News came today that the warm and wonderful English actor Timothy West has died. There were two great articles in The Guardian to mark his passing so I’m not going to replicate their thoughtful commentary:
Timothy West: a modest maestro who embodied the best of British theatre https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/nov/13/timothy-west-a-modest-acting-master-who-embodied-the-best-of-british?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Popular actor known for varied roles:
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/nov/13/timothy-west-obituary?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
However, I will tell the story of how Timothy caused me to take up the career of arts manager.
Once upon a time, back in the early 1980s, Timothy West was a visiting Director in Residence in the English Department at the University of Western Australia. At that time, I was a tutor in Industrial Relationsin the Economics and Commerce Faculty. As a result of a rather drunken bet with an English lecturer who had directed me as an undergraduate in a production of The Merchant of Venice, I auditioned for the show that Tim was going to direct. I should have been focusing on writing a Master’s thesis on compulsory unionism but being in a play sounded like more fun. And somewhat to my surprise given my modest theatrical skills, I was given a role – as Lydia in Thomas Middleton’s play, the wonderfully named Women beware Women.
In between tutorials and lectures, I nipped off to rehearsals and we finally presented the play in UWA’s Octagon Theatre. On the last night, Tim asked what I was going to do with my life. What I had learned during my time with him was that I was never going to be actor. But what I also learned during that time was that I loved being with and helping artists. Much more interesting than sitting in a library pouring over old Industrial Relation Commission transcripts. And I’d discovered here was a name for that role: arts manager. So I started doing different research – about where to learn the skills required to do such a job and shortly afterwards, I enrolled to do an MBA majoring in Arts Management at what was then the South Australian Institute of Technology.
I’ll always be grateful to Tim for asking the right question at the right time because my life has been richer and more interesting because he did.
PS On that last night of Women Beware Women, some of the props were auctioned off to cover the costs of the production. I bought a live-size statue polystyrene statue of the Virgin Mary as a memento. For years, she lay in my parent’s attic until finally she took pride of place in my garden. I repainted her every couple of years but finally the rain and wind and the hail took their toll. It seems appropriate that she passed on just before the wonderful Timothy West. Both gave me great pleasure over the years.
