Bill Mitchell – 2nd December 1951 to 14th April 2017
Wildworks announcement –
We are heartbroken to confirm that Bill Mitchell, Artistic Director of WildWorks, died yesterday with Sue by his side and surrounded by WildWorks friends and family. Despite being very unwell with cancer Bill continued to work with passion and enthusiasm on WildWorks projects up until his last day.
He had been heavily involved in the current slate of projects including this July’s production of Wolf’s Child which he had reimagined for Trelowarren. Bill was at the peak of his creativity, excited by plans for the coming years.
He has left us a tremendous legacy, a blueprint for creating world class landscape theatre and a series of projects which WildWorks will deliver as a team.
At a team production meeting this April Bill said “This is life, this is what happens but the work will continue, it will develop and it will be brilliant.”
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I am also heartbroken at this news. There have been many artists I’ve loved over the years, some I’ve got to know, some I’ve even worked with, but no-one changed my fundamental way of working as much as Bill. His work was about community, empathy and trusting that moment when performers and audience create something deeply, profoundly moving together. He taught me to embrace the chaos and to let a project grow naturally, to let it breathe, to trust being out of control. My thoughts are with all our Wildworks friends, and with Sue particularly.
Dave McKean 15th April 2017
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‘And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth’
Raymond Carver, ‘Late Fragment’
