Keith had been a major part of the Barn Theatre for almost seven decades, first appearing in Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be in October 1969. He was involved in a staggering 154 productions in this theatre, acting in 106 and directing 21. Notable roles, early in his career, include Val Xavier in Orpheus Descending (1974), McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1979) and the title role in Alfie (1971). He had a close friendship with the director Mervyn Lloyd – they worked together on 12 shows – and Keith played Petruchio in Mervyn’s Taming of the Shrew (1981) and Caliban in his Tempest (1983). He also loved being involved in the touring one-act play festival and he had particularly fond memories of Lone Star (1988), directed by Jan Palmer Sayer, which won the British All Winners Festival.

For Keith, theatre was a family pastime. He, his wife Shirley and their two children all appeared together for the first time in The Wizard of Oz in 1974. Steve remembers growing up in the 70s: Shirley would take the two kids to meet their father after work on a Friday and they’d all go to see a West End show. (‘That was our typical family Friday night.’)

Keith had numerous other theatre credits beyond the Barn – often appearing at CoPs in Hertford – and he regularly performed at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall for the Hertfordshire Players, a company he co-managed with Denis Butcher. A few days before he died, asked what his favourite acting role was, he said it had been the lead in The Scarlet Pimpernel at the Minack.

Keith served as Club Chair of the Barn on multiple occasions and as the editor of Barn News. He was famously outspoken in his views – he deplored any kind of ‘political correctness’ in theatre and voiced his opinions with relish. After his retirement he became a GODA adjudicator and spent a lot of time adjudicating drama festivals in Ireland. He was also the ‘Chairman’ of a touring Victorian Music Hall – The Barnstormers – with a cast that included his future partner, Annie.

A consummate performer, he was mesmerising to watch and utterly free of vanity in character, never worrying about how he might look. As Caliban he did a complex makeup routine at home and then was driven to the theatre each night wearing a loincloth, a Mohican wig and full body paint. He was also on stage at Bognor Drama Festival in 1981 when the entire set collapsed mid-scene. He and Jan, both behaving like true professionals, had to act the rest of the play while reassembling the scenery (‘What do we do?’ ‘Pick it up and carry on!’).

Being involved in one play at a time was seldom enough for Keith – he was an addict of the footlights and was often rehearsing one show whilst learning his lines for another. He recalled a weekend in 1983 when he and John Davies performed in Joe Orton’s Erpingham Camp on the Friday night at Bognor, and then on the Saturday they played opposite each other as Sir and Norman in Ronald Harwood’s The Dresser at Buxton (‘When I walked on stage and saw John, I had to stop and think for a moment which play I was in!’).

He will always be remembered as a storyteller – someone who had deep understanding and knowledge of his greatest passion – theatre. In one of the sympathy cards that the family received, it said: ‘If you brought up a play in conversation, Keith had either been in it, directed it, or had an anecdote about it’. As a raconteur, he was unparalleled.

He loved working with his family and was proud to have appeared alongside three of his grandchildren in War and Peace (2024). His last on-stage appearance at the Barn was as Snout in the summer production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by his son.

He will be dearly missed by all of us here at the Barn, and we send our love and thoughts to all his family.