Iolanthe (1882), the seventh collaboration by masters of comic operetta W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, uses the story of the eponymous fairy’s banishment from heaven for marrying a mortal to satirise British society. Lindsey McAlister, founder of the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation, tells Richard Lord how it changed her life. Although I’m not a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, my life totally changed when I went to see Iolanthe around the age of 10. I was born in England but at an early age moved to Scotland. It was a school production at the local high school in Denny, Scotland. I did my primary education there, and right opposite my school was the secondary school, and we were always in awe of the kids who were a bit older. My mum and dad had seen a poster for Iolanthe , and they took me to see it. They’re not artistic at all; my mum was a civil servant and my dad was a manager in a plastics factory. God knows what drove them to buy the tickets. It was the first piece of theatre I’d seen apart from pantomime. I was so excited by the whole experience. Oh my God: what’s an operetta? What’s an opera? I can remember vividly walking into the school hall and the orchestra was tuning up; also the stage and lighting, as a 10-year-old, looked quite elaborate to me. The lights went down, the orchestra settled and the overture began, and about a minute in there was this moment when a triangle note sounded out, and it changed my life forever. It had me. From that moment I knew that I wanted to create theatre. I thought, “I want to be doing this, I want to be on stage, I want to play a musical instrument, I want to write, I want to direct.” I just wanted to create something as magical as I’d experienced. I still feel that desire to create today with the same power and passion. How Cloud Atlas movie spurred accountant to be an entrepreneur Against my parents’ wishes, I got involved in as many activities as I could that were arty. I was constantly putting on backyard plays, trying to get my friends to dress up and be in some kind of theatrical thing. I had a chance to be in a school play, and very early on I realised that I was absolutely rubbish at performing; there are so many people who are better, so maybe it’s better if I support their skills. I had a great youth theatre experience quite early, run by an amazing woman who really mentored me and guided me towards directing. It’s also telling that it was a school performance with young people that inspired me. I could have gone any way in theatre, but I was drawn to working with young people who have all these talents but they need to be brought out by someone. I loved the idea that I could be that person.