Steph Brotchie
Steph Gray
Steph Brotchie is a production powerhouse.
Founder of ‘Don’t Be Lonely’ (previously
Slow Clap Productions), she has a stellar
reputation for creating hits. According to the
D.B.L website, the range of live work she
produces includes, “physical comedy, experimental stand-up, idiot theatre, clown,
character comedy, dance, workshops and
other kinds of fun art”. A couple of examples
of her work include Barry-Award winner Dr
Brown and Barry-Award nominee Tygve
Wakenshaw.
Brotchie is a strong advocate for eclectic, independent, emerging artists and believes in
turning good ideas into great performance.
She contributes greatly to The Arts, including involvement in projects with the City of
Melbourne, the National Gallery of Victoria,
State Library of Victoria, Next Wave Festival, the Tuxedo Cat and the Emerging Writers’ Festival.
When it comes to being a good producer,
Brotchie insists that you must have passion,
engagement in the artistic community of
which you are a part and, very importantly, organizational skills. “Good producers
make things happen - they drive ideas into
action. I think the best producers are the
ones that are artist-focussed, rather than
money-focussed, who value the work over
the ‘market.’ The ‘market’ usually rewards
good work, so working with talented peo-
L-R - Trygve Wakenshaw, Pat Burtscher, Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall, Stuart Bowden & Ste
ple who work hard will pay off in the end.”
Her recommendation for producing live
comedy acts is that you choose to work with
good people. People who are more than just
good at what they do, but also those who
are genuine and caring. “That’s obviously
important, but I think it’s also important that
the artists you invest your time and your
‘brand’ in are people that you like, people
whose work you like, and whose work ethic
matches your own. I think a good producer
enters into a collaborative relationship with
their artists, in which the creative side of the
work bleeds into the production side and
vice versa. The smaller the gap between