Propeller is an all male theatre production company based in England
In the mid nineties
Jill Fraser, the artistic director of the Watermill Theatre, gave me my first real opportunity to direct a drama that I really wanted to do without any conditions or constraints. The play was 'Othello' and it was my first full Shakespeare play. The production was a success. Everything seemed to be in the right place and the actors spoke the text clearly and with great passion and vigour. As the production run continued I became increasingly aware that the work lacked any real imagination or metaphor. 'After all' I said to myself, 'the writing was what we would call 'poetic drama', so surely the physical expression of the play should contain the same kind of poetry and imagination as the text did?'
As I look back on 'Othello', I realise that the actors I worked with were subconsciously urging me to elevate the drama onto a more metaphoric plane and to take greater risks. I decided in my next piece of work to more completely explore the relationship between text and performance, so with my designing partner, Michael Pavelka, we set about trying to find a more engaging way of expressing Shakespeare. It was the year of an election and Henry V seemed an appropriate choice of play.
The Chorus in the play would be split amongst a cast of eleven men. They would tell the story as a retrospective, taking all the roles inside the play apart from Henry himself who would exist in their imagination. The men would play women, as in Shakespeare's time, and we would deny ourselves some of the modern tools of the indoor theatre. The Chorus, in 'creating' the story would create all the music and sound as well. Everything would be live. Offset against this we would use a modern aesthetic - something we related to today - and not be afraid to move the audience outside as we invaded France. The whole evening from my perspective was highly theatrical and deeply satisfying whilst at the same time opening my eyes to the real possibilities in producing Shakespeare. The actors felt they were in a control of the whole evening, and as they never left the stage, were in close touch with how the audience were reacting and could therefore develop and change each performance accordingly. We all enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided to do it again and the idea of 'Propeller' was born.
We would be an all male Shakespeare company, mixing a rigorous approach to the text with a modern physical aesthetic. We would look for ways to inform the physical life of the production with the poetry of the text. We would give as much control as possible to the actor in the creation of the story hoping to deepen the relationship between performer and audience.
The company has since developed with productions of 'The Comedy Of Errors', 'Twelfth Night', 'Rose Rage' an adaptation of the three parts of 'Henry V1', 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' and now The Winter's Tale. We have been influenced by mask work, animation, classic and modern film and music from all Ages. As our times have changed, so our responses to Shakespeare's work have changed too and I believe we have become an ensemble in the true sense of the word: We break and reform our relationships using the spirit of the particular play we are working on.
The rules of our company are simple: Everyone is paid the same (tiny) wage and if an actor has created a part in a production then they will automatically receive an offer on the next one which they can refuse or take. I, as director, have to cast what is best for the play and for the ensemble. Over the years some company members have left and others have arrived keeping the group fresh and helping us to avoid atrophy. We have grown together, eaten together, argued and loved together. We have toured together all over the world from Huddersfield to Bangladesh. We have played in National theatres, ancient amphitheatres, farmyards and globe theatres. We have been applauded, shot at, challenged by different audiences wherever we have gone and our experiences have made us even more determined to try and destroy the conspiracy surrounding Shakespeare. The conspiracy that perpetuates the idea that Shakespeare is very good for you, but not something that you will necessarily understand and sometimes something that you will have to endure. You know the kind of thing; you go to a Shakespeare production, you hear the impressive sound of Juliet's love or the intense utterings of Hamlet's confusion but don't understand the detail. 'Oh well 'you think, 'anything I don't understand must be my fault. It can't be Shakespeare's as he is a genius and beyond reproach'. The theatre does well and everyone believes that the play is a success whilst the conspiracy continues.
I want to rediscover Shakespeare simply by doing the plays as I believe they should be done: with great clarity, speed and full of as much imagination in the staging as possible. I don't want to make the plays 'accessible', as this implies that they need 'dumbing down' in order to be understood, which they don't. I want to continue to take our work to as many different kinds of audiences as possible and so to grow as artists and people. We are hungry for more opportunity to explore the richness of Shakespeare's plays and if we keep doing this with rigour and invention, then I believe the company, and I hope our audiences too, will continue to grow.
Edward Hall - 2004
Printed in The Sunday Times on 9th January 2005
JILL FRASER, MBE 15.04.46 - 10.02.06
Jill Fraser MBE, Artistic and Executive Director of The Watermill, died on Friday 10 February of pneumonia, in part a result of her long battle with a breast and bone cancer.
Those of us who were privileged to know and work with her can testify to her indomitable courage, particularly when fighting to realise her artistic vision for The Watermill.
You only had to meet Jill once to be fired by her blazing honesty, her deep morality and her obvious passion for her family and friends and also for her beloved theatre. She inspired the deepest loyalty from everyone who worked with her, a loyalty which she returned in abundance.
Jill Fraser's early years in the theatre were spent with the RSC, Welsh Opera, Actors Company and Cambridge Theatre Company. In 1981 Jill, together with her husband James Sargant, purchased The Watermill Theatre. She led the development of the theatre from a local rep, opening 26 weeks of the year, into a nationally and internationally respected all year round producing house.
Over the last 25 years The Watermill has toured to 21 countries including the UK, particularly with the hugely successful all-male ensemble company Propeller, which Jill co-founded with Edward Hall.
It was in the last 8 years that the success of Jill's vision was recognised with many productions winning national awards as the best in their field. Shows such as The Gondoliers, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Rose Rage, and Sweeney Todd transferred into the West End with the latter also transferring to Broadway. Jill was particularly proud last November to attend two consecutive opening nights in New York for shows that originated at The Watermill. The most recent Watermill musical, Mack & Mabel, opens at the Criterion Theatre, London in April.
She fought tirelessly to ensure that The Watermill would receive funding to safeguard its future. Richard Price, Chairman of the board of The Watermill Theatre said: "We will miss her and the greatest memorial we can give her is the continuation of her vision for the Watermill for the future. We want it to grow in her memory".
Jill was also deeply passionate about the preservation of the environment. During the building of the A34 by-pass she regularly took food to the protesters to show her support.
Music Theatre director John Doyle, director of Sweeney Todd said "Jill personified The Watermill, courageous, innovative, nurturing, embracing and unique. She, like her theatre, touched the heart of all who knew her. As a privileged friend and colleague I know that nothing would matter more to Jill now than that we all carry her beloved Watermill to a bright new future."
Edward Hall, said "Jill Fraser was one of the greatest forces in British Theatre. She was an inspiration to all my work and a rock whenever times were hard. I have never met a more courageous person, or somebody who managed to focus with such energy and determination on putting challenging work on the stage. As a young director she took a risk on me and has stuck by me even when I made mistakes. Loyalty such as this is rare. The sense of loss at this time is immeasurable."
Jill's foresight had mapped the future of her theatre right up until her planned retirement in April 2008. In her absence James Sargant and the Board of Directors, together with the theatre's Associate Directors, Edward Hall and John Doyle will oversee those plans.
You can read an interview with Jill Fraser which took place in November 2004 by clicking here.
