Stages With Peter Eyers

John Bell has been named by the National Trust of Australia as one of ‘Australia’s Living Treasures.’ Born in Maitland, NSW, in 1940, he is a theatre polymath whose work has shaped the evolution of a distinct Australian theatre. Educated at University of Sydney, Bell acted in university theatre and made his professional debut in 1963 in the Old Tote Theatre Company’s inaugural production, The Cherry Orchard. In 1964 he was a sensational Henry V, with Anna Volska as Katherine, in an innovative Adelaide Festival tent presentation. The Sydney Morning Herald called him ‘a possible Olivier of the future’. After training with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Bell joined The Royal Shakespeare Company for four years and was made an Associate Artist. He returned to Sydney in 1970 as Head of Acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. That same year he produced the landmark Australian musical burlesque The Legend of King O’Malley and co-founded the Nimrod Theatre Company. He was its artistic director, director