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.