Sheila Hancock does not mince her words. This much was clear from the moment she opened her mouth and told the capacity audience in the new Quaker Centre that she had a wet bottom from getting caught in the October rain. And this was not just an ice-breaker, although it succeeded as such too; her dialogue with Geoffrey Durham, about her life, career, writings and experiences of Quakerism – she has been involved with the Society of Friends for twenty years – was peppered throughout with plain speaking and simple truths.
On going back to the stage immediately following bereavement, where some actors may have gushed about the healing power of art or some such, Sheila simply said ‘pretending to be someone else is great when you’re not enjoying being yourself’. On the benefits of confronting one’s feelings, she came up with the perfectly constructed aphorism ‘grief expands your emotional muscles.’

I loathe a man in a frock telling me what to do

And on why Quakerism appealed to her where the Catholicism in which she’d been raised had not, she said, ‘I loathe a man in a frock telling me what to do’. That last statement provoked uproarious laughter and slightly embarrassed looks of recognition among Quakers in the audience: she was saying what a lot of people felt but many were perhaps too meek and concerned about causing offence to stand up and say very often.

And Sheila herself was willing to upbraid Friends on this meekness. She talked of always thrusting copies of Advices & queries in the hands of friends – ‘particularly when they are in times of need!’ – and her feelings that Quaker values of simplicity and honesty should be more actively promoted in the public eye. She agreed with the Quaker dislike of evangelism, but, she said: ‘like introducing children to Shakespeare and classical music, they should at least get the chance to find out what it’s about before they dismiss it.’

A great deal of the talk covered her very recent life and we saw a woman with an undimmed love of learning and ‘almost masochistic working-class work ethic’. From working with street kids and students to a newly-discovered love of both poetry and the people and culture of Germany; from starring nightly in the riotous Sister Act in the West End to ‘making sure I do “speak truth to power” – which gets me into a lot of trouble’, Sheila talked of how Quaker principles informed and inspired every single part of her life.

A warm reception and eager questions from the audience showed her blend of irreverent straight-talking with utmost seriousness about the ‘wise way of life’ that Quakerism offers had resonated with everyone there. And from the hubbub of conversations and laughter as people queued up for the book signing at the end, it seemed many came away inspired to be less meek in how they represented their faith in future too.
Sheila is the author of The Two of Us and Just Me.