Rio Matchett for the last year has juggled the pressure of a second year of studying for her degree at the University of Liverpool and being President of a very successful Liverpool University Drama Society (L.U.D.S.). On the back of some incredible work by her, the amazing team she has had at her disposal, actors and back stage, L.U.D.S. has enjoyed great acclaim with the plays that have been produced which have included Jack Thorne’s Fanny and Faggot, Noel Coward’s Still Life and the tour de force that was Alan Bennett’s The History Boys.

 For the first time in the history of L.U.D.S.  Miss Matchett has been voted in as society President for the second year running, the first woman to hold office two years running. Not only is this to be seen as a major step by the society, the guild and the University of Liverpool but a firm stamp of approval on a woman who has theatre at the very centre of her heart.

I was able to catch up with Rio Matchett outside of the Sydney Jones Library, a hive of activity with the exam season upon the students there but what I find in Rio is a woman on top her game and very much in the mood to talk of the future for the University society.

How does it feel to be voted back into the position of President of L.U.D.S.?  

Rio: “I just feel very proud more than anything, proud of everyone who’s helped me get to this stage because all the things that have been achieved this year have really absolutely been as a result of a team effort. It’s been the easiest and most enjoyable job in the world, just to let people do their thing and be amazing.”

You’ve put on some extremely good plays – as a Society and you yourself within it.  The History Boys was magnificent for L.U.D.S., Fanny and Faggot was insightful and charming, brutal and excruciatingly good, it was very cool. How do you see the diversity with those?

Rio: “I think we have such a diverse range of members that we were always going to put out something that was going to be representative of that and theatre is a medium which is aimed at so many different things that it’s part of the joy of being able to do it is to be able to try and do different things. Student theatre is a really great place to be experimental as you don’t have quite the same pressures of finance that you would have in the commercial world.”

Has there been a particular favourite because you won a lot of plaudits from all the plays that you put on didn’t you?

Rio: “Fanny and Faggot will always hold a special place in my heart because that was the first play that I directed, that I’d really been able to work on properly from the get-go and that was the one that really confirmed in me that it was what I wanted to do. Obviously, The History Boys we’re all very, very proud of but then this year, we’ve also had lots of events with brand new writing and working with new writers is a passion of mine. We’ve put on full length plays, short plays, some new writing and it’s an exciting time to be involved I think.”

Where do you see L.U.D.S. going next year? It’s a great achievement for someone to get the position two years’ running, it must be quite heart-warming to know that your peers like what you do?

Rio: “Absolutely! I feel incredibly lucky and incredibly honoured to be able to be in this position. It’s quite interesting to see what’s happened this year, to my knowledge for the first time we have two female presidents but a committee largely of men! Whereas, previously it’s usually been the reverse, so I think that’s really exciting for L.U.D.S. to kind of move over to that side because what tends to happen is that in theatre women either go straight into acting or stage management. Over the past few years though we’ve seen a real growth in strong female directors, strong female writers, the people who are at the foundations of what’s happening. Iona Campbell who is my Co-President next year is fantastic, I really rate her and I think we’re really going to work well together, complement each other and make up for my shortcomings hopefully!”

I’m looking forward to seeing what you’re going to be putting on next year because I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen this year. I think to my mind, L.U.D.S. has become quite an integral part of university life in the last few years, whereas before I don’t think it was taken as seriously as it is now.

Rio: “I would hope so. This year, we’ve done a lot of work outside our standard play remit in terms of charity work, working with the local community and schools, we’ve supported a lot of stand-up comedy, improve and other areas of drama. It’s something that I’m incredibly proud to be associated with as there is a bit of stereotype with drama students and I think to an extent we don’t do anything to undermine that because generally speaking and it is a generalisation we’re all quite loud people, we tend to be quite out there but equally, one of the things I’m most proud of is that a lot of our members are people who don’t want to thrust themselves into the limelight, who come because they love doing the make-up, they love the writing. I really hope that we create an environment in which those people feel that they are as much a part of it as the gobby ones for want of a better phrase!”

I know one of your big heroes is Gemma Bodinetz – The Everyman and Playhouse Artistic Director. I’ve asked you this before and time has moved on now, do you see that you still want to be more involved in that sort of direction in the future?

Rio: “Absolutely! She is a fantastic role model for any woman full stop, let alone any woman in theatre. I do kind of aspire to emulate what Gemma has achieved. I’ve had the pleasure of working with newer directors like Blanche McIntyre and Lindsey Turner who do a lot of work with new writing and that’s been incredibly inspiring for me.”

One of things I’ve noticed is that you were helping Dr. Sarah Peverley, a lecturer of incredible note at the University of Liverpool, how did that go?

Rio: ”It was so much fun! It was very much a kids’ show which isn’t something that we get the chance to do a lot as our audiences are largely students but it was brilliant fun to get out and we had a real good time playing with anachronisms and experimenting with original techniques bringing that to our contemporary audiences. It was just good fun, dressing up in costumes as much as anything as I don’t really do a lot of that anymore so it was nice for me to get out there and have some stage time and remind myself why I love doing it so much.  It felt good to be an actor for once and I’m again very appreciative of the time I had to do that.”

What was it like working with someone within the university as knowledgeable as Dr. Sarah Peverley?

Rio: “She is amazing; actually Sarah is one of my secret crushes at university! Just because I find her so incredibly accessible and with a group of students she’s y fitted in really well. There was no kind of tension there and yet she is so incredibly knowledgeable. She’s been a joy to work with because all those little nuances that you come across when rehearsing a play, you just want to go away and find out about – she knows! She’s very insightful, so it was an absolute pleasure.  We’re looking to do some more plays next year, potentially a new adaptation of some Mallory and the King Arthur stories; that will be a lot of fun!”

One more question if I may – where do you see L.U.D.S. this time next year?

Rio: “This time next year, hopefully winning ‘Best Big Society’ again! I would like to continue the work that we’ve done this year and make it better. Something that we’ve talked about is forming further links with other societies. We’ve got good links with the other performing arts societies but forming links outside of that band like the fundraising ones.  Why not get some involved and get them outside our auditorium and say if anyone wants to sign up – come on! We have had thousands come to see our play over the course of the year so that’s a fantastic opportunity to really try and give a little bit back so I’d like to see more links with other societies. I’d like to see us putting on plays of the standard that we have this year and of course I’m biased but I do believe that the standard of the plays that we are putting on are better than it has been before and I’d really like to see us continue to support the new writing which has really only begun this year under the remit of Chris Worrall and his colleagues.”

Ian D. Hall