After 10 years in Canada we returned to England in the mid-sixties, my mother, a fabulous amateur actress would consume the programme listings each year to organise three or four trips to Stratford with my father and teenaged self.  We always made a day of it – driving from Nottingham, a lunch in one of the hotels, a matinee performance, sometimes tea afterwards at the theatre or fish and chips on the way home.  

Highlights – a slow motion symphony of silver and gold battle scene. The hilarious stage craft of Ian Richardson in Merry Wives, the performance of Helen Mirren as Ophelia which made us cry.  

Later, much later after marriage, children are five years In the united states, we took our young girls to an enchanting production of ‘Dream’. We emerged from the theatre in twilight with twinkling lights on the surrounding trees. It was magical. The girls were hooked.  

We have lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne now for twenty-five years. For John and I, now old and grey, our daughters Clare and Jennifer and younger brother David, now adults, the magic continues.