We had the good fortune of connecting with Lindsay Lucas-Bartlett and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lindsay, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
When I was seven my father took me a local Saturday theatre club in our area. It was either that or tennis and I was really bad at tennis at the time. From my first class at The Palace Theatre in Westcliff-On-Sea I fell in love, I felt uninhibited. I was a shy child and this was such a great outlet for me and it just fit like a glove. Through school I was not very academic, I did not find out until much later on in life that I am dyslexic and because I didn’t know I thought I was stupid. I didn’t excel as other kids did in certain subjects at school. I was actually meant to be in the special ed program but because I was getting bullied at school I never went to the classes. I didn’t want to give the bullies another thing to bully me over. I retreated into theatre, doing lots of out of school theatre activities and plays and I wanted to pursue a creative career somehow even though I knew it would be hard. I continued performing in higher education and did several touring shows across the U.K as well as lots of local theatres before heading off to Kingston University, followed by drama school at The Central School of Speech and Drama. I always knew this was never going to be an easy career to pursue however I was never an academic at school and have always been creative in some way, painting, writing, performing. If you’re artistic then you do it out of love. You only stop when it starts becoming a chore and you fall out of love with it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I feel like I am definitely a “Yes And” person and I like to get things done. If I say I’m going to do something, it may take a while because life gets in the way but I’m going to find a way and I’m going to do what I set out to do. I’m super excited about writing projects I have going on, I have several projects that I have collaborated on and after this Covid-19 lockdown is over I cannot wait to get on their feet. I do thoroughly enjoy meeting like-minded people that when you show them a project they want to get on board and help you create this reality, it’s such a fantastic feeling. I am still on my journey to get to where I want to professionally and it has definitely not been easy but it has been a fantastic, life learning journey that’s for sure. I have met so many wonderful friends, teachers (who have turned into friends), collaborators that I might not have necessarily met if I had achieved my career goals super quickly. I feel that it is so important for people to know that they are exactly where they are meant to be in that exact moment of time, take a moment just to breathe and get comfort in knowing that. I always felt like there was so much pressure to go to a great drama school, finish school then book TV and film roles and become super famous at the young ripe age of twenty-two. Once you take that pressure off you can actually see what is important and what you actually want from your life and career. I want to make meaningful projects that people will watch and just have nerves hit and have breathes taken away kinda things. I want people from all backgrounds to know that it doesn’t matter what your background is, if you work hard, keeping working hard, you’re going to get to where you want to go too even though it’s not going to be easy. A friend once told me that in order to change past behaviors, patterns, cycles, etc you need to lift the train off of the track and place it on a new track. Lifting a train off of a track is obviously not easy, but neither is certain goals we set ourselves, but they are achievable.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh wow, there are so many people who have helped me get to where I am. My family and my husband for one who always encouraged and supported any crazy idea I had. A lot of my friends who have ever encouraged me. My son, who teaches me every day to chill and go with the flow a lot more and reminds me that it’s not a race to get where you want to go and to enjoy the journey if you don’t you miss out on really fun and important events. Anyone who has been fearless in their pursuit to follow their paths. I am a massive fan of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and her work and how she just does not hold back, I love that so much. But really there are just so many people, from old school teachers who saw something in me when others, even myself, didn’t and helped push me. To books, I have carried with me such as Shadow Of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron that make me feel all the feels.

Image Credits
Unicorn Productions Wolf Marloh FATEFUL film