Watermill Theatre

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The Watermill Theatre from the front lawn

The Watermill Theatre is a privately owned repertory theatre in England. It is housed in a converted watermill situated in beautiful gardens beside the River Lambourn in the hamlet of Bagnor, near the town of Newbury in the county of Berkshire. 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 protude 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 lead 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 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 Propeller company, 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' 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'.

The Watermill Theatre Foyer Entrance

Despite its distinctly local feel, the Watermill's productions are almost without exception reviewed very favourably by national newspapers as well as local, and many productions transfer to the West End. In addition to this high accolade, the Watermill also produces four high quality tours per year; two of which seek out those UK towns and villages with little or no theatre activity of their own, and two per year tour large scale theatres across the UK. Often these large scale UK tours will also travel abroad to Europe, the US and the Far East, or transfer to the West End. For example, the previously mentioned Propeller 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 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 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. 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 here.