or of going through that traditional route of going to drama school.

1:13And we provide, you know, we're very known for providing showcases for actors in any part of their careers. We put on very, very, very affordable workshops with agents and with casting directors and other creators and likes. And yeah, we've been very lucky this year to have finally gotten the rights to this play called Extremism, which was written in 2017 was commissioned by the National Theatre as part of the National Connection plays for young people written by Andersless Garden. And now we've gotten the rights to it as our first production, you know, a play that we're doing for Limitless Presents. So we're very excited. It's going to be on at the cockpit. Theatre from the 29th of September to the 2nd of October and I'm directing. Yeah, so obviously as we speak, that's just over a week. How are things going? They're going. They're going. Listen, I'm very, very lucky with the amazing cast that I have on board.

2:17It's, you know, it's 10 amazing actors. Some of them have, you know, come through the Limitless showcase, ROW and other people, you know, I've known and worked with from an acting capacity and also from a producing capacity over the years. So it's a full circle moment and you know, rehearsals are going really well. This isn't public knowledge as of yet, but we have managed to get the amazing Amy Lee Hickman, who is very well known for Tracy Beaker, Atley Bridge. She's come on board very last minute to help us as an associate producer to, yes, get a thumbs on seats, but also with, you know, who she represents as a a South Asian actress. And, you know, also we've just, you know, with her being pretty much a child, British star actress. She very much fits, you know, the world of the play. It's set in a classroom. The premise of the story is about how prevent, you know, impacts, you know, impact people within the school settings.

3:21So a character Jamal has been taken out of the class by the police, by prevent and by Miss Thomelson. We never see Jamal, Miss Thomelson, but they're incredibly important to the story they're spoken about throughout the whole play by these 10 students that are Jamal's peers. And we kind of see the story through the lens of his peers, the 10 students that are left alone in the classroom. And they're kind of just left, you know, in shock and speculating what happened. Did he do something? Has he been radicalized? It's a good reference point I would give for this type of play. It's very much lauded the flies where you have very innocent young people, kids kind of starting at one end, just kind of innocent and just, you know, poking at each other, saying, you know, you went to lunch with him or you've been to his house to then, unfortunately, a hijab being ripped off on one of the only other Muslim identifying characters. And yeah, they kind of all just descend into madness a little bit. It's crazy.

4:25But the reason why I really wanted to do this play is because, you know, I'm very intrigued in seeing, you know, adult, like, world politics and the political climate that we find ourselves in, you know, with the reform party and, you know, just with a lot of misinformation from the media about certain groups. It's very interesting to see these type of, you know, things, but through the eyes of young people, I think people tend to just listen more when it's young people as opposed to just adults speaking on stage about this. In today's world, do you think, obviously, a lot of the stuff is still the same? Is there anything that's kind of slightly played slightly differently for, you know, a contemporary audience? Yeah, exactly. So for example, there's a moment in this scene where the, that one of the characters sees that Jamal's social media has been taken down. In the world of the play at that time, you know, and he used Facebook as the media platform that, you know, the

5:28character sees that Jamal's, you know, internet has been taken down. We were a bit cheeky. We changed it to, don't know if we changed it to Twitter or Instagram, just because we were just like, oh, you know, it's kind of, we're doing it. Yes, echoing the world of 2017, but in today's time, if that makes sense, so that's, yeah, that's an example. Yeah. What are the kind of economics of putting on a show like this? Because yes, you're kind of directing it and also putting the show together and, you know, you're running quite a few nights. So it's a big task. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So this is a, I'm not, you know, shame to say that this is entirely self-funded by myself. Unfortunately, we just didn't get the ace funding that we needed in time. We, you know, after several attempts, we just like, okay, cool. Like this is not working out. So it's very much a huge gamble that I'm taking. But I, you know, I believe in these young people and this cast and

6:34this story so much. So it is very self-funded, which is all the more reason for people to come along and watch. We are strongly, strongly targeting, you know, teachers and youth organizations and secondary schools upwards, you know, to come along to our matinees that we have designated to, you know, to schools and youth organizations. They're both at 1pm. So our first matinee is on Wednesday, the 30th. And then it's the same for Thursday, the first of October. We have a 1pm matinee as well. So, so yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of moving parts, you know, we have brilliant producers, we have coaching designers, we have sound like everyone that you can think of to put on a play, we have it. So, yeah. Yeah. And when you're kind of coming at this starting and kind of thinking of how many nights and how many, you know, how many performances do I want to do, there's that kind

7:35of thing, you know, you've done all this work to put it together. You don't want to do it for one night only because you know, that's incredible. But, but he also don't want to do too long a run that it then becomes, you know, how does cell tickets and I worry about the finances. I mean, how did you kind of work on that kind of sweet spot? Well, I mean, I've done, I've done a play at the cockpit before and Dave, you know, and the team at the cockpit are so accommodating. They're obviously, maybe a bit too accommodating because everyone goes to the cockpit for the Camden Fringe and the Fringe season. Everyone wants a slot at the cockpit. So, I really had to like, to negotiate with them. So, we, you know, we initially were just going to have two, just two nights. But then some flexibility came, you know, and we were able to get the, you know, the four days that we have now. So, yeah, I think it's more than enough time because obviously we have a drama therapist involved in this as well because emotionally it is quite a heavy play for the actors.

8:42My hopes for this is, you know, to get funding the next time to be able to do as a school tool and maybe like include multiple actors and young people to get involved in it. I think that would, that would work better, I think, in the next time round. So, but I think, you know, what we have now, you know, four evening shows and two matinee's for the first time, I think it's, we've got a good deal. And in terms of getting press or any kind of PR, both pre-the show and obviously reviews and things like that, I mean, what kind of things you do on those kind of things? So, listen, I'm a TikTok girl and I, yes, I follow heavily loads of content creators, especially theatre content creators that do it, you know, I have passion, they just love going to the theatres, they're not necessarily, you know, the ones that are like accredited for necessarily, you know, like, you know, the stage awards and all of that, but, you know, they do help with

9:47with selling your shows. So, I got an army of them to kindly, obviously, an exchange for press night tickets to promote the show before, because usually, you know, they come in review and they do it after, but I had to, you know, really just explain to them, you know, the importance of, you know, getting this the word out and, you know, a lot of them were so kind enough to accept to, to do both TikTok, you know, promotional videos and Instagram and other social media platforms. So, I really encourage anyone that's, you know, watching this, like, please, even if you don't use TikTok, like when it comes to putting on plays, please approach those, you know, content creators, specifically, specifically those that, you know, fear to go a reviewers, they will really, really help them are happy to, you know, share those because they really have helped us significantly. And so, are you looking to get more of the mainstream pressing mentioned stage and everything else? Are you hoping to get those in for press night to kind of get a review that, yeah, even if

10:50it doesn't sell tickets because of the short time frame, it's better for, you know, helps for funding and everything else. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. We are still every, you know, constantly, I have emails lined up even tomorrow morning, you know, to, you know, to the stage and all these are the very well-known establishments and media outlets to continue like inviting them. Obviously, I know that they're extremely busy and everyone wants to get them to come. But, you know, I'm very happy with, we've got quite a few reviewers coming and, you know, but yeah, we are constantly really trying to encourage everyone to come and review this. So, yeah, absolutely. Yes, you were talking about possibly a school tour. Yeah. Obviously, you know, loads of the people I talk in the podcast, talk about fringe. Do you, you know, obviously then that the resources needed then are enormous. But do you see this, this, this playing particular having a life

11:50at fringe or anywhere else? Absolutely, absolutely. And, you know, the writer Anders Laskartin has been extremely supportive. He's coming along to the press night as well for Q&A. And, you know, I really think that he, you know, he himself wants this to come back, especially 10 years after. You know, the show was originally written. So, yeah, absolutely. The goal is very much to to tour this across the, you know, across the UK in various schools and in areas where I think, you know, this, this story and this message is really, really needed. You know, we went on another podcast called the the Chalk Hill community radio. And it was, you know, very moving at the end. There was a mum that she tuned in and she, she messaged, you know, the radio person and she was like, you know, I, I need this play for my son. And, you know, myself in a few of the cast members,

12:52we really got emotional because like, this is why we do this, you know, this is, this is why, you know, I do this. I put on plays, you know, like to kind of hold up a mirror to society and, you know, to get a conversation going how we can, you know, encourage our young people to just be accepting, you know, and I think, I think going back to your previous questions about, you know, how things are changing now from like 2017 to now, I think we had, you know, an amazing attempt to show from adolescence. But, you know, there's more of a conversation about, you know, young men and misogyny and, you know, how we can, how we can change and help them. So we're all kind of going into the right direction. So with this. So I think yeah, everyone's kind of in the, the right mind frame of like getting, you know, this message out for young people. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about, um,

13:52limitless presents as well. And then the ethos behind it. Yeah. So, um, limitless presents came at a time where, you know, things were very quiet for me as an actor and many active friends of mine felt the same way. So we kind of just, we kind of all got together and we, we formed limitless. And I'm very pleased to say that I think now over 15 to 20 actors that have come through our programs, our showcases have been professionally signed. You know, so this is why we do what we do, um, to, you know, because I really feel like, you know, theatre and acting and performing arts is, you know, it saved my life, um, as a young star. And it's a shame that it's a little bit on the decline in, you know, in, in, it being taught in schools at various levels. Um, and, you know, I think is, it's very, it's a very important subject to be taught to young people for their development. So if in, in any way I can continue to like,

14:58you know, hold that beacon and, um, you know, um, help young actors and actors in any, any moment in their careers, then, you know, I'm going to continue doing that. Hence why it's called limitless. Yeah, yeah. Talked a little bit about art council funding. Yes. I mean, how, how difficult is that? And how many hoops do you have to go through, you know, even if you're not successful? It's, it's imagine a lot of work. A lot of work. A lot of work, Dan. I think, I think I'm not going to be too judgmental of art council, um, in this, in the scenario of extremism purely because I think the rules changed once again, um, that you had to apply within a certain window in order to like be kind of accepted for your application to kind of pass the first level of things. And I think by the time we try to do our second attempt, we kind of missed, um, the deadline. So I, I would like to think that how we had we applied within, you know, a bit before, then maybe things

15:58would have been a bit different, but it's, it's very tough. It's, it's, it's not easy applying for art council. I wish there was more affordable ways for it to be taught to as many people are produced as possible because it's, it's very much, you know, a secret formula, in my opinion, on how to get, um, ace funding. So yeah. And do you see opportunities for funding outside of that, whether that's the other companies, organizations kind of doing it as part of their overall outreach. Again, you know, that's, that's another job and a hard thing to do, but are there opportunities in those kind of areas as well? Yeah, absolutely. I think, um, listen, I, I work at Brickson House Theatre. And, um, so I'm sure you obviously seen the, the sad news of the Black Bridge Theatre Awards, um, you know, um, ending, um, unfortunately due to funding. And before that happened, the last,

17:03you know, award that they did last year, unfortunately, um, the, the writing category, um, was going to come out. And because obviously I was nominated for that, you know, a year before, I plucked up the courage and I went upstairs to the CEO of Brickson House and I said, listen, this is very important awards, um, you know, for Black British and global majority actors, that, you know, is really struggling, is there any way, you know, um, Brickson House can donate for this writing category and they, they gave a thousand pounds and were able to help with, you know, reaching out to other very, very well-known, um, writers and artists and they donated as well, and were able to bring back, you know, the best playwright category because without writers, none of us will be here. Um, so I think, you know, sometimes just asking, you know, people that you know that, you know, have some sort of influence and organisations, the worst they can say is no,

18:04but, you know, you know, if you just made the attempt, you just never know what the outcome can be. So that's one example. Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, it's so difficult to kind of get that. And I think it, like a lot of time you're saying, you know, people don't know that these opportunities could exist. Yeah, you know, never mind, you know, what they do. So it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, a great idea on, on that. So for you personally, you know, we talk about the show and everything, what, what are your plans post, you know, a couple of weeks time and into 2027? Post extremism, um, I would like to kind of, you know, reflect on what went well, what didn't go well, kind of speaks to the creative team about how, you know, we can go out there a bit of a world desert, how to go about getting the necessary funding for the school tour idea within the new year. I also would love to put on a Shakespeare production for Limitless is our next production,

19:07to be honest with you. So I'm very, very excited to just look through his plays and see which, which a player hasn't, you know, been done in a while and putting out a casting call, you know, for actors to apply and, and yeah, so that's kind of like the plans for the, you know, the next year, we'll probably continue to do some, you know, industry actors showcases as well for the rest of the year. And some scratch shows as well for new writers and, you know, new companies that want to put new work on and this will be this year, but yeah, loads of things coming up for next year, yeah. And just to go back a little bit, you took my bricks and house, I know it was probably only a couple of days ago, as we speak now, you did a series of workshops. Yes. I mean, what was the kind of feedback from that, you know, that people managed to get from them? The feedback is, you know, it's always really positive. We always kind of get up to eight to 10 actors to apply, you know, for these workshops, just so that everyone has, you know,

20:13enough time, whether it's 10 to 15 minutes with the agent, with the cast director to get, you know, in depth, you know, feedback on their spotlights as well on what they can do if they were to approach their agency or approach their casting company. And so, and also, you know, the most we ever charge for our workshops is 15 to 20 pounds and it's usually under that. So, so yeah, I'm not obviously judging any other, you know, companies that, you know, put on workshops for actors, but, you know, actors have no money. So I think it helps with me being an actress. I understand and that kind of tapped into that market of saying, you know, like these are like the same agents that are in, you know, that are doing these workshops here and they're, they're going to be here with us at Limitless for this amount of time. This is what you're going to get and this is how much, you know, we're expecting and there's been plenty of times, I've, you know, given like slots for

21:14free, you know, I mean like a lot of actors that I know that, you know, they just don't have the means and, you know, we put, we're very understanding, you know, we have multiple payment plans as well in place and we carry credits over for other workshops. If you know, we have to cancel. So, yeah, we're very accommodating. I know you did a little bit of the stuff. I don't if you wanted to just do a quick 30 seconds or when it's on and where people can see it. Yeah, absolutely. So, extremism will be on at the cockpit theater from the 29th of September, the 2nd of October. Thanks to Lucy for coming on to the podcast. You've had a more details in the show, but where to find her online and where you can get tickets for extremism. If you enjoyed this, check out other episodes of righty comedians, musicians, authors and others in creative industries, talking about trying to make creative deep pay. Thanks for listening.