Who is Marni Mount?
Marni Mount is a director, actor, and dramaturg with a passion for bringing new Australian writing to the stage and screen. She’s also an amateur seamstress, recovering perfectionist, comedy nut, and all round nerd. Also she hates describing herself (especially in the third person).
What would you do differently from what you do now?
I’d like to think it would be something sexy like investigative journalism or haute-couture dressmaking but I know that deep down inside of me there is a high school English teacher just waiting for the opportunity to embarrass herself trying to convince a room of 16 year olds to like Shakespeare and read contemporary Australian poetry.
Who inspires you and why?
I’m obsessed with people who take big, ephemeral ideas and principles and bring them into the world in really tangible, engaging, accessible ways. The politics of Alexandria Orcasio Cortez, and the art of Hannah Gadsby, and Bo Burnham all embody this ideal to me, and I continue to be inspired by their work. I’m also inspired by the women in my family tree, whose stories I have been lucky to discover and explore over the last decade. One of my great-grandmothers Betty Arguelles left a type-written autobiography I have been lucky to read and return to often.
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
Oooh if I had the power I’d take the wealth of the 5 richest people in the world (about 741 billion from Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett) and give the poorest seventy-four million one hundred thousand women on earth ten thousand dollars each.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
The Kimberly region of north Western Australia. Wild, gorgeous, magical. And Tassie as well for just about the same reasons!
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
Too many to choose from! Maybe a morning stroll in the botanic gardens, an afternoon game at the MCG, a long early dinner at a cracking eatery, an indie theatre show and a glass of wine on a rooftop somewhere in the CBD.
What are you currently reading?
bell hooks’ All About Love which is glorious and should be required reading, and Paco De Leon’s Finance for the People which is as engaging and helpful as books on personal finance get (and deeply refreshing in the way it acknowledges systemic inequality while offering practical tools & advice). I also recently read How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell and am recommending it to everyone.
What are you currently listening to?
Gretta Ray’s cover of Vienna by Elton John, Jude Perl’s Participation Award album (which you should go listen to if you haven’t already), and Schwartz Media’s 7am Podcast.
Happiness is?
Best shared.
What does the future hold for you?
God knows. But at the moment I’m planning to keep studying and making art. Later this year you can get a glimpse of the juicy little play from Emmanuelle Mattana I have had the pleasure of working on. The Reasonable Grounds is a black queer comedy about power, privilege, and high school debating and it will be showing at La Mama as part of their Explorations season in December.
Marni is the Director of The Camel by Dylan Van Den Berg – which will be presented Carlton’s The Motley Bauhaus for a limited season from 20 July 2022. For more information and bookings, visit: www.trybooking.com for details.
Image: Marni Mount (supplied)