YDF25 Artist 10 Q&A: Ellie Webster

What’s your background?

I’m a Welsh theatre-maker and writer. I grew up in south Wales surrounded by the rich tapestry of Welsh folklore and mythology. I wanted to be an actor from a relatively young age; but the older I got, the more I became interested in making theatre, not just performing it. My practice is incredibly collaborative and devising-based, using games and exercises to create what happens on stage, rather than reading someone else’s words.

Who are your biggest influences? Artistically? Who inspired you to become an artist?

I remember being 15 and seeing Christopher Brett Baileys “This is How We Die”. It was an epic, poetic monologue-rant that was hypnotising. I didn’t know theatre could be like that- and I wanted to make work that experimented with form like that. I’m also heavily influenced by YESYESNONO, the Wardrobe Ensemble, and Bryony Kimmings. In terms of who in my life inspires me, my grandad is a great letter-writer and has a real creative spirit I try to embody.

How have you developed your career? (From student to artist)

Graduating into the pandemic certainly made the shift from student to artist a challenging one! I’ve developed my career in the last few years by actively searching for opportunities to develop my skills and meet new people. I’ve also made plenty of my own work (including a podcast), trying to balance between following my areas of interest and responding creatively and enthusiastically to micro-commissions.

What current trends or area of work are you currently focusing on?

My real area of interest is participatory theatre. All the work I make is interested in collaboration, and the connecting element to all areas of my practice is that I don’t know what the end product will be. Whether thats involving other people in the storytelling (like when playing Dungeons and Dragons on my podcast) or getting people on stage during a performance (which I did a lot in my most recent one-person show), adding more voices to the pot is what makes my art pop!

What role does arts funding have to your practice? Could you and would you still be an artist if you weren’t paid to explore your art?

I believe that making art is a fundamentally human thing to do, and I’ve made a contract with myself to continue to make art for the rest of my life, regardless of whether it makes me any money. However, where money is particularly useful is in developing craft- it becomes much harder to push yourself, explore and hone your craft as an artist without funding, as it has to come second to the work you do to stay alive and pay rent! I’m extremely grateful to organisations like Peshkar for giving artists space to stretch and challenge themselves.

What advice would you give to a young artist beginning their journey to becoming an artist?

First off- don’t be so hard on yourself! Every artist I know is riddled with self-doubt and is comparing where they are to everyone else. Everyone’s journey is different and your career will look different to your peers. I’ve also been told “its a marathon, not a sprint”; so look after yourself and make sure you’re always well-fed with enough money to survive before you worry about art. Starving artists often end up burnt out, jaded and bitter; your best chance of success is to have as full a life as you can outside of your artistic work. It also means if you need to take a break when life (inevitably) gets in the way, you can do so knowing art will always be there to come back to.

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