I am reminded I knew W.G Sebald,  (Max).  He came to dine several times. He laughed easily. I remember a conversation about theatre. He asked me about acting and we discussed madness, not that they necessarily go together - on the contrary. He sat with his back to a glass-fronted cupboard filled with books – one shelf given over to a history of art from the time I intended to limit my theatrical activity to scenic design.  I guess he found my scatty thoughts a rest from those of academic colleagues.  Thinking in pictures rather than in sentences allows me to enter a subject from any point and go in any direction – upside down sometimes…


William Shakespeare was not who I thought he was, - or, so I am warned in the press and on the radio today, 25th march 2010.  Old contenders are undergoing reassessment. It seems that I  must dust down my thoughts on the murdered Kit Marlowe, miraculously revived; take in to account the possibility of a consortium of playwrights; and once more consider the scientifically minded, Francis Bacon – the bookies favourite. Old stuff that I can well do without. But if WS is to be permanently scratched from the race, my favourite runner would have to be the urbane Edward de Vere, The Earl of Oxford, who was the choice of Dr. Sigmund Freud.  I put him forward not because I agree with the good doctor, but because he was ‘almost’ convinced by Shakespeare Identified (1920) written by the unfortunately named, J. T. Looney (Footnote: Sigmund Freud, Standard Edition, volume 20 p 63) – a joke in Shakespeare’s own vein surely – as with, ‘write me down an ass!’ 

Such matters are of vital importance for those whose livelihood depends on them. Mine doesn’t.  With my actor’s and director’s hats firmly pulled down over my ears, a rose is a rose by any other name, though on stage it may well smell of scene paint.  Regardless of who wrote what when and where it is the psychological insights and the power of the language to inspire performers and move audiences that count.

Until rock-solid proof to the contrary is presented, WS shall remain for me, the slight, balding, middle-aged man who stares from out the ubiquitous black and white portrait. He is the country boy who married and fathered three children and grew up to make good in the town.  One who was a clever business man, gentle, and hospitable, always ready, in his native 16th Century Warwickshire dialect, to buy a round,  ‘Woy daont yahow seet deeown an av a suup o loyatayll onme’ee’ay?’ (Why don’t you sit down and have a sup of light ale, on me, eh?)

At the age of 12 I memorised for homework Shakespeare’s description of life in a cold climate, ‘When icicles hang by the wall…’ I became a devotee for life, for though I was then living with my parents in Buxton, Derbyshire, a town well used to ice and snow, I too was born in Warwickshire and it wouldn’t be human of me if I didn’t take his part, cheering him on, as one fellow countryman to another.

I remember when and where the seed was sown for William Shakespeare – Dark Phoenix.  It was in 1967, when my wife and I were sitting on the doorstep of Druimard, the house where we lived with our family of three boys on the Isle of Mull, off the West Coast of Scotland.   We had just launched The Mull Little Theatre, and nothing ventured, nothing gained, had decided to present Shakespeare’s The Tempest.  All around were the magical blue hills.  And while Marianne read a biography of Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite seadog, I dreamt of how just the two of us might present such a complex play. She had got to the chapter describing how King James had had him imprisoned in the Tower of London when she made a link between the biography and William’s fantasy.



To order a copy of Taking Off telling the story of the Mull Little Theatre please contact:-
Mairi McArthur, The New Iona Press, The Bungalow, Ardival, Strathpeffer, Scotland IV14 DS; or, mairimacarthur@yahoo.co.uk; or telephone 07881 92103. Special price including UK p&p: £5. Payment by cheque or Paypal. If you are ordering from abroad please add the appropriate amount for p&p;- the book weighs approximately 315 grms

'Please bring your dining chair with you!'
The setting was a guest house on the Hebridian island of Mull, one summer evening in 1966. The line was addressed to the after-dinner guests. The scene then moved across to a tiny, converted byre. And a unique adventure took off - the Mull Little Theatre.  This is the story of Barrie and Marianne Hesketh's life together - from their early acting careers and the steps that led them to Scotland - to the leap of faith that created the country's smallest professional theatre - through drama on and off stage, at home and on tour - and finally to Marianne's courageous struggle with terminal illness. A story of survival, told with spirit and humour.

'...a story of aristry and perseverance and love' (From the foreword by the late Paul Scofield)

It took a further 42 years of fiddling about with ideas to finish what was begun in 1967. William Shakespeare - Dark Phoenix was completed in 2009 - and thank goodness the recent publication by Arden of a yet another play by WS has not required me to change a word of it!  I apologise that it hasn't appeared yet - I dont yet know how to turn my files into  pdf or, indeed, what to do when I've got them that far. As soon as it is up and running I shall flag it up for sure!

paper sculpture of Daniel Paul Schreber

William Shakeapeare - Dark Phoenix is the main title of my blog - however...

After re-reading 'Judge' a monologue about Daniel Paul Schreber, a piece I wrote and performed some years ago at the request of a forum of psychoanalysts gathered at New York University, I thought it might be fun to make a wire and paper model of Daniel Paul. You will find a little about him in another place in this blog, browse round. 

I began by using a length of wire bought from the local hardware shop and by bending and cutting and strapping it up with sticky tape I arrived at a basic maquette for the figure - I gave is extended heels so that they could be used to help the figure to stand up. 'Stand up and be a man’ – as the Nurse says in ‘Romeo and Juliet’.  Her double entendre has meaning in this case. Daniel Paul lived during an age when ‘standing up’ had only one purpose, that of making babies.  Masturbation was seen as a deeply shocking and dangerous practice – madness, blindness, and death following on. All upstanding great and good people claimed it so.  Freud had a thing or two to say about Daniel’s mental condition in its relationship to homosexuality, at the time, another much feared practice -- softening of the brain could follow, indeed, was the cause.  I wonder who were the most frightened – the men and/or the women?  Perhaps, in claiming these terrifying results that invariably followed on such practices men were able to frighten women into having lots of sex. 'Have some Madeira mi dear, and save me from a fate worse than death.'

To return to more sensible matters - for the models clothes, I use pastel paper.  I wonder how I shall create a face for Daniel, - he believed he was turning into the mother of superman, a process that would take thousands of years because to happen quicker would cause too much pain, what with stretching his pelvic girdle and all that...poor devil

Work in progress

Thanks for your comments and encouragement.  I am messing about with photos - I have taken several of Shakespeare, a puppet that Marianne, my wife (1930-84), and I, made for an experimental show shortly after we started the Mull Little Theatre in 1966. We were not puppeteers, but dolls don't have to be paid and they never answer back. The main reason we used puppets from time to time was because we just did not have the money to employ the number of Actor Equity members that we wanted to.   After I had taken Shakespeare out of his cardboard box and spruced him up I flopped him down in a chair. The regal pose he adopted asked to be photographed - unfortunately, it turned out rather wide and not an easy shape to fit into a blog page (see right).  For information about my novel, "William Shakespeare - Dark Phoenix" and a little try out telling about a monologue based on the real life of a mad German judge, Judge, please go to About Me - to the right of the main page of my blog. I shall not be putting up the book just yet. It is written, all 30 chapters,  but there are formatting decisions to be made before then. ...'The rain it raineth every day...'

William Shakespeare – Dark Phoenix by Barrie Hesketh

William Shakespeare – Dark Phoenix by Barrie Hesketh

A novel: historical fiction

When I first began work on the first draft of the book, I felt confident I knew my Shakespeare.  But I was wrong.  On re-reading the canon, I recognised that here was a man of flesh and blood, no longer a mere cipher or, indeed, a myth. 

Written from the perspective of an actor – and set against the background of the Essex Rebellion – I describe how iron enters William’s soul as he comes to terms with the death of his eleven-year-old son, Hamnet.  Spanning the years 1596 to 1601, the book traces Shakespeare’s process of self-discovery until, supported by his friends and strengthened by experience, he is on the threshold of creating the profound works of his later years…

Download sample chapter (PDF) - Chapter One: William Shakespeare - Dark Phoenix 

Brief Biography

BARRIE HESKETH, Actor and Theatre Director

1950s Received professional training at The Central School of Speech and Drama (London)

1961 The Cold Heart, a radio drama broadcast on the BBC, starring Wilfred Pickles

1966 Inaugurated The Mull Little Theatre with his wife, Marianne, (supported by The Scottish Arts Council, The Highlands and Islands Development Board and The Michael Marks Charitable Trust (Marks & Spencer).  Notable productions include Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Macbeth; world premiere of Chekhov’s Tatyana Rapin.  Toured UK, The Netherlands and Germany

1983: Barrie and Marianne awarded the MBE for Services to Scottish Theatre

1984 Ostrich, a comedy for two, written in partnership with Marianne, published by Samuel French, London

April 1984 Death of Marianne

1984/5 A Sprat to Catch a Whale, a play for two based on the collected correspondence between Bernard Shaw and Margaret Wheeler (as a young mother whose baby was mistakenly swapped whilst in a nursing home); performed in Scotland and on The Surrey Theatre Link

1986 Elected Member of the Senior Common Room, Churchill College, Cambridge

1987 The New Prometheus, a monologue based on the life of Daniel Paul Schreber, performed in New York, Cambridge and Berlin.  Adapted as an art film for Werner Kubny Filmproduktion (project not realised)

1997 Taking Off - The Story of the Mull Little Theatre, with Foreword by the late Paul Scofield, published by The New Iona Press, Inverness.  Highly recommended by the writer Neal Ascherson in The Independent on Sunday

1988 onwards A Subject Index of Shakespeare’s Works along Psychological Principles, a database (ongoing)

1990 onwards Six Essays on Aspects of Shakespeare’s Plays; Three Monologues for Miserable People (not yet submitted for publication), and William Shakespeare – Dark Phoenix