: About Me

I am a freelance writer, historian, actor, director, playwright and publisher living and working in Shakespeare's Stratford.

In 1997 I co-founded The Bird of Prey Theatre Company, which, in the five years of its first flight produced fourteen new plays by writers from around the world. My wife and I recently reformed the group and we took flight again last year with an updated version of my play about Oliver Cromwell - 1651: An Evening With Oliver Cromwell - which was performed at the Dirty Duck pub in Stratford-upon-Avon, where Cromwell may have stayed just a few days before the battle of Worcester. The play is being performed in Worcester on September 2nd, 2011, at the Commandery.

Newman Books and The Bird of Prey Theatre Company have now been amalgamated into Stratford Literature, which is a non-profit making organisation dedicated to promoting the work of Stratford actors and writers.

Over the last 25 years or so I have written extensively about the lives of writers and musicians, such as Walt Whitman, D.H.Lawrence, Arthur Miller, George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Edward Elgar, Frederick Delius, Gustav Holst, Vaughan Williams, and such jazz musicians as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and John Surman.

Most of my plays are about fascinating famous characters. 'Ancient Pinnacles' is about Walt Whitman and set on the last day of his life in 1892. 'A Summer Garden' dramatises - and imagines - the meeting between Sir Edward Elgar and Frederick Delius in 1933, with 'Across The River' a look at the life of Ernest Hemingway.

Five years ago I wrote a long piece - Three Lives & Three Deaths - about the interconnectedness of the British composers, Elgar, Delius, and Holst, all of whom died in 1934; three very different musicians who left their mark on the British character, at the same time leaving the British character within their music.

T.E.Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) was never quite the man he seemed to be,  whether military leader, poet, writer, historian, politician and secret intelligence agent, but always an enigma. I've written about him a good deal, not least how playwrights and screenwriters continue to be fascinated by him.

I have been an accredited RSC reviewer for the best part of twenty years, with my most recent online reviews now available here on Helium.

I have a BA(Hons) Degree in the Humanities & History, and a Diploma in European Humanities. I have been a member of the Society of Authors for several years.

When not writing, acting, or directing I work for Fred Winter Ltd, Stratford's oldest family store, established in 1858.

Hilary and I are Christians, and worship at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's Church.

My passion is ...

my darling wife Hilary

I know too much about ...

jazz

My parents always told me ...

very little which taught me a great deal

My childhood ambition ...

was to be John Wayne

My favorite memory ...

is of meeting Paul Robeson

Why I write ...

to try and make order out of chaos

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Andrew Roberts' new book - The Storm of War

My first job ...

a butcher's errand boy - 1958

My best moment ...

meeting Hilary

My inspiration ...

Christianity, Hilary and Ernest Hemingway

Arts & Humanities > Theater & Drama Theatre reviews: The RSC 2011 production of The Merchant of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

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Most productions of Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice' invariably centre on Shylock. This new production at the RSC, directed by Rupert Goold - who brought us the critically acclaimed 'Enron' – quite literally directs our attention away from Shylock to Scott Handy's superbly acted merchant, Antonio, but not before he's taken us on a journey that starts in a noisy and bustling Las Vegas gambling lounge. Anyone going to see this splendid and spirited Merchant must get there early, because the journey comes beautifully to life some twenty minutes or so before the show officially sta...

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