A thousand natural shocks

Founder John Bell, explains the beginnings of creating the Bell Shakespeare company

Founder John Bell, explains how he came to love Shakespeare and the beginnings of creating the Bell Shakespeare company
 
I'm John Bell, founder and one-time artistic director of the Bell Shakespeare Company, who retired from the company ten years ago. And here I am trying to recapture as best I can my part in his history.
 
I was born in Newcastle in 1940. My father was a bank manager with the Commonwealth Bank and we moved to Maitland when I was about 10, I think. He was then the bank manager at Currie Currie and I went to school at the Marister Brothers School in Maitland. I had quite a good schooling, I think. I was very lucky in having two very good English teachers whose names were Brother Elgar and Brother Geoffrey.
 
Elgar was a devotee of Shakespeare and poetry. He was a poet himself and gave me a great love of literature and theater and performing. And Dowsley, Jeff Dowsley was similarly highly theatrical, ⁓ enthusiastic, and he actually put on the first play night in the school's history and invited me to help devise it. He said, you can choose whatever part you want to play, whatever scenes you want to do. You can design costumes and I'll hire everything you need from Sydney. So it was a quite a remarkable opportunity and I chose to do a scene from Henry IV, part one, we were studying at the time. I played the role of Hotspur, which was my favourite, and I chose Oedipus Rex, which was a pretty ambitious undertaking. So was quite a night and it really encouraged me to keep my ⁓ interest in professional theatre. And Brother Geoffrey told me I had to do three honors subjects, English, ancient history, modern history. He would coach me in all three. I would get a Commonwealth scholarship, then go to university. And then I would become an actor. That was his plan for me. So an actor teacher can actually shape your life as well as influence it. So under his tutelage, I did all those things. I went to university where I had four very, very happy and productive years. And at the end of university, I graduated with a second class, honors degree, which was quite satisfactory. And it so happened that a new theater company was opening at that time, the Old Tote Theater Company in the grounds of the University of New South Wales.
 
It was set up by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and they were auditioning for actors and I auditioned and became part of that first old Tode company and that's where I met my wife Anna, Anna Wolska, who was then think 18, I was just 22. And here we are together 60 years later.
 
I was approached by the British Council who had some money left over they needed to spend and offered me a scholarship to go to England and study there. I had never had an acting lesson so I thought it was about time. I did something so I applied for the Bristol Old Vic School and was accepted and so at the end of 1964 I went to England. Anna followed shortly afterwards. I joined the Bristol Old Vic School and after one term there, the principal said, I'm sending you up to the Royal Shakespeare Company to audition for them. They're starting a new studio group, an experimental group, and I think you'd do well in that. So I auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company. I was accepted and I joined them at early 65 and Anna came and joined me and she too auditioned for the company and was accepted. So we spent the next five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. Our two daughters, Hilary and Lucy, were born there and we had a very happy five years in England, moving between Stratford and London.
 
Anyway, at the end of five years, we thought it was time to come home, two small children, we wanted them to grow up here in Australia and see their grandparents, etc. etc. So he came home at the end of 1966 and I wrote to John Clarke at NIDA and said I was coming back and so he offered me the role of head of acting at NIDA.
 
I did that for a year. At the end of that year anyway. My friend Ken Haller from University Days said I found this old stable in Kings Cross, in Nimrod Street, why don't we start a theatre company there? And I thought that was a very exciting idea, so I resigned from NIDA after that one year.
 
In short, was part of the artistic director of that for the next 14 years. I freelanced for a couple of years, did some plays, a musical and then I was approached by Tony Gilbert who was an old friend and he said he had some money set aside he'd like to see used to promote Shakespeare because there wasn't enough being done and what was being done he thought wasn't much chop so would I like to take that money and start a foundation or a scholarship? And I said no, no, what we should do is start a theatre company. Which was a bit reckless because there wasn't enough money really to start a company and we were in the middle of a recession so it wasn't a great time to start a national touring classical company.
 
That's a ragged and brief history of where I got to.
 
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.

John Bell explains why it was important for Bell Shakespeare to perform in schools across the country

John Bell explains why it was important for Bell Shakespeare to perform in schools across the country
 
I think it goes back to what I said about my own teachers, how important they were for me, how they prompted me to take on acting as a career. I hadn't been to those two men, I don't know what would have happened to me. So I think it was my gratitude to those teachers and realising how important teaching was and how Shakespeare can be such a big part of one's life with good teaching and that's why I was keen, A, to take Shakespeare into schools and get schools in to see the plays and also to take it outside the capital cities, to take it into the country. They are somewhat starved of that experience outside the capital cities so I was keen that we should become a regional touring company and an interstate touring company.
 
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.

John Bell reflects on his relationship with friend and supporter Tony Gilbert

John Bell reflects on his relationship with friend and supporter Tony Gilbert
 
It was my first year at Sydney University and I was in a number of productions there and one of them was the Jacobean tragedy, 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore. And I had a letter from Tony Gilbert, who I hadn't ever met, saying how much he enjoyed the production and, you know, I was very thrilled to have my first fan letter. And so I replied and said, thank you. Thank you. I'm very cheered by your comments. Maybe we should meet for coffee. And so we did. We struck a friendship quite immediately, I think. He was very, very keen on theater. I mean, to come to university drama was pretty rare for somebody from downtown, as we called it. It was not often that happened. I sensed that he was somewhat lonely. He was a bachelor and he didn't seem to have all that many friends that he could talk to. So we used to meet quite regularly and he would come and see the shows I was in. So when we started the Nimrod and were looking for someone with business sense, I asked Tony to become our treasurer. He was working with his family, was the motor car dealership. Although he worked for the company, he didn't have a car, he couldn't drive, but it was the family business. So he became our treasurer. And then when Bell started, I asked him if he'd come on the Board. After all, it was his initiative that kicked the company off in the first place. So, yes, he remained very loyal and supportive and generous for all those years.
 
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.

John Bell explains why Peter Evans was his choice for his successor

John Bell explains why Peter Evans was his choice for his successor
 
Well, I think he's as much a Shakespeare nut as I am. He's always been enthusiastic in that way and I knew his work from New Zealand, but that's what he'd been doing there. And by the way, the work he did for us as my associate, was, you know, of a standard that I thought this is the appropriate move. He was popular with the company. He and I agree very much on the vision of the company and the importance of the plays. We don't necessarily have to see eye to eye on the viewpoint of any particular play. I would do it this way, well I would do it that way. That doesn't, that's up for grabs, you know, you trust them with the decision, that that's their vision, they go for it. So, I've never had any sort of problem with that.
 
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.

John Bell reflects on the company’s ongoing relationship with their supporters

John Bell reflects on the company’s ongoing relationship with their supporters
 
I think, I always thought it was terribly important to acknowledge them over and over, to always say thank you, always write thank you, always make sure you greet them on opening nights or gala occasions or whatever to have a release. Never take them for granted. It can happen when you have a lot of supporters that you overlook the occasion, to forget their names or forget to thank them or whatever. That's disastrous. We cannot ever take philanthropy for granted. We put on special events for them, novel things, invite them to play readings or rehearsals, anything to keep them involved in the company, not just as an audience but as a participator is really important. I think the company is pretty good at that.
 
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.

John Bell reflects on Anna’s input into Bell Shakespeare

John Bell reflects on Anna’s input into Bell Shakespeare
 
I couldn't have done it without Anna, her support all the way. I mean it was pretty outrageous for me to come home and say I want to leave NIDA, a good steady job, and start a theatre company, with no money, no prospects, just start something, she will go for it. And similarly when I said I'm going to start this theatre company, I'd like to start a theatre company, a Shakespeare company. There's no guarantee it's going to work, there's no money, there's no security, but Anna said, ‘That's what you want, go for it.’ So that was an extraordinary, generous offer. So we still had two daughters to…anyway, Anna joined the company from day one and acted in how many seasons? A lot. And made the costumes and came on the road with me, travelled with me, and a day-to-day, week-by-week supporter, you know? Emotionally and in every other way, tremendous input. You can't leave Anna out of it as a founder of the company she is.
 
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.

John Bell on if he ever thought about wrapping Bell Shakespeare up when he retired

John Bell on if he ever thought about wrapping Bell Shakespeare up when he retired
 
Never. There's so much gone into it. I knew that the company had to survive, and would survive. It was just a matter of who should take over. And Peter had proved himself as my associate over those five years, I think he was my associate, and was ready to step into the job. A smooth transition and the same thing has happened now with James, very smooth transition, no interruption to the culture of the company so that's vital. I think a succession plan is very much the mark of a good director. I think a good administrator should have a good succession plan in place.
 
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.

Joanna Erskine explains why education is so central at Bell Shakespeare

Joanna Erskine (Head of Education at Bell Shakespeare) explains why education is so central at Bell Shakespeare
 
One of the reasons I've been here for so long is because I don't believe there's a theatre company in Australia that values education the way that Bell Shakespeare does. And that's because John established it that way from the ground up.
 
It's typical for various companies to treat education like an offshoot or a tick box or we'll do some school matinees or we'll get a grant here or there. And I'm really proud that at Bell Shakespeare, it's just core and it's just a part of our DNA that we do it. And it's not treated like, you know, you sometimes hear education audiences spoken about as future audiences. No, they're here and now they're current audiences and they deserve respect and they deserve quality programming. And I'm really proud that at this company, everyone works on education programs with the same care as they would Hamlet at the Opera House, you know. So I think the reason why it's so core is because John Bell founded the company with education programs hand in hand with Mainstage. It was just parallel. And really when you look at company activity now, it's like 50 % of what this company does is education. It's huge.
 
John established it that way for many reasons, but a key reason was he had his life changed by two teachers. He wouldn't be the John Bell that we know or would have established Bell Shakespeare or done any of the things that he did had it not been for the impact that those two teachers had on his life. So he knew how important education was. And he also knew what it was like being a regional kid, because he grew up in Maitland, and he knew what lack of access to the arts and resources was like.
 
He was in the Actors at Work teams going into school halls performing. And when Peter Evans, our artistic director now, who's only our second artistic director took over, he also, it was crucial that Peter's 110% on board with education and crucially also he has a very transformative teacher story as well in his life. Having leaders that are on board with education and not only on board but champion it is so important, yeah.
 
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.

Joanna Erskine discusses this tour and the impact it had for the students in the town

Joanna Erskine (Head of Education at Bell Shakespeare) discusses this tour and the impact it had for the students in the town
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.
 
So the Scully Fund has, we've enjoyed a very, very long relationship with them. They have been funding us year on year for I think 15 years or more. But the focus for the Scully Fund has always been regional New South Wales and engagement with regional New South Wales.
 
So, and you know, we choose these communities that we drop into. The Scully Fund supported one week of Players touring and what that means is we go to a region like Broken Hill and we do a whole week of performances which are free for schools and we just call schools and say we're coming, you don't have to pay for anything, walk to your hall and we'll be there doing a show and community performances and things like that. But what we extended a number of years ago, we added on to that and we proposed to the Scully Fund to also do an artist in residence program. 
 
An artists in residence program is like teaching artists in a school all day every day, working with kids, working with teachers and you just get such broader, deeper outcomes. So each year now we do a one week players tour and a one week artists in residence program. And the reason why we chose Warialda was because we had a teacher come through from Warialda High School in the National Teacher Mentorship Program.
 
Whenever we do the teacher mentorship program, we always identify the really special teachers and the teachers who are like, God, I have so many challenges at our school. And we always think, gosh, wouldn't it be great to send a residency there? And she was one of the teachers who after the program came to us and was like, can we please have a residency? And so when we had the Scully opportunity, we went, let's pitch it for Warialda, not only the residency, but also going there with The Players.
 
So that was successful and actually with the players we went out and did a week long program that went to Tenterfield, Emmerville, Warialda Moree across that week which was wonderful. But the Warialda Artists in Residence program, these are young people who just haven't experienced anything like this. You know, you're encountering low literacy skills in a lot of young people, certainly low engagement or experience with drama or learning in that way. And low or little to no engagement with Shakespeare. They just don't know.
 
And so the things that we saw in that program, which we are fortunate to often see as outcomes are increased confidence, increased public speaking skills, critical and creative thinking skills, because we're always using these plays to kind of let's talk about these and reflect on the choices that the characters made and how that reflects on us and our world.
 
So you're getting them to learn in a way where it's like, we're gonna do an English lesson, but we're gonna be in the hall running around. And a lot of these kids are sporty kids and they're kinesthetic learners and sitting at a desk doesn't really work for them. So actually teaching them that way really, really is transformational for them.
 
And yeah, you get the teacher, I remember teachers saying, I hadn't seen the students engaged like that. Or now they're asking, they go back to the classroom and they're like, when are we doing Shakespeare? The teacher's like, what?

Joanna Erskine explains The Players program and how it has evolved

Joanna Erskine (Head of Education at Bell Shakespeare) explains The Players program and how it has evolved
A thousand natural shocks was written by Beatrice Waller, a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies student, who explored the history of Bell Shakespeare through oral histories in 2025 as a part of her degree. Oral history refers to the process of recording history in the voice of those who witnessed it and consists of conversational interviews recorded in audio format. This project was completed in collaboration with the University of Sydney, partner of Bell Shakespeare.
 
I guess the players is our, kind of, we call it the flagship program. About 80,000 young people that we engage with face to face every year, 50 to 60,000 of them are via the players. So it's the one that reaches the most young people. The other programs that we do are incredible, but they're working with very small groups of students around the country. So this is the big hitter. And it has evolved quite a bit over the years and certainly in my time with the company.
 
Number one, it used to be called Actors at Work. The reason for that was because early in the company, there was an ensemble of actors and they used to perform in the evenings and during the daytime or when there weren't shows on, they were kept in employment by going into schools and ⁓ delivering the education programs. That's why it was called Actors at Work.
 
And so we went through an interesting process of trying to rebrand it. And I just came back to the players, which is the touring ensembles in Shakespeare's day that went around. I thought that is what we should call them. I guess another big change is we used to have four actors in a team, and now it's three. Really the reason for the scaling down was money, always. Touring costs are just through the roof. And I guess the final thing, well two final things I'll say, one is the scripts change significantly. We've really looked at them from a different perspective now. There used to be plays that would kind of be thematic and involve a whole lot of different plays in one. It was confusing for students and so we did a lot of work to rewrite them. And interestingly, because we had one less actor, it was really difficult. It was like, well, how are we going to have all these characters on stage? And we realized, we can bring students and teachers up on stage and immediately you get interactivity. You get shows where it's like, now I need someone to come up and play a role, which we'd never done before, which was great.
 
And the other huge change was we added a primary show. So in 2013, we expanded to have a primary program. And that has been a huge change because now we have hundreds of primary schools around Australia with Shakespeare in their schools that they never would have touched or thought that their kids could engage with Shakespeare. Now we have a dedicated show for them and that in itself has opened up the opportunity for school holiday performances that we do every year. and of course now we're just getting generations of primary age students growing up and going to high school and by the time they hit Shakespeare they're like, I already know Shakespeare because I've had this prior experience. Which means that there's less negativity. They don't have the walls up because they're like, I already know and I had this really warm positive experience way back in primary school. So yeah, that's a huge part of it as well. So the players program has really evolved a lot.