A thousand natural shocks

James Evans reflects on what continues to draw him to Shakespeare over the years.

James Evans (Executive Director of Bell Shakespeare) reflects on what continues to draw him to Shakespeare over the 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.
 
It initially was the language. I was introduced to Shakespeare by a teacher when I was in year six. And I do remember being struck by the words and the way that they expressed an idea of...of something real and something human. And I knew from then I had to pursue it. But there's also something about Shakespeare that, depending on the day or what I'm feeling or what I'm going through or life, I'll look at a piece of Shakespeare and it will speak to me in a different way and it will be suddenly a new thing will be illuminated for me. I just feel like it's an endless and bottomless source of comfort and reassurance and companionship through life.

Virginia Henderson reflects on why Tony so generously supported the company

Virginia Henderson (Former Board Chair of Bell Shakespeare) reflects on why Tony so generously supported the 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.
 
Yeah, well clearly, you know, John's vision was the artistic vision of the company and quite apart from his experience acting, but he was clear about what he wanted to do. And Tony Gilbert he was a very interesting man, quite introspective, older than we were, you know, he was in his 70s at that stage. He had substantial money, capital. John was the visionary for the artistic direction of the company. Tony Gilbert was the quiet but substantial contributor. He had no formal education. He left school at 14. I think he had told me later on that his time at Bell was so important to him because he felt he'd made a difference in the world. That sense that he could do something really significant. and he also is very fond of John and Anna.
 
I think he recognised that John had a special gift, skill, I think temperamentally, you know, he just really liked him. And Anna was part of that. And she, you know, she's very practical and very sort of kind and thoughtful, And John was always very good about acknowledging Tony's contribution. So I think, and I think it was that thing that Tony saw that he could be part of something special. But I think for Tony probably, apart from knowing that he was making a difference, with his money basically. I think this company opened up a world for him. You imagine someone who'd been through their career, they don't have a lot to do with their brothers. You know, I think he had very few friends.
 
And all of a sudden he's got the chance to be in this company with youthful actors, a lot of fun, some disasters. But, in the early days for the first two or three years, I mean, it was really hard going and full of crises, and I think Tony got that.
 
So it gave his life, I think, vitality. And it always gave him, you know, sort of strengthened the relationship with John and Anna.

Virginia Henderson reflects on the challenges of raising money in Bell Shakespeare’s early days

Virginia Henderson (Former Board Chair of Bell and Shakespeare) reflects on the challenges of raising money in Bell Shakespeare’s early days
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.
 
We headed straight to Canberra and to the then Minister and that was the beginning of many visits to Canberra and there was a lot of interest in Bell. And I think there was a lot of curiosity. Not that people wanted to put their money behind it in the beginning. But, you know, and in those days, the idea of a non-governmentally funded specialist Shakespeare company touring nationally. So many people said, look, this is a great idea, but it'll never happen.
 
So, and you know, when you think about it in retrospect, it was such a bold thing to think you could do because, you know, in theatre, I mean, most of the other theatre companies only do one Shakespeare. They don't necessarily do one every year. But, you know, every now and again they'll do one.
 
We didn't have any success to start with except, you know, good on you, it's what an interesting idea, we look forward to seeing how you go, but no one said, yes, here's some money. John convened a dinner in the Rocks somewhere to recruit patrons at a thousand dollars each. So there were about eight of those that did. And so that was the start of our mini support base.

Virginia Henderson reflects on the collaboration between John, Tony and herself

Virginia Henderson (Former Board Chair of Bell Shakespeare) reflects on the collaboration between John, Tony and herself
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.
 
It was obviously going to be a highly collaborative effort and the thing that was so important in those early days was the complementary contributions firstly from the three of us who were very different personalities and with a different skill base and we were not carrying any fat, you know, it was just, we each knew, I think we respected each other's skills and what we had to offer.
 
John's vision was the artistic vision of the company and quite apart from his experience acting, but he was clear about what he wanted to do. And Tony Gilbert had a business career. So he had substantial money, capital. Tony Gilbert was the quiet but substantial contributor. He was very supportive, always. But not uncritical when he felt things were not going the right, or a production was not going the right direction or something. Yes, so and then I can, my presence there I think was a different orientation. John had no experience of raising money. John is very magnetic, you know, and that's grown since the company grew. But the business of the company was definitely not his bag. And I'm pretty gregarious, generally speaking. And my past experience, I think, both in politics and just being out in the world, I had a lot of confidence. Even though I knew this was at the at that early stage it was an idea which we were putting into play but it was so risky and became more risky the more money we got from individuals and companies because we had to account for that.

Virginia Henderson reflects on her experience in the circus tent

Virginia Henderson (Former Board Chair of Bell Shakespeare) reflects on her experience in the circus tent
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.
 
It was Sydney in summer, 40-something degrees. It was unbelievable. And there we were in this circus tent. And we had Gough and Margaret Whitlam coming. We had other vips. And there were people falling over the tent ropes and you know, the Hamlet which was the first performance, you know, poor John Polson performing in this heavy woolen coat. But it was huge fun. My feeling of the tent was, it was just a sort of, almost, make believe…it was full of excitement and the fact that it was radical sort of added to that I think. We got terrific responses back from people including Whitlam about, you know, the show, the energy, yeah, and encouragement, you know, keep going.

Virginia Henderson reflects on the moment she found out this corporate sponsor had pulled their funding

Virginia Henderson (Former Board Chair of Bell Shakespeare) reflects on the moment she found out this corporate sponsor had pulled their funding
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.
 
The most dramatic turning point was, it was probably three or four years into the thing. We'd had an enormous year and we'd had good productions, but you know, the money was tough and we'd actually raised quite a lot of money that year for Bell, you know. And I had planned to go to trek Mount Everest to base camp. And it was October, and I was giving a seminar in the northern foyer of the Opera House on fundraising to arts companies, something. And I got a message, one of the managers of the Opera House came down and said, you wanted on the phone could you take it in the foyer, please? So I raced down to the foyer and I thought, God, you know, what's this awful news going to be? And he said, Virginia, I'm sorry to tell you but we've just had a board meeting. We're pulling the funding this year for next year. We're not providing it. So I'm standing there, you know, I can remember the feeling, white, you know, with horror. So anyway, I just gathered myself together and I said to him we're going into pre-production shortly. You can't do this at the end of the year. You've given us no room to find someone else. We can't go ahead unless we find someone to give us this money, which won't happen in that short time before Christmas. So I said, if your board decides on this decision we will go to the press and tell them. We talked that through and he said, at nine o'clock I shall give you a call and I'll let you know what the final thing is. So true to his word, he rang me at nine. He said, okay, we're going to do one more year. So that was, because that was really full on, you know, sort of shock. Apart from the fact that I wouldn't have been able to go to Everest. I was actually shocked because any business would know that if you're committed to forward funding and you suddenly pull the thing on rug art, nobody's preparing for that, especially at the end of the year.

Virginia Henderson reflects on what they achieved as a small company with an ambitious vision

Virginia Henderson (Former Board Chair of Bell Shakespeare) reflects on what they achieved as a small company with an ambitious vision
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 know for myself that imagining something that could be, it's not there now but it could be, is a very attractive proposition and idea. And that was very much a part of our thinking. And then I saw this quote, this is because I've done a lot of work in philanthropy in America. But you know, this comment, from Margaret Mead, never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. And you know, we were changing this arts landscape basically. That was what we saw, I think.

Michael Chaney recounts the history of Wesfarmers Arts' support of Bell Shakespeare and reflects on why corporations should support the arts

Michael Chaney (Chair of Wesfarmers Arts) recounts the history of Wesfarmers Arts support of Bell Shakespeare and reflects on why corporations should support the arts
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 became chief executive of Wesfarmers in 1992. And at that point, we were already sponsoring a number of West Australian arts companies, the major ones in particular, and a number of the smaller companies. And we decided that it'd be beneficial to sponsor some national touring companies, Bell being one of them, And so we first got involved with Bell in 1994 when John and Anna were over in Perth producing Macbeth and Taming of the Shrew. And we had a really terrific couple of days with them watching their performances and then going out to dinner and so on. And that led to sponsoring the company from, I think it was 1996 and becoming the West Australian touring partner of Bell from then on and Wesfarmers has been a sponsor then for what is it 29 years I guess until now and I think the longest serving corporate sponsor of Bell. From about the late 1970s the Wesfarmers Co-op started collecting some visual art and so we had some and I got involved with the company in 1983 and I decided that we should build the collection up and it's now I think one of Australia's great corporate art collections probably about 1,500 works all of which are on the walls of our offices nothing in storage and it formed the kernel of a much broader art support program.
 
So by the early 1990s we were supporting quite a number of local West Australian arts organisations including the majors and then progressively organisations that were touring to Western Australia like Bell. And in 1998 I decided that it would be useful if we actually collected all of this under one banner or one brand called Wesfarmers Arts. And so everything we've done since then in terms of supporting visual and performing arts, both here and nationally, as in Western Australia and nationally, has been under that banner. And it's been, I think, a terrific result for us because it's meant that people identify Wesfarmers with the arts and identify Wesfarmers as the main supporter of the arts, particularly in Western Australia and increasingly, I think, nationally.
 
It's been a win-win situation and I've always had a very strong view that a company will only succeed financially for its shareholders if it's seen as a very good corporate citizen. And so Wesfarmers has always been a standout I think, in terms of community investment, whether it's education, health, medicine, indigenous, general community, or the arts. And we've got a very extensive community support program from a head office and also around the group. And so the group now provides community support of nearly $100 million a year. 
 
Wesfarmers has supported a range of community causes but one of the reasons we were keen to be a supporter of the arts is that in companies we're always talking about the need for innovation and creativity and there's no industry or sector that's more of a standout in innovation and creativity than the arts sector. And I've always had the view that if we are involved with the arts and we expose our employees, for example, to the arts performances and to wonderful visual art, that it will help them understand the importance of creativity and will spark thoughts and ideas. And so our support of the arts goes beyond external support. For example, with our visual art, our collection of paintings, people have them hanging in their offices. And we'll have a gathering on a Friday afternoon with a glass of wine where we go into someone's office and they tell us why they chose to have painting in their office and what it means to them. We have artists, both visual and performing artists, coming up to the office at those sort of gatherings and talking about their work. We've had, of course, as a sponsor of all of these companies, we get tickets to performances and we provide them to our team members. And so it's been a way, I think, of helping people in the organization appreciate the arts, the creativity, the imagination that's involved in producing something like that and I think has had a wonderful effect internally as well as, in terms of our reputation externally.

Michael Chaney reflects on John Bell’s ability to make Shakespeare relevant now

Michael Chaney (Chair of WesFarmers Arts, corporate sponsor of Bell Shakespeare), reflects on John Bell’s ability to make Shakespeare relevant now
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.
 
What struck me about the performances was something that had never occurred to me before. And that was that when I'd read Shakespeare or performed at school, I found it quite difficult and quite unlike modern vernacular. What struck me in 1994 in those performances of Macbeth and Shrew was that John made the dialogue sound like modern vernacular and yet it was pure Shakespeare. It was a wonderful interpretation that to me made Shakespeare much more approachable than I'd ever seen it before.

Michael Chaney on the legacy of Bell Shakespeare and the future of their relationship with Wesfarmers Arts

Michael Chaney (Chair of Wesfarmers Arts and long term supporter of Bell Shakespeare) on the legacy of Bell Shakespeare and the future of their relationship with Wesfarmers Arts
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.
 
We're sitting here in this interview in a fabulous facility on one of the piers in Sydney. And the fact that this has been created illustrates the importance that governments and other supporters have seen in Bell. That they've recognized that as a world-leading arts, performing arts company and have provided the facilities that a company like that should have. And so, you know, it's recognized nationally as a really important part of Australia's cultural scene. It's fabulous that we've had this relationship with Bell. I'm a huge admirer of John and of Anna and of all the actors that have come through and it's been really terrific to see how the company has evolved and developed over the last, over its 35 years. And I'm sure somebody will be sitting here in another 35 years talking about how successful it's been subsequently.