It may be true that John Sessions – or John Marshall, as he then was – found Canada “cold and depressing” when he was a graduate student at McMaster university in the 1970s, but he spread warmth and good cheer among students and faculty alike in the English department, which I chaired at that time.
The one-man shows that he loved to put on for us – endlessly inventive, sharply satiric and very, very funny – soon drew audiences from across the university. One sketch I remember was of “Queen Lear” demanding access to her palaces for “me and my 100 corgis”.
McMaster can claim to have given John scope to hone his unique skills. It also helped to redirect his career. Two leading lights of drama on campus, Liz and David Inman, propelled him in the direction of Rada and raised funds to support him in his first year in London.
