Company of Friends

Glyn Edwards (centre), much-loved speech-coach, performer and friend of the Company of Friends has died.

He had been struggling with cancer of the bone marrow for some time with quiet strength and huge optimism.

He had signed up to be a board member of the Company and we were looking forward to working with him.

To say he was ‘much-loved’ is both a cliché and an understatement. He really was loved by all the members of the Company. They loved his warmth and humour and his patience. He coached them through their lines as they struggled with Macbeth he performed on stage with them as a social worker in Our Will then as an understudy for MacDuff in Macbeth and more recently as –what else?- Jarvis the robot butler in Dr Who and The Missing Dimension

He was always around as someone to chat to, listening to all the company members’ problems, big and small. He was so well-loved I was once asked by one member to step down as director and let Glyn do it! (That member was my son George, by the way).

It was shocking and deeply saddening to hear he had died. Glyn gave so much to the company and he had agreed to become a member of our board to help steer us through the creative and financial challenges of the future.

When he was well enough, he took the company through their lines from our upcoming production of Hamlet so we’d like to dedicate this beautiful speech from the Danish play to his memory:

There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now ‘tis not to come. It if be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is’t to leave betimes? Let be.

Wherever you are, Glyn, we know you’ll be watching our rehearsals with a tolerant, humorous and compassionate eye. We will miss you so much. Goodbye and fare you well.