It was like a honeymoon: a month in a fully furnished apartment within a short walk from Hyde Park, so fully furnished that ti it included champagne flutes. We had Bill’s Uncle Matthew and his wife for champagne and cheese straws from Fortnum and Mason’s before we took them to the Connaught for dinner. This was a thank-you for the last time we were in Britain when we ran out of money and spent our last days before the flight home as their guests, and Bill wanted to show them that he could afford it now.

We went to theatre every night, plus matinées, in London. We also went to the Bristol Old Vic and to the Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-on-Avon where Bill had good talks with the administrative director. And of course, we went to HADRIAN VII at the Mermaid Theatre. We had tea one Sunday afternoon with Bill Freedman and his beautiful wife, the actress Toby Robbins. Perhaps some of you are old enough to remember her from “Front Page Challenge”?

We were immersed in theatre, good grounding for both of us. Bill read every play that his directors were considering and helped them fulfil their artistic goals with practical prognoses of the box office income. He used to spread out his arms to them and say, ”I’m here for you. Tell me what you want.” And he worked very hard to make it happen. And, incidentally, his theatre was the first in North America to use the computer. They didn’t own one; it was too big and expensive then. Every week the papers with the numbers were driven to a computer in Guelph— better than a desk drawer. I think I’m right; I wrote an article about it after he died and no one contradicted me. As a matter of fact, Bill was a legend in his own time. Other theatres started asking ,“What is Stratford doing about this?” And my/our Stratford has kept on being in the vanguard. Any time I criticise something I remind myself and others that Ii’m talking about world-class theatre.

I learned a lot about Stratford (Canada) in London (England).

As I said , I had never heard of HADRIAN VII until I/we were booked to go and see a British production of it at the Mermaid Theatre, with Douglas Rain in the title role. It was the fall of our first year in Stratford and we decided we would take a crash course in theatre. We rented an apartment in London owned by Bill Freedman, who was one of the producers of the play we were going to see, and obviously connected with the arrangements for a Stratford production and tour.

Here are some of the facts I have been able to find out about this strange play.

Hadrian the Seventh: A Romance (sometimes called Hadrian VII) is a 1904 novel by the English novelist Frederick Rolfe, who wrote under the pseudonym "Baron Corvo”.

The novel was made into a successful stage-play by Peter Luke, opening at the Mermaid Theatre, London in April 1968 and starring Alec McCowen as Fr. William Rolfe (not Rose). The subsequent Broadway production at the old Helen Hayes Theatre starred first McCowen, then Roderick Cook, and later, Barry Morse..

The play's overall success in its Boston production with the Stratford National Company of Canada must be attributed to a remarkable acting job by Hume Cronyn, just as Alex McGowan's tour de force "made" the show in London and on Broadway. The Colonial Theatre in Boston called it a mediocre play, which is why you never heard of it. I think it was done at Stratford because they had a number of middle-aged actors, just the right size and age to play cardinals, and Stratford, or maybe Jean Gascon (the artistic co-director of the theatre) loved the rich robes they wore.

But Hume Cronyn was pivotal in its success at Stratford and on the tour. He was a legend in his own time by then. Why would he take on a tour? He certainly didn’t need to. He had a reason. He had recently undergone surgery to have one eye removed. I don’t know why. He didn’t talk about it. But he wanted to show himself and others that this didn’t mean the end of his career, so he took on a gruelling tour to prove it. He checked in for rehearsals a little too soon after his operation and he was just beginning to wear a false eye, supposed to be for just a few hours at a time until he got used to the discomfort (and pain). But that first day he didn’t want anyone to feel awkward or uncomfortable about his “disability” so he wore the eye for the whole day. Discipline. Near the end of the tour, the night before last, in fact, in Minneapolis, Jean Gascon and his mistress later his wife), Marilyn Gardner, showed up to see him and they went out for dinner after the show.

“Give me some notes,” said Hume to Jean.

“What?”

“You’re my director. Give me some notes.” He was devoted to his craft.

That was a year later, after we had all met Hume and his wife Jessica Tandy. We were to become friends and they became my champions. And it all started with Hadrian VII.