One Month in, Only Thirty-Five to Go…

20 October 2015

My introduction to The Watermill on the day of my first interview was being met by the woman who would become my colleague and sign language student, Heidi (Assistant Outreach Director), who told me she was sorry she and the Outreach Director Beth, my now boss, were running late but Millie, the theatre cat, had caught a bird they’d been pre-occupied trying to save…

What a perfect metaphor for how I’ve experienced The Watermill to be: unforeseeably thrilling, slightly madcap, and utterly caring.

The animal life of anyone’s first month at The Watermill is probably an inevitable preoccupation because the menagerie makes the venue so very different to other workplaces.  Several broods of ducklings have been, by turns, painfully adorable when at the extra fluffy stage and maddeningly trying when sat sunbathing just where you want to drive to get to a meeting! Bear, the dog that belongs to outgoing Artistic & Executive Director Hedda, patrols the grounds thoroughly and is a very useful and obliging excuse for a lunchtime walk through the idyllic countryside.  And the occasional visit to the office by a wasp or two provided plenty of diversion and excitement!

When I haven’t been distracted by getting to know the wildlife (and yes, sometimes Bear thinks he’s wildlife!), I’ve been getting to know the human population of The Watermill, all of whom have been disarmingly welcoming and friendly.  Being new to working in a producing theatre, half this task has been getting to understand the inner workings of the machine that creates these twelve incredible shows per year.  I have been markedly over-excited by the novelty and glamour of what seasoned employees find humdrum, and tagging along on every tour of the space that’s going!

I suspect I will know I’ve settled in and become one of the veterans when I turn down one of these tours but for now I’m first in line…

Lixi Chivas
Community Associate