Farewell Mr Jones and Mr Rickman and thank you … for everything …

“Epic Tea Time with Alan Rickman” clip, created by David Michalek for his series “Portraits in Dramatic Time”
David Bowie, Lemmy Kilmister and Alan Rickman image, created by Ian Blyth

It has been a tumultuous start to 2016, with some truly sad news already in the first two weeks of this New Year.  We, like so many around the world, are truly saddened by the loss of two of the greats of the Acting and Performing world, who contributed so much to both their industry and the general public.  Both iconic artists, but also, away from the cameras, supporters of many from all walks of life in so many ways, and genuinely lovely humans with heart, who were taken too soon.

“David Bowie was a visionary, a supremely gifted human being and a lovely man, from what I’ve heard from those mutual contacts we had in common.  I never met him, but he has influenced me nonetheless and he will be sorely missed.  Alan Rickman was a generous, funny, hugely talented true gentleman of this industry and we have lost not just a great actor, writer and director, but a gracious and kind human being.  Our one meeting many years ago, consisted of my stepping on his foot and him apologising – for my klutziness, and I used to joke that when the film I had written, and he had kindly put his name to, finally got made, it would make a great story on how we met for the PR rounds.  Sadly, that film did not manage to find the finance and so, selfishly, I mourn not just the loss of a great artist and human, but also my chance to work on screen with one of my heroes.  He will be truly missed, by so many of us, for a myriad of reasons.  The world is a little less rich and bright with his passing.”

– Sally McLean, Artistic Director, Shakespeare Republic

So we enter 2016 with the reminders that life is too short, to not compromise on creative vision, to be ourselves, to take responsibility to help our fellows (be they human or animal), to keep creating – in what ever form that takes – and to always celebrate those who have come before and blazed the trail that we now follow.

We feel this clip from the documentary “Muse of Fire” featuring Alan Rickman talking about Shakespeare below, is so relevant and well-put and has a lovely anecdote about revered theatre director, Peter Brooke and how he viewed acting Shakespeare, that it is worth sharing with you if you haven’t already seen it:

And the extraordinary “Blackstar” music video clip from David Bowie that we just love for the storytelling, visuals, commitment to vision and the poignancy:

[vsw id=”kszLwBaC4Sw” source=”youtube” width=”640″ height=”360″ autoplay=”no”]

Farewell Mr Jones and Mr Rickman, you will be very much missed.

We’d like to finish this post with a few thoughts that spoke to us in different ways in the wake of the passing of two of the most fascinating and talented human beings we feel our industry has produced. We will not see their like again.

“Don’t you love the Oxford Dictionary? When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything.” ― David Bowie

“If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust.” – Alan Rickman

“Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming.” – David Bowie

“Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.” – Alan Rickman

“And I don’t care what anybody says; I like doing it, and it’s what I shall continue to do.” – David Bowie

Rest in peace you shining stars.

‘Till next we speak, see you anon,

The Republic Team
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia