Rose Fenton and Lucy Neal

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INTERVIEW: ROSE FENTON AND LUCY NEAL. In this archive interview, the founders of the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) tell Dominic Cavendish about its beginnings. Looking back over the festival’s first 25 years, they remember pulling the opening programme together on a budget of £100,000, paying artists £5 per diem and hosting picnics in London parks in lieu of lavish hospitality. In this interview Rose and Lucy reflect on the way LIFT changed over their tenure and how the artists supported by the festival – British as well as international – have had an influence on the wider culture of work. Recorded in London, 2004.

“When we came down to London to do this independent festival of international contemporary work, people said, ‘But why? Isn’t British theatre the best in the world?'”