When John Bell left Bell Shakespeare at the end of 2015, he was determined to make a genuine departure from the company he had founded and run since 1990.

Bell Shakespeare, John BellJohn Bell. Photo © Pierre Toussaint

“It was suggested I might stay on the Board or have some kind of emeritus role and I said ‘no, no no, I should make a clean break and give Peter [Evans, the new Artistic Director] an absolutely clear run, and not be looking over his shoulder saying ‘what I would have done…’ None of that, which I think was the right decision. So, it’s nice to be back after three years’ absence, and to come in totally fresh,” says Bell.

He has returned to star in a new production of Molière’s The Miser, directed by Evans. The play, which was first performed in Paris in 1668, has been translated and adapted by Justin Fleming, who has had great success updating Molière’s comedies for Australian audiences, using plenty of the local vernacular in his rollicking, rhyming versions. This is Fleming’s fifth Molière for Bell Shakespeare following productions of School for Wives, The Literati, Tartuffe and The...