Watermill Theatre

The Watermill Theatre is a privately owned repertory theatre. It is a converted watermill with gardens beside the River Lambourn, in Bagnor, near Newbury, Berkshire, England. It retains many of its original architectural features such as the waterwheel, which is viewed through a screen on entry to the auditorium; also wooden beams and corn chutes, which protrude incongruously through the lighting arrays.

Jill Fraser was a co-owner of the theatre (with her husband James Sargant) from 1981 until her death in 2006, and under her artistic direction it developed into a significant regional playhouse. Jill's vision has led the Watermill to build an excellent reputation worldwide, whilst also encouraging creativity and growth at home; for example, with many of today's successful theatre practitioners began their careers at the Watermill before going on to further their careers elsewhere (probably most famously Sean Bean and David Suchet); many of these people retain a personal and professional connection with the Watermill Theatre.----

"“As an actor who began his career here, The Watermill fulfils my vision of a perfect theatre.”"" David Suchet - as quoted from the Watermill Theatre [http://www.watermill.org.uk/save_the_watermill.html website] "

----

The theatre seats around 220 people in the stalls and a gallery and sometimes the seats are arranged 'in the round'. Often a summer production will have the first act performed in the garden of the theatre, which will have been specially set up. The stage is particularly small, around 4 m x 7 m, which means that only plays with 'small' casts are possible, the largest so far being around 14. Despite this musicals are still regularly performed, and Jill Fraser was one of the very few artistic directors who dared to premiere new work. Among her notable Watermill premieres were works by Vivian Ellis award-winners George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and the cult hit 'The Great Big Radio Show!' by Philip Glassborow.

More recently, the theatre has concentrated on revivals of musicals which feature cast members playing 2 or more instruments over the course of the play. This can be on or off stage when they are not involved with the action, due to the lack of an orchestra pit, although increasingly the Watermill has produced actor musician shows where the actors are both playing and performing throughout the production.

This has been developed into a highly successful actor musician genre with the help of Tony Award winning director John Doyle and Tony Award winning musical director Sarah Travis, with the productions always beautifully lit by lighting designer Richard G Jones. This team is responsible for Watermill productions of 'Pinafore Swing', 'A Star Danced' and 'Ten Cents a Dance', and more recently with the highly successful 'Sweeney Todd' and 'Mack and Mabel' both of which have gone on from the Watermill to tour the UK and transfer to the West End. In the case of 'Sweeney Todd', the Doyle/Travis/Jones production is currently the latest Broadway smash (and resulted in the previously menationed Tony Awards). As well as musicals, each season usually sees a Shakespeare play in conjunction with the Watermill based [http://www.propeller.org.uk Propeller] company, directed by Edward Hall, often in a reinterpreted format, and a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, again a re-arranged version which may only superficially resemble the original, sometimes even the title is altered (such as the previously mentioned 'Pinafore Swing'; an actor musician version of 'HMS Pinafore' with music arranged by Sarah Travis, and the more recent 'Hot Mikado'; a condensed actor musician version of the already existing 'Hot Mikado', which in turn is a jazzed up version of the Gilbert and Sullivan comedy opera 'The Mikado'!). The Watermill production of 'Hot Mikado' was directed by Craig Revel Horwood, also known for his role as a judge on 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

Theatre Company, based at the Watermill since their creation in 1997, have toured to more than 17 countries.

The Watermill has also built a relationship with the [http://www.newtheatreroyal.com New Theatre Royal] in Portsmouth since they reopened in 2004, taking a successful Watermill Christmas show and placing it on the New Theatre Royal stage. Examples of this are 'The Firebird' (2004) and 'Arabian Nights' (2005). This trend continued with the Watermill taking 'Arabian Nights' to [http://www.stables.org/ The Stables Theatre] in Wavendon, Milton Keynes for Christmas 2006.

In 2005 the Watermill Theatre was put up for sale when Jill and James indicated their wish to retire in 2008.The new artistic director, Hedda Beeby, took charge in September 2007 and will work closely with James until he leaves in March 2008. Hedda will move in to Newbury in August 2008.

More information about the sale and the appeal by the Watermill Theatre Trust to raise the purchase and renovation fee can be found at the Watermill website [http://www.watermill.org.uk/save_the_watermill.html here] .

.

Recent Productions include

*Twelfth Night
*The Taming of the Shrew
*The Rise and Fall of Little Voice "link to Jane Horrock's film version"
*For Services Rendered

Production Archive

2008
* Sunset Boulevard (musical)2007
*Honk
*Martin Guerre (musical)2006
*The Snow Queen
*Hot Mikado
*Tartuffe
*Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea2005
*Jungle Book "... this link is to the original story, not to the stage version"
*Thieves' Carnival
*Mack and Mabel
*The Winter's Tale2004
*Pinafore Swing
*Arabian Nights "... this link is to the original story, not to the stage version"
*Sweeney Todd
*The Gondoliers2003
*A Midsummer's Night Dream1996
*Peter Pan... "see 5.2, adaptations for the stage"

External links

* [http://www.watermill.org.uk/ Watermill Theatre Website]
* [http://www.propeller.org.uk/ Propeller Company Website]