Tributes paid to former Theatr Clwyd director Terry Hands

Terry Hands CBE, 79, sadly passed away on Tuesday, February 4, more than 10 years after being recognised in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in 2007 for his services to drama.

His passing brings an end to a rich and illustrious life where he wowed the world as an ingenious theatre director famed most notably for his work with Theatr Clwyd and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Mr Hands, originally from Hampshire before settling in Corwen, first joined the then named Clwyd Theatr Cymru in 1997, when the venue was threatened with closure due to debts and low crowds.

But his efforts helped keep the theatre alive and allowed Mr Hands to continue working there as an Artistic Director for nearly two decades until he stepped down in 2015.

Mr Keith Evans, a former Governor of Theatr Clwyd, remembers the “historic” appointment of Terry Hands which helped revolutionise the Flintshire theatre.

Terry Hands CBE

Speaking to the Leader, he said: “I was one of the Governors at Theatr Clwyd when he was first appointed, and we then worked closely for together for the next 18 years.

“We had a vacancy at the time and understood through the bush telegraph of theatre that he was interested in the position.

“After RSC, he was working as a freelance director at venues all over the world including in Tokyo and France, and at the time he was directing a play in Oslo, Norway.

“We invited him down to Wales to speak to us and we had some interesting discussions with him.

“We asked why he would want to come to a small theatre in a market town in north east Wales, and his answer was that he wanted to go back to a theatre of his own as he’d had enough of directing in other people’s visions and languages.

“He then brought 18 years of fantastic theatre to Flintshire, and his name is one to be reckoned with in world theatre.

“We were lucky to have a man of such stature who helped to produce such magnificent productions. His move here was a monumental point in all of Welsh theatre, and not just for Flintshire. Everyone who worked with him or knew him will certainly miss him very much.”

Terry Hands’ services to theatre saw Wrexham Glyndwr University open a theatre in his name in 2006 following a £130,000 investment in their performance facilities.

Elen Mai Nefydd, Programme Leader for Theatre, TV and Performance at Wrexham Glyndŵr University, said: “As a university and as a department, we are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Terry Hands.

“He was an Artistic Director at Theatr Clwyd for many years and contributed to the theatre in Wales and beyond.

“We are proud of having Terry as an Honorary Fellow and to have his name on our theatre studios when we opened the doors in 2006. He will be sorely missed, and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”

During his time at Theatr Clwyd, Mr Hands played an instrumental role in nurturing talent and producing internationally acclaimed productions.

That responsibility now lies with his successor, Tamara Harvey, who is Theatr Clwyd’s current Artistic Director. She said: “Terry Hands was a giant of the theatre and a colossus of Theatr Clwyd.

“He saved the theatre from closure – this is actual truth not hyperbole – and protected it from ongoing public funding cuts, keeping our theatre making teams together whilst theatres across the country were losing theirs.

“It is one of my great professional regrets that I didn’t have the chance to work alongside him, except through inheriting the organisation he cared for with such ferocious commitment for seventeen years.

“He was a brilliant artist, a focused, dedicated and unswerving visionary, and – on the occasions we had dinner together – a charming, irreverent and very funny man.

“He nurtured a generation of Welsh actors, championing the depth and breadth of the talent in this country.

“He was also unswervingly supportive of and generous with young directors who came to further their training and development at Clwyd, including most recently Kate Wasserberg, Lora Davies and Phillip Breen.

“When I arrived at Clwyd, I was reminded over and over again how enormous were the boots I had to fill by everyone else – but never by Terry. For one so terrifyingly intelligent and massively experienced, he had a surprising humility.

“I once asked him why he’d never directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream. ‘I was there for the first performance of Peter’s Dream’ [Peter Brook’s iconic production at the RSC]. I knew that night, having seen his, that there was nothing more to add.

“Theatre in Wales and beyond owes him an immeasurable dept. He will be sorely missed by all those fortunate enough to have known him, whether as colleague, mentor or friend.”

Some landmark productions by Terry Hands at Theatr Clwyd include Macbeth, King Lear, Arcadia, Mary Stuart – featuring his daughter Marina Hands - and his final production for the theatre in 2015, Hamlet, starring Lee Haven-Jones.

Mr Hands was also a founding director of the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and a former artistic director and chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) where he spent 25 years.