Matt Fox, Writer, Producer, creator of Swindon The Opera

Darren and I enjoy meeting creative people, extraordinary individuals with passion, drive and a vision to make something unique and special with their given talents, Matt Fox is one of those people, inspirational, charming and an entertaining character, it is difficult to express how it feels as a photographer, as I try to capture personality and the little spark of connection I feel before me, as the relationship opens up between photographer and sitter, perhaps by my own honesty and ability to be open and totally myself, may be part of the enigma that takes place in our studio, a magical recipe that no words can explain.  I try not to take myself too seriously, it is paramount to me that my subjects are relaxed so my approach is friendly and hopefully fun too, but all the time I strive with my partner Darren to create only the best quality images.

I put it to Matt, “Can I ask you what is it that drives you to want to write, what is it that excites you about theatre, the arts?”  In getting to meet Matt on several occasions his answer was just as I had anticipated. Matt:  “In terms of the questions about what drives me etc I guess I would say that I’m driven by a need to have an effect on the world. I want to say something about the world, and I guess in the end that what’s everyone involved in arts wants to do. I passionately believe that arts are not and should not be seen as an elitist thing, and by writing opera in particular, that I’m going some way to challenging that preconception. I’ve always found theatre exciting,even since I was a child, and I love the whole process, from the writing to the casting to the set and costume design to the final production. It’s actually a very practical, almost business like art form, which requires a number of different people to do a number of different jobs, in a very structured way. I find that structure and the deadlines involved are what drive me on. I think other art forms such as writing novels or poetry, or creating visual art, are often far more the pursuits of individuals, where as theatre is the persuit of a collective.”

Lisa Q to Matt Fox: “Can I ask you what is it that drives you to want to write, what is it that excites you about theatre, the arts?”