Haileybury College’s long-serving performing arts director is about to take his final curtain call.
Retiring after 40 years at the college, Stewart Bell has mentored several well-known students in the arts – and in the law.
“Most of my great actors went on to be great lawyers and managers because drama gives you the great advantage to be able to stand up in front of people, to think on your feet and to make an impression,” says Mr Bell.
His first play as head of department was ‘The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca’ with then-students Adam Elliot and Jamie Blanks who later reached great heights.
Mr Elliot went on to become an Academy Award-winning animator and director, creating ‘Harvie Krumpet’ and ‘Mary and Max’.
Mr Blanks became best known as a film director and composer of horror-movie classics including ‘Urban Legend’, ‘Storm Warning’ and ‘Crawlspace’.
After a final teaching round at the school, Mr Bell began teaching Drama and English at the Keysborough campus in 1981.
“While I was at high school, I had aspirations to be an actor but I thought I’d go into teaching where I could be involved in drama.
“I thought I might act later but once I got the job at Haileybury, the urge to be an actor disappeared.
“I produced shows, worked with kids who were full of energy and enthusiasm and I felt I was giving back. That was enough for me.”
At the early stages, Haileybury was a boy’s school and drama was seen as a way to round off the students’ education as ‘Renaissance Men’.
“It got a lot more creative after that.”
In 1989, he became one of Haileybury’s youngest Heads of Department and directed up to 80 major productions including this year’s musical Leader of the Pack.
Highlights included the “incredible” 2018 Haileybury Tattoo and two ‘Jesus Christ Superstars’.
Some productions were memorable for ‘all the wrong reasons’.
During a production of Australian playwright Hannie Rayson’s play ‘Inheritance’, Mr Bell prematurely called for a ride-on mower prop to be cranked up backstage.
“I was sure the mower should be on stage and the students were saying ‘no’.
“But I was convinced so I told the student to start up the mower and it began belching diesel smoke backstage.
“The student roared on stage but the kids were right – he was a scene too early!”
The actors were stunned to see the mower ridden from one side of the stage to the other.
“It was a stunning moment,” Mr Bell said.
He says working with students has kept him young.
“One of my worries about retiring is losing the wonderful energy from the students.
“They’ve been inspiring and challenging and I will miss that.”
Haileybury was also where Mr Bell met his wife Pip, who is Head of Performing Arts in the junior and middle schools.
“When I met my wife in the 1980s, she was a rare thing at Haileybury — a female teacher.
“The boys didn’t know how to address a female teacher in those days so they called her ‘Sir’.”
Their love of performance was recognised with the couple named ‘legends’ at the 2018 Drama Australia conference.
Both are members of Drama Victoria for more than 30 years.
Their two sons attended Haileybury.
Mr Bell intends to spend more time travelling with Mrs Bell, including the 223-kilometre Larapinta Trail in the West MacDonnell Ranges in central Australia, as well as gardening and pottering.
“My wife is having a ball at Haileybury so travelling will have to fit in with school holidays but, at some point, I want to sit in a villa somewhere on the Spanish coast.”
