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I
n 1967, David Gollins, together with his
mother Judy, realised a dream of turning the
derelict old Bagnor paper mill into a theatre,
albeit a primitive affair at first.
The Watermill is now celebrating its 50th
anniversary – one of the few producing
theatres in the country, with a national and
international reputation for quality work.
Its current artistic director Paul Hart says:
“It’s a huge year for us and the building is in
full swing. We currently have four shows in
production, several on tour and many more in
pre-production.”
The Watermill has always created imaginative
work and is known particularly for its use of
music and actor musicianship, but, more than
anything, that you can rely on its exceptional
production values.
It is a singular place, as Paul says: “It’s a
space like no other – the rural location makes
it a very special experience for audiences and
actors. I think it makes a real difference that
the actors live and rehearse on site, and for
audiences it’s also a retreat from the world,
where you can come and let the imagination
roam.”
This is the second full season for Paul, who
was previously associate director for Edward
Hall’s all-male Shakespeare ensemble
Propeller and the National Youth Theatre and
also worked with London’s Donmar Warehouse
and Theatre Royal Haymarket, where he
trained as an apprentice. He directed four
shows at The Watermill before taking over as
its artistic and executive director.
“It feels a real privilege to be putting together
the programme in The Watermill’s 50th
anniversary year.”
His idea is to celebrate some of the notable
achievements of the last 50 years. “But rather
than staging a year full of revivals, we’d
bring our audiences a range of new work. It’s
important to look back and also to be excited
by future possibilities as well.”
Now halfway through the anniversary year,
the productions are going down well, with the
theatre about to open the epic
House
and
Garden
– two plays by Alan Ayckbourn.
“This major revival will be a great celebration
of theatre that takes over our beautiful site – a
reminder that there’s no venue quite like The
Watermill,” says Paul.
“I’m particularly looking forward to
Garden
, an
outstanding opportunity to experience the joy
of outdoor theatre. From covered seating in the
theatre gardens, audiences will get to watch
the madness of this epic comical play unfold!”
2017 began with
Frankenstein, Murder For
Two
and
The Wipers Times
all transferring to
London and the team is now gearing up for
major tours around the UK with
Crazy For You,
The Wipers Times, Romeo + Juliet
and
Twelfth
Night.
There’s also a range of work touring to schools
and village halls, as well as an amazing array
of youth theatre and community work from the
theatre’s outreach department. And still much
more to come.
“We return to Stephen Sondheim with his
great masterpiece
A Little Night Music
as our
summer musical. We also revisit playwright
Joe Orton, whose work was so influential
at the time The Watermill began producing
professional theatre, with the 50th anniversary
production of
Loot
.
It’s many happy returns at the Bagnor theatre as it celebrates its 50th anniversary by revisiting Sondheim,
Joe Orton and Dylan Thomas. TRISH LEE talks to its artistic director Paul Har
t
GOLDEN YEAR
for
the Watermill
I can’t imagine there’s a
busier theatre in the country
right now and it’s a thrilling
place to be