I wrote a PhD on the poet William Wordsworth many years ago. More recently I returned to the subject to write a play about him. It opens at The Theatre by the Lake, in Keswick and stars John Sackville as Wordsworth, Emma Pallant as his sister Dorothy and Olivier-award winning actor Joseph Mydell as George Beaumont. My play explores the man behind the myth who is torn between his poetic ambitions and family duties. Starting this play was a refreshing process. It was like visiting a half-remembered neighbourhood from your past: everything still seems familiar, but you can no longer really tell where you are or you keep getting lost. Street after street surprises you with things you’ve forgotten.

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