Major Shakespearian productions run from knight to knight. The Old Vic 1956–7 season opened with a production by the theatre’s director, Michael Benthall, which brought back Sir Ralph Richardson to Shakespeare’s stage in Timon of Athens. The final production of the Stratford-upon-Avon 1957 season restored Sir John Gielgud’s Prospero (much changed since he was seen at the Old Vic in 1940) in a production of The Tempest by Peter Brook which had Drury Lane stamped all over it and was to transfer to that capacious cavern for what was once the pantomime season.

Sir Ralph's Timon and Sir John's Prospero were cousins once removed. Richardson's misanthrope in the wilderness was no vituperative, half-naked poor Tom. In his sheepskin coat he was protected against rough weather if not from man's ingratitude. His revulsion from human greed for gold was a molten melancholy that seethed inside him, not a volcano spitting scalding satire on all comers. Gielgud's Prospero came half-way back to meet him.