On the Couch with Lucy Miller

Lucy Miller Arts Review On the CouchWho is Lucy Miller?
A philosopher, a reader, a spell creator, a stroller, an excavator of human behavior, a passionate inquisitor, an orchid nurturer, a scrapbook collage maker, a Derwent coloured pencils face sketcher, a plentiful perfume sprayer, a wannabe fashion designer or archeologist, and a general female deity.

What would you do differently to what you do now?
I’d be that person who gets up every morning, who walks for an hour, reads for an hour in some soft surfaced space covered in cushions and sheepskin rugs, lights candles, plays some sort of meditative bells, has some deeply enlightening, centered experience then speaks constant deeply profound things. This is very different to the roll out of bed into clothes followed by a brown banana for breakfast and a muttering of unspeakables, which is my current morning routine.

Who inspires you and why?
My daily quick inspiration comes from the Brain Pickings website which sends you a daily inventory on a meaningful life. So today I’ve been inspired by Conversations with Maya Angelou. And I just read this quote which I found ridiculously inspiring: “Thou shalt not know exactly what though dost but thou shalt do it”. A fundraising group called The Compassion Collective led by writers Elizabeth Gilbert, Cheryl Strayed and Brene Brown who raised 2 million for children in Aleppo. Kate Mulvany as Richard III was pretty inspiring.

What would you do to make a difference in the world?
Educate it. The world needs some stern lessons and needs to be taught.

Favourite holiday destination and why?
Paris. Because of cheese, wine, the Marais, the Louvre and the painting Berthe Morisot with a fan in the Musee d’Orsay.

When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
I usually just put them on a ferry on Sydney Harbour. It doesn’t really matter where, just being on that water is so unbelievably beautiful. The old ferries, odd seagulls flying alongside, gawping at the harbourside mansions, getting lost in the city skyline, followed by the untouched pockets of bushland. Then we’ll hop off at Balmain and have a wine and lunch in one of the river-view pubs.

What are you currently reading?
I’m book-hopping between Liane Moriarty’s Big Beautiful Lies and Manfred Karge’s play Man to Man.

What are you currently listening to?
I just heard Handel’s Zadok the Priest used in a performance and it’s now getting a regular playing on Spotify. Though it’s on shuffle so that is often followed by something jarringly different, so most of the time it’s a messy cocktail of classical, soul and whatever the cool kids are listening to.

Happiness is?
Loving what is.

What does the future hold for you?
Everything. All things. Wonder. Travel. Love. Cake. Comfortable shoes. Perfect hair. Pasta. Contemplation. A surprise entrance. Hot chips. Vistas. A revelation. A proposal.

Lucy stars in Melita Rowston’s Between the Streetlight and the Moon playing at Kings Cross Theatre in a World Premiere season until 27 May 2017. For more information, visit: www.kingsxtheatre.com or www.mophead.com.au for details.

Image: Lucy Miller (supplied)