Sheppey was William Somerset Maugham 's last play, written at the age of 59 and after he had reached distinction as a novelist and playwright. Maugham dedicated the book to Sir John Gielgud. It is the story about the change of fortune of hairdresser Joseph Miller who was born on the Isle of Sheppey , Kent and nicknamed Sheppey. The play is set in the s. The play was written in and first produced at the Wyndham's Theatre London on 14 September with a cast that included Ralph Richardson , then aged 31, and Laura Cowie who had been a star of the silent movies.
After the production of Sheppey , Maugham announced publicly that he would write no more plays and kept to his word until his death in He did, however, write numerous other short stories, novels, articles and other items. Sheppey is the story of a hardworking hairdresser who generally considers himself to be a lucky man and then has that self-belief proved when he wins a considerable sum of money.
Maugham with ease develops an ever-enlarging deterministic plot that commences with the causal effect of Sheppey's win and then progresses that effect upon the way that it is believed that it will influence all of the near and not so near others in his life. Those people, family, workmates and even street acquaintances become entwined in the ripple effect of the win to the point where they believe they will also benefit by Sheppey's good fortune. Florrie, his daughter, is able and does quit her work in the city so that she can speed up the proposed marriage date to her somewhat precocious sweetheart Ernie.
Ernie, the future son-in-law, upon learning that Sheppey is to be lifted from the status of a mere labourer, feels this will change the appearance of the girl he is about to marry and thereby allow him to stand for parliament and who knows, maybe become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom one day. In the background Sheppey, somewhat taken aback by his win, and overcome by the thought of what to do with the money, decides against his previous suggestion of buying some land overlooking the sea on the Isle of Sheppey and proposes another outlandish idea.
That idea revolves around the fact that he is fresh from recently having attended the local court as a witness to a theft and that during that attendance he found that the thief and others up on similar charges were no different from the rest of the people in his society. Sheppey enriches his belief that such people only require a helping hand and they will take the better option of not thieving etc. Spurred by this growing belief and also because of unknown to Sheppey a physical or mental ailment that we learn more about as the story progresses, Sheppey decides instead to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and to give the money away.
