A SHINING INTIMACY is a show about theatre, queer friendships and grief. In this intimate piece, Tom Marshman explores the bond between the late Kenneth Williams and his close friend Maggie Smith, as he revisits the closeness he shared with his dear friend, the late artist Clare Thornton.

Maggie Smith and Kenneth Williams first met in 1957 when they appeared in the same stage review. Drawn to each other and swiftly building trust, the famously prickly Williams found a soulmate in Smith, who instinctively understood, bolstered and appreciated her reclusive and closeted friend. The friendship lasted decades as they both mastered their crafts becoming household names. They professionally collaborated and shared confidences in turn, being very necessary and important to each other.

Taking visual inspiration from the 1960’s and 70’s via an atmospheric use of projection, Tom examines Kenneth and Maggie’s characters as dreamlike apparitions within the theatre. A sensitive portrayal of their successes and personal adversities, Maggie and Kenneth’s shining intimacy belongs to a particular moment in history, allowing narrator Tom to reflect on this close friendship of his own, now lost.

Tom Marshman and Clare Thornton were friends, confidantes, housemates and collaborators working in performance, theatre and live art. They developed a playful approach to how one remembers performance acts through their occasional collective The Performance Re-enactment Society. In A Shining Intimacy, this friendship is once again reignited via this personal and moving work.

As well as friendships, A Shining Intimacy explores the actor’s craft, the juxtaposition of the ‘performer’ in public and private, and how we go about ‘colouring in the words’. Television and radio interviews are utilised as well as newspaper articles, diaries, bespoke props and memoirs.

A Shining Intimacy will play at Camden People’s Theatre in London, 18-20 May

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