Where did the name Lost Dog come from?

The name Lost Dog came from the idea of a mongrel. A cross between something that also has it’s own identity. For me the best kind of dogs are so crossed that their pedigrees are lost way back. They are not labradoodles, they are mutts. And the kind of people who own them don’t watch crufts and couldn’t care less about where they came from they just enjoy their intelligence and uniqueness.

I think that is the kind of work I respect and would like to make. It is so completely it’s own thing, it is entirely convincing in it’s own right. It is the kind of work that you come out of and are surprised because you haven’t dissected it. You aren’t saying to your theatre companion ‘I really enjoyed that bit’. You didn’t think to break it up into bits, you just bought it, all of it.

To press the metaphor a bit further, if you love the dog you don’t look at it and wonder if it would be improved by slightly bigger ears, or longer legs. The same with people.

Ben Duke