13 April 1987

Dear Eskia

How are you? Retired, like me? What does that mean? One of the penalties of retiring seems an increase in the demands made upon one's attention by good causes of various degrees of importance. I recently saw a very nice picture of you in a glossy magazine called Excellence, I think, talking about your aspirations for U.B.A. I hope it goes well. Most good causes demand so much sheer sweat – particularly at this time and in this country. I try to cheer myself up with the epitaph of a young English gentleman who died young and in prison in the 17th Century; ‘whose singular virtue it was to do the best things in the worst times, and to hope them in the most calamitous’.

One of my burdens is to try to get the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa established on the right lines, and I am writing to friends for help. It is essential for the society to project an image of Shakespeare as a dramatist whose appeal seems to be universal. (Red China is the latest country to establish a Shakespeare society: they had festivals last year in both Peking and Shanghai.) He is also, for many, the literary touchstone of the English language, which in South Africa should belong to all.

What I hope you will do is to consent to be a patron of the Society. (I can hear you groan.) What does this involve? We would like to use your name on our stationery, as one of a group of eminent writers and critics, and possibly actors and producers, local and overseas) who approve of our aims, and think they are to be encouraged. So far we have got the consent of L.C. Knights and M.C. Bradbrook of Cambridge, Stanley Wells, editor of the new Oxford Shakespeare and John Styan of Northwestern, U.S.A. André Brink (who has translated two of the plays) has agreed, and I am waiting to hear from others. Patrons will not be expected to pay for anything, or do any work unless they have a particular desire to get involved! Their only reward will be free membership of the society.