Gill Perkins to leave role as Executive Director after 25 years with Bell Shakespeare

Bell Shakespeare, Australia’s national theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries, has announced that Gill Perkins, the Company’s Executive Director, will be stepping down in July 2025, after ten years in the role and more than 25 years of dedicated and extraordinary service to Bell Shakespeare.

During her tenure as Executive Director, Perkins has steered the Company through a period of significant change, starting with the transition of artistic leadership in 2015 from Founding Artistic Director John Bell AO to current Artistic Director Peter Evans.

She led the Company through the tumultuous years of the global pandemic and oversaw the fulfilment of a 20-year dream for Bell Shakespeare, finally securing permanent headquarters and its own theatre in stunning premises at Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay Arts Precinct.   

She leaves the Company in a strong position with a thriving mainstage and education program, which continues to grow in reach and impact across Australia, a robust balance sheet, and a dedicated community of artists, arts workers, volunteers, and supporters.

Chair Philip Crutchfield KC shared “Gill has been the fulcrum around which the management of this Company has turned. Her skills and passion for the Company have been central to its success. She has steered us through good times and bad with calmness, generosity, humour and compassion. Maya Angelou might have had Gill in mind when she said that people may forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

“On behalf of the Board and staff and extended Bell Shakespeare family, I express our sincere thanks and congratulate Gill for her outstanding contributions. Her achievements are too many to list and while this is a sad day for all of us, Gill leaves Bell Shakespeare in an exceptionally strong position, with our full support and deep gratitude.”

Founding Artistic John Bell AO OBE added “Gill Perkins is loved and admired by all her colleagues. She has led the Company with kindness, wisdom and expertise. Since I left the Company ten years ago, I have watched it grow and prosper under her leadership. It is hard to imagine Bell Shakespeare without Gilly, but I know that Philip, Peter and the Board will work hard to find a worthy successor while Gill takes a necessary change of direction in her life’s journey. She will be missed but always remembered with love and gratitude.”

Artistic Director Peter Evans shared “I have known Gill for most of my professional life, we ‘grew up’ together. From meeting her when I was Assistant Director at Bell Shakespeare at the age of 25 and she the Assistant Stage Manager, to Gill casting my early shows when she was Company Manager and I was a freelance director, through to working together as Executive Director and Artistic Director for the last nine years. Gill has been central to the culture we are so proud of – warm, inviting, rigorous, kind and funny; Bell Shakespeare owes her a great debt of gratitude. The Company is stronger because of her and we shall miss her, but we will watch with great interest the impact she will have in the next phase of her career. It has been a privilege, and I am honoured to have worked side by side with Gill and to call her my friend.”

Executive Director Gill Perkins added “Bell Shakespeare is an astonishing theatre company and has been a huge part of my professional life. There is no other theatre company in the world like it.

“I have had the absolute privilege of working alongside the most incredible Australian artists, theatre makers and colleagues, whose expertise is without compare. I have been humbled by the generosity and passion of the Company’s Board of directors, our donors, corporate partners, and trusts and foundations, each of whom continue to support the important work of this Company. It has been a thrilling and sometimes challenging ride, so much fun, and deeply, deeply rewarding. 

“My proudest achievements as Executive Director have been to celebrate and support the transition of artistic leadership between two exceptional theatre makers, founding Artistic Director John Bell AO and current Artistic Director Peter Evans, both of whom I admire enormously and who have each given so much to the Australian arts landscape. Navigating the many challenges of Covid, we emerged from that difficult period with the Company intact, and to have finally secured Bell Shakespeare’s first ever home at beautiful Pier 2/3 as part of the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, is the realisation of an endeavour more than 20 years in the making.

“I will miss it all and especially my friend and colleague Peter Evans, but it is time for me to embrace a new challenge. It is also important that I leave knowing that the Company has never been stronger, and I will proudly watch Bell Shakespeare’s continued success in the years ahead.”

Bell Shakespeare’s Board will commence a formal recruitment process immediately.