A HOLLINGBURY copse seems a strange place for a Victorian academic to end his days.

But from 1877 Shakespeare scholar James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps spent his final 12 years in a series of conjoined sheds he described as his “rustic wigwam” built among the dense woodland.

As part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death artist Marc Rees is exploring both Halliwell-Phillipps’ later life and the bard’s connections with nature in Digging For Shakespeare.

Rees first came across the story of Halliwell-Phillipps in a Guardian article penned by University Of Sussex English professor Charles Nicholl in 2014.

“Halliwell-Phillipps had an extraordinary collection of Shakespearean rarities – some rather controversially obtained,” he says, referring to a celebrated 1845 case when Halliwell-Phillipps was accused of stealing and selling rare scientific codices from the library of his old university, Trinity College, Cambridge.

“He was a really important character, but also quite eccentric. I’m inspired by interesting historical figures.”

It was exploring Halliwell-Phillipps’ footsteps that drew Rees to Roedale Allotments, which is set to host the promenade performance.

Rees is working with the allotment holders in the piece – 12 of whom are opening up their sheds to represent the 12 months of the year.

They will be sharing Shakespeare’s extensive knowledge of planting and growth, which can be read throughout his plays, with the knowledge they have picked up through working on their allotments.

“They have been growing plants over the last year for the show,” says Rees, who describes the area where the piece is being staged as something of a remembrance garden reimagined for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

“We are playing with the remembrance garden idea – we have made characters, including Halliwell-Phillipps himself, to get people into this strange world.”

He admits he has learned a lot himself in researching the show.

“I didn’t know a thing about planting,” he says. “I don’t have my father’s green fingers. Part of site-specific work is about immersing yourself into the environment you’re working with.

“With the different allotment holders you can learn about planting as well as discover more about Shakespeare.”

Only 50 people will be able to experience the show at one time, which begins with a bus journey from the Old Steine up to the allotments.

And Rees has been keen to allow the audience to make up their own show.

“The audience will be guided to a certain extent, but then they are given a map and it’s a free-for-all,” he says.

“They can explore all 12 sheds in any order they want and follow the map, or only see two or three of them.

“I don’t believe in spelling it out – the show is about the experience, creating an essence. That’s very important in site-specific work.”

As well as working with the allotment holders Rees is working with local youth clubs, schools, and the golf club.

“It is very important to have these organisations on board,” he says. “They have been quite fascinated by the subject matter – especially as Halliwell-Phillipps is so little known.”

Halliwell-Phillips had moved to his rustic wigwam because he was tired of the squabbles and snobberies of the Victorian scholarly world.

But he continued to collect and catalogue his Shakespearean rarities, which were thought to number up to 1,500 separate articles, manuscripts, parchments, early quarto editions, playbills, portraits, maps and more.

Nicholl compared Halliwell-Phillipps’ approach to his collection as being similar to the Victorian big-game hunter: “In pursuit of a “perfect copy” of an old book... his favourite tools were a stout pair of scissors and a paste-pot used to supply missing or defective pages in one copy by mutilating another.”

But Halliwell-Phillips was important in the establishment of Stratford-Upon-Avon as a Shakespearean site – saving the Bard’s family home and leading the first archaeological explorations on the house in New Place he bought in 1597.

Following Halliwell-Phillipps’ death in 1889, at the age of 68, his wigwam went on the market, and was eventually demolished. Many of his papers are now kept in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.

“Halliwell-Phillipps came to Brighton for health reasons,” says Rees. “A lot of the allotment holders keep an allotment for the same reason - growing plants can be very beneficial.

“A lot of this is about well-being and keeping yourself sane.”

Digging For Shakespeare

Roedale Allotments, Ditchling Road, Hollingbury, Saturday, May 7, to Sunday, May 22

Meet at Old Steine Bus Stop S opposite the Royal Albion Hotel, Sat/Sun 10.30am and 2.30pm, tickets £17.50/£10. Call 01273 709709.