• Title
  Item 2: John Bell interview by Martin Portus, 14 November 2018
• Level of description
  item
• Date
  
  14 November 2018
• Type of material
  Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Oral Histories
• Reference code
  9650255
• Physical Description
  1 audio file (approx. 3 hrs., 27 mins.) - digital, WAV, stereo (48 khz, 24 bit)
  
• Scope and Content
  In the second of two interviews, Sydney-based actor and theatre director, John Bell discusses his freelance acting and directing career and establishing the Bell Shakespeare Company (BSC).
  He speaks of his first Australian role in Williamson’s Emerald City, his experiences acting in Ibsen and Chekhov, and directing the 1988 new musical Manning Clark’s History of Australia. He also speaks of his time acting in the commercial and musical theatre and his first Prospero in an early Neil Armfield production.
  He discusses the early players working with him (Tony Gilbert, Adam Saltzer) to create the BSC in 1990 as well as the vision and money raised.
  He describes the first BSC shows, directing Hamlet and playing Shylock (initially in a tent); the educational programs, making a ‘house style’ for the Company, remaining vocal challenges, the evolution of an informally regular ensemble, working with new directors, building national profile and touring venues. He also talks about staging lesser known plays like Pericles and The Winter’s Tale.
  Bell also describes his non-BSC productions like acting in Long Journey into Night, and in 2000, directing his daughter’s play starring his other daughter at the Griffin Theatre.
  He then discusses working at the BSC with late designer Jennie Tate and Stephen Curtis, composer Alan John and other actors of note.
  Bell continues discussing the evolution of key Shakespearean characters he’s played, his directorial vision for them as well as his own adaptation of the Shakespeare history plays. He speaks of his ongoing love of narration and other collaborations with orchestra and classical instrumentalists.
  Bell goes on to discuss the new practice of gender-blind casting; directors like Lee Lewis and Marion Potts; the star studded STC production of Uncle Vanya in New York and how to play “evil”; Bell’s last production for BSC before retiring in 2015; The Tempest, and why Peter Evans was his replacement.
  John Bell also discusses his other roles since, notably, the Sydney Theatre Company’s The Father in 2017, Diplomacy at the Ensemble with John Gaden, and his return to Bell Shakespeare Company in 2019 to play the lead in Moliere’s The Miser.
  
• Copying Conditions
  Copyright status:: In copyright
  Copyright holder:: State Library of New South Wales
  Rights and Restrictions Information:: Download available for research, personal use and public use
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  Recorded at REC Studios, 301 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, New South Wales, on 14 November 2018
  Acquired in digital format, access copy available
• Creator/Author/Artist
  Bell, John, 1940-
  
• Subject
  Theatrical producers and directors--New South Wales--Interviews.
  Theater--Production and direction--Australia.
  Bell, John, 1940---Interviews.
  Bell Shakespeare Company
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE18993836

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