WHO IS GENEVIEVE PICOT?
Well who knows really – being an actor in theory I can be anyone; however these days I am mostly a grumpy old c**t !
WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY TO WHAT YOU DO NOW?
Everything – just to see what would happen.
WHO INSPIRES YOU AND WHY?
People with compassion and creativity, like Sandra Fiona Long – the author of Birdcage Thursdays – a play in which I am currently working. She looks at the problem of ‘hoarding’ with great compassion for all of the people involved and then keeps it engaging and interesting.
Yan Duyvendak, who with Roger Bernat created Please Continue Hamlet (recently seen at the Melbourne Festival), which explored the fragility of our justice system. Kon Karapanagiotidis founder and CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre for his compassion and endurance in the face of the relentless viciousness of the Australian Government (Coalition and Labor). And all the many activists who work against the tyranny of the wealthy and powerful.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD?
If I could, I would rid Australia of all the politicians who have little compassion and empathy, especially for those people who look and think differently from them, and don’t have as much money as them, AND all the politicians who are climate change deniers – which would pretty much rid us of all the Coalition front bench, much of the Labor front bench and a fair few senators. Good riddance I’d say. However in the realms of the possible I support groups like Get Up and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and the Greens.
FAVOURITE HOLIDAY DESTINATION AND WHY?
Istanbul because it is, and has been for thousands of years, the geographical and cultural intersection of East and West.
WHEN FRIENDS COME TO TOWN, WHAT ATTRACTION WOULD YOU TAKE THEM TO, AND WHY?
My partner, Tony and I don’t live ‘in town’ but in the hinterland of the Great Ocean Road, so we take visitors to Turton’s Track, where you can see the Otways rainforest in all its glory; fabulous tree ferns, beech trees and giant messmates.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?
The LIFE of I: The New Culture of Narcissism by Anne Manne – a terrifying, depressing and all too plausible explanation of the malaise that is Western capitalist culture.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY LISTENING TO?
Late Night Live on Radio National (ABC Radio) and a lot of Baroque music.
HAPPINESS IS?
Overrated and fleeting. Maintaining curiosity is more important I think.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR YOU?
Who knows?
Genevieve can be seen in Sandra Fiona Long’s Birdcage Thursdays at fortyfivedownstairs from 3 November 2017. For more information, visit: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com for details.
Image: Genevieve Picot (supplied)