LOFT OBITUARY FOR WILLIAM (BILL) WILKINSON – FEBRUARY 2025

 

BILL WILKINSON’S OBITUARY AND FUNERAL

BILL AND LORNA CO-DIRECTING LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN – BILL’S FINAL PRODUCTION.

On 30th December last year we posted the saddest news of the loss of Bill Wilkinson, who died at the age of 95.

Bill had been struggling against the frustration of ill health, particularly difficult for him as his mind was as sharp as ever. As things escalated, he began to come to terms with the inevitable.

Bill’s funeral was on 4th February. His standing in the professional theatre was displayed by the presence of professional colleagues from the RSC, including Adrian Noble, former Artistic Director of the RSC. Adrian told us that, after he had been at the RSC for just a few weeks, Bill persuaded him to come to the Loft to lead a workshop.

Bill directed over 60 productions at the Loft since he first became part of the theatre in 1973. He had extraordinary standards and professional skill and was a gifted lighting designer too. Bill’s background and experience in the professional theatre informed all his work, but also informed his exceptional talent for what it takes to run a theatre company. His immense contribution to the Board and steering of the Loft, particularly at critical times, was incomparable. His financial wisdom was exceptional from years of heading the financial team at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and London.

We shall miss him; he is quite simply irreplaceable, but he leaves a most wonderful legacy and love for the theatre which never ever dimmed. Lorna Middleton and her sister Dinah provided the most extraordinary support to Bill over a long period, but particularly in his final days to ensure he had a peaceful final curtain.

Bill’s professional career was anchored in the arts. As Financial Controller and then Finance Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1968 to 1994, he was part of a powerful triumvirate of David Brierley as General Manager and Trevor Nunn as Artistic Director, who had just taken over from Peter Hall. In many articles and books chronicling the history of the RSC, they were the key drivers and shapers of the culture at that time.

Bill is also best remembered for his partnership with the famous director Peter Brook. This started early in his association with the RSC with Brook’s celebrated and much lauded reimagining of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was at the centre of a lucrative deal for this production going both to Broadway and a world tour which added significantly to the RSC’s fortunes.

When Peter Brook left the RSC to set up his own company in Paris engaging in theatre and opera, he asked Bill to join him as his Producer. As they were personal friends too Bill agreed and conducted this role in parallel to the existing one.

Not content with this packed existence, Bill was also keen to direct and he found the vehicle for this through his involvement in the non-professional theatre at local theatres near to where he lived – firstly The People’s Theatre in Newcastle, The Talisman Theatre in Kenilworth and significantly for us at the Loft, where he held artistic and organisational roles, as well as directing. This was a relationship which ran for over 50 years and in total with all the theatre companies, including the one in his local village in Blockley, he directed 90 productions. The list of productions is really worth looking over on the Loft’s archive.

Bill would have been thrilled that Nick Smurthwaite, who interviewed him on the occasion of the death of his RSC colleague John Barton, also wrote an obituary for him for The Stage. A fitting tribute from a nationally recognised publication.

Bill was born 9 April 1929 in Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire and after his mother died soon after he was born he ended up living with his maternal grandmother in Newcastle. He went to school there and trained as an accountant, attending drama classes at the People’s Theatre, where he met his wife Pat.

He undertook national service in Malta and at the age of 19 his commanding officer invited him to start a repertory theatre company with his fellow servicemen. They toured around North Africa and although it was demanding on someone so young, he thrived doing it.

He tried to break into professional theatre on his return to the UK, but this was unsuccessful, so he compromised by continuing as an accountant in the day job and directing at the People’s Theatre in the evenings.

He was noticed and offered a role by Granada TV in Manchester, but declined due to the need to relocate with his wife and young family.

He became the assistant general manager for Rank Hovis McDougall for a short time, but then moved to London and to the Children’s Film Foundation, as co-director with HG Wells’ son, Frank. His next move was as MD of MGM at Borehamwood, which he held for a couple of years before taking over the running of the Film Producers Guild where he stayed for the next six years.

Following his subsequent move to the RSC in Stratford – an unpopular relocation for the family from London – he also began working with Peter Brook in Paris and that role increasingly demanded overseas travel with many of Brook’s productions including the famous The Mahabharata. He was always on the move, particularly with the RSC’s London homes at the Barbican and The Aldwych and the increasing appetite for the RSC to tour.

His passion for the theatre and for music was the main driver for Bill. It was oxygen for him. His work at the Loft was exceptional. He was single minded about what he wanted and it was often exacting working with him. He toured a few of his Loft productions too, to Edinburgh and Leamington’s twin town of Bruhl.

Bill was always an unwavering flag-waver for the non-professional theatre and the standards it achieved. He once said “Leisure activity it may be for most, but the skill and serious purpose evident in every department has impressed many of my professional colleagues.”

We send all our thoughts to his children and the rest of his family and friends at such a difficult time. He is survived by his children Jane, Richard and Peter. His son Trevor sadly died in 2022.

Some of the final words spoken by Lorna Middleton at the funeral from Shakespeare, which would no doubt bring approval from Bill.

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

With love and thanks from us all Bill.

5 February, 2025