There’s a certain synergy to the current leadership handover at Windmill Theatre Company.

Incoming artistic director Clare Watson, who is taking the reins from award-winning theatre director Rosemary Myers, reveals that it was Myers who first inspired her to become a theatre director. It was back in the 1990s and Watson was studying an arts degree at Melbourne University. She was playing saxophone in some of the drama productions when Myers, who was directing various works, encouraged her to audition.

“So, I ended up in a performance work that was this big, new work ­– a feminist musical, high energy with a huge cast – and I remember watching Rosemary taking care of this huge team of people, working on this ambitious and hilariously urgent project, and she was also looking after her brand-new baby son,” Watson says.

“I remember looking at her and thinking, ‘I want to do that’, and that moment is the reason I’m a theatre director.

“So, it’s kind of extraordinary that at this point in time I find myself being able to work beside Rosemary and follow in her footsteps. And she’s got some big shoes to fill.”

Watson was announced as Windmill’s new artistic director in December and is currently dividing her time between Adelaide and Perth, where she has been artistic director of Black Swan State Theatre Company for the past six years. She will transition to living in Adelaide full time by early 2024, and will continue working alongside Myers, who is now artistic director of Windmill Pictures, the film and television arm of the company.

Myers, who was AD of Windmill Theatre for 14 years, describes Watson as a “brilliant artist and excellent human”, who will bring new energy and ideas to the role.

“Clare’s body of work is eclectic but always very rigorous and compelling,” she says.

“I honestly can’t think of a better person for this job. When she was considering her decision to apply, her very astute daughter [19-year-old Ivy Miller) said, ‘I reckon there’s some important work for young people you need to make’. I totally back that instinct and I know how much she is enjoying immersing herself in SA and getting to work with South Australian artists.

“It is going to be such a thrill to see where she takes the company next.”

Watson says she has no plans for any major change at Windmill, no “hook turn” as she describes it, but she does anticipate there may be some small shifts just due to someone else being at the helm.

While she can’t reveal too much detail, she says she’s already in talks about national and international collaborations for the company, and all productions will contain that key Windmill ingredient – fun.

It’s always a wild ride that invites audiences to journey along with artists to unexpected places

“At the heart of Windmill’s artistic output is a sense of fun. A passion for playfulness,” Watson says.

“The company never talks down, recognising that our young audience are some of the most savvy, culturally literate and sophisticated folk that we could hope to make work for.

“A Windmill show pushes form, meets the audiences where they’re at and is delivered with a huge dose of surprise. When I think about Windmill’s oeuvre, it’s filled with a mash-up of techniques and ideas that lend an electric charge to live performance, especially for young people: smash-cuts, montage, meta-theatricality, a shift away from traditional narrative or linear storytelling. It’s always a wild ride that invites audiences to journey along with artists to unexpected places.

“I want to keep that sense of curiosity at the centre of our work at Windmill and keep pushing the ferocious sense of fun while taking audiences to unlikely and surprising places with the brilliant artists of South Australia.”

A poster image for Windmill Theatre’s Hans and Gret. Photo: Emmaline Zanelli

Watson is currently directing Windmill’s latest show, Hans and Gret, which will have its world premiere at the 2023 Adelaide Festival. It was originally conceived by Myers and written by Lally Katz.

Hans and Gret is a transformation of the classic Hansel and Gretel fairytale, reimagined as a psychological thriller where two teens grow up in a world where the ageing process is being reversed.

Watson says audiences will be in for a “rollercoaster ride” of emotions, from “humour to loss and mourning to extreme body horror”.

The show has been produced with design studio Sandpit, using cutting-edge audio technology. Upon entering the theatre, audience members will be given SHOKZ bone conduction headsets and a mobile device.

Myers says this technology adds an additional narrative layer to the work and will bring audiences up close and personal to the villain witch.

“I watched one of the first run-throughs the other day and it’s incredibly exciting seeing the show come to life,” she says.

“It’s unlike any other show we’ve made at Windmill and it is a fantastic rollercoaster of an experience. Perfect for festival time.”

Behind the scenes of upcoming production Hans and Gret at the Queen’s. Photo: Jack Fenby

Reflecting on her time at Windmill Theatre, Myers says she’s grateful to have collaborated with so many talented artists and to have built a body of work that “I am really proud of”.

“The thing that never gets tired in this job is sharing that work with audiences, and Windmill reaches a really broad audience of young people and their families all over Australia and the world,” she says.

“Spanning from tiny regional communities, that don’t have much access to theatre, to glamour venues like the Opera House or London Southbank Centre or even, most recently, Madison Square Garden.

“It is always a thrill to sit in an audience and see them take joy and react to the work.

“The opportunity to extend our storytelling onto the screen has also been amazing. It was so surreal to make our first movie, Girl Asleep, and get seven ACCTA nominations and then to watch the film with international audiences from Berlin to the New York Rooftop Film Festival, where I sat in a packed park with a NYC backdrop watching images of Adelaide on a huge screen.”

Windmill Pictures’ other success story is Beep and Mort. It’s the company’s first television series, made with ABC Kids, and season one aired in 2022. The series is based on Windmill Theatre’s stage production Beep, and is a live-action puppet-based show about the friendship between robot-from-the-stars Beep and a cuddly forest creature, Mort.

“In a landscape dominated by animation, we wanted to create a character-driven, offbeat comedy that children could really immerse themselves in,” Myers says. “The world is beautifully designed by Jonathon Oxlade and, like Girl Asleep, we really draw upon our theatrical DNA to do as much as we can in-camera. Everything that you see on screen has been crafted by a team of amazing makers here in South Australia.

“We are currently in pre-production for season two, recording the voices of our cast while our set and puppets are being built, and we’re bumping in to our studio space at the South Australian Film Corporation. It’s all systems go.”

Windmill Theatre’s former artistic director Rosemary Myers and new AD Clare Watson. Photo: Jack Fenby / InReview

When she’s not working, Watson says she is embracing life in Adelaide, particularly with “Mad March” unfolding. She has found the creative community “super supportive”.

Collaborating with Myers and having her so close by provides an added comfort.

“The fact that Rosemary stays on with the company in the role of artistic director of Windmill Pictures, it’s the most wonderful peculiar kind of handover because she’s still here and we get to work side by side,” Watson says.

“What feels really right is that she has been one of my most important mentors through my development as an artist and she’s actually the reason I’m a theatre director.

“So, I’m absolutely honoured to be able to continue my creative relationship with Rosemary in this way. There’s a sense that you’re in the right place at the right time.”

Hans and Gret runs from March 3-12 at the Queen’s Theatre as part of the 2023 Adelaide Festival.

Read more Adelaide Festival stories here.