In the late 1970s Bill Mitchell and I joined the theatre company Key Perspectives. I soon saw that Bill was a great learner and an even greater teacher.
He taught by doing. I had written a script for a tour of Fenland village halls and community centres, and set in the same locations, with a final scene where the back wall of the venue cracks open and a ghost floats in amid mists and blinding light. I watched Bill’s eyes brighten for a moment and then become thoughtful. I read this as: “Idiot! Does he think we’re on RSC budgets?” Three weeks of rehearsal later, across the Fens that back wall cracked night after night, sending a shiver through audiences – Bill had done it, and we all learned to raise ourselves to his creative level. In a later interview, he reflected that Key Perspectives was where he stopped being the quiet guy serving the design needs of others to being the enthusiastic talker, the great listener, the great teacher and artist we have now lost.
