‘People now trust that my ideas work’: is this Australia’s most acclaimed theatre director?

‘I’m not interested in attention – even with this story’ … Kip Williams, the artistic director for the Sydney Theatre Company. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

This was supposed to be a one-on-one interview, but Kip Williams has company. “This is Tilly,” he says.

Tilly shares the 36-year-old theatre director’s Potts Point apartment and has a minor but memorable role in Williams’s Sydney Theatre Company hit production The Picture of Dorian Gray. He apologises for Tilly’s interruptions. “She’s hungry. She loves anything chicken!”