“How tickled I am”

The seating at the “Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden” at the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot. The seating is inscribed with quotes from William Shakespeare and Doddy ( which can be read if viewed in “ large”). Ken Dodd’s widow donated a considerable sum towards the Playhouse, so it’s a fair deal. At the top (seen better in the extra) is Yorick’s skull wearing a jesters hat. Ken had a bit part as Yorick in Kenneth Branagh’s film of Hamlet.

What’s the connection between Prescot and Shakespeare (when I first heard of this project I thought it bizarre, but I didn’t know the history) ?
* a playhouse was built in the town towards the end of the 16th century, the first outside London and not so long after the opening of the Rose and Globe theatres in the capital. It did not last long.
* Immediately to the north of Prescot lies Knowsley Hall and Park, the long standing home of the Earls of Derby (who took the title not after Derby, but the West Derby Hundred of south west Lancashire). Lord Stanley, who features in Shakespeare’s Richard III, was created the first Earl after supporting Henry VII to victory at Bosworth. The current Earl is the 19th.
* Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange, had his own troop of actors ( or players) Strange’s Men, who become Derby’s Men when he succeeds to the Earldom as the 5th Earl. Strange’s Men first perform Shakespeare’s Henry VI at the Rose Theatre in 1592.
* And then there is the strand of thought (which the Playhouse is not promoting), that the 5th Earl, who was cultured and widely travelled across Europe, was the real author of Shakespeare’s plays. Conspiracy theories are nothing new.

I visited in the two hour break between afternoon and evening visiting times at the hospital. It’s a good place to go for a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.,