‘Not only was he a master poet and a superb dramatist, but he managed to find a way of putting all human life on the stage. It’s quite uncanny how his observation seems to be as fresh as if he had written it two minutes ago, and that can only come from a supernatural sensitivity.”

Who else could actor Simon Callow be describing but William Shakespeare, as he prepares to bring his one-man show The Man From Stratford 32 miles down the road to the Oxford Playhouse for two performances next week, mixing characters with the personality of the creator?

One matter had to be disposed of quickly when we talked: presumably he has no doubt that it really was Shakespeare who wrote Shakespeare: “I can think of no possible reason on earth why Ben Jonson, his chief rival but close associate, would have put out an edition of his complete works with a picture of him on the front page — naming him, in Johnson’s words as ‘Sweet Swan of Avon’, talking about him as a friend, someone he adored being with — why he would say all that if it was a lie? What possible motive could he have had?”

That’s that, then. Callow accepts the lack of documentary evidence about the man, mentioning one possible reason given for this even by those who are sure that Shakespeare wrote his plays: that he was a Catholic and thus thought it wise to cover up all his traces. Anyway, “given the tiny world of theatre in those days, is it possible that nobody would have broken ranks and said: ‘Oh come on, Shakespeare didn’t write them’”? I wondered if, after all his years of reading, learning and performing Shakespeare, Simon Callow had come to like the man from Stratford. He continued to answer in italics: “Well, I’ve come to value him incredibly highly. Like is a hard word. I wonder how many people in his world liked him as a person who is largely silent. However — and I’ve said this before — I have the impression that if he went to a party and sat drinking quietly, saying nothing to anybody, he’d still go home with the most attractive person!”

The Man From Stratford, written for Callow, is a first dramatic outing for Jonathan Bate, a prolific author on matters Shakespearean and, indeed, Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at Warwick University. He’s taken as the play’s spine the Seven Ages of Man and relates Shakespeare to each of them One-man shows are something of a speciality for the actor — with The Importance of being Oscar and The Mystery of Charles Dickens already under his belt in past years. I asked him if he is at his best as an actor when he’s by himself on the stage.

“It’s certainly something I enjoy immensely, and it’s true that basically I’m in charge. I have to rely on myself entirely and you develop a sort of confidence doing that.” And, more enthusiastically: “I have a particular taste for it; I love it. It suits me. I love narrative and telling the stories.”

Callow is very nearly a national treasure. I made sure I didn’t ask about Four Weddings and a Funeral, but wanted to touch on the polymath element in his life, specifically the long-awaited third, final, volume of his marvellous biography of Orson Welles. Might it appear, sometime?

“Oh God, yeh, yeh, it will! Writing was my first desire, my first ambition before I ever wanted to act. Welles was unique: his life path was weird, wonderful, rather heartbreaking, greedy in everything perhaps and lived totally in the public eye: he was a sort of one-man Diaspora.”

If Simon Callow hasn’t already thought of it, might I suggest that he has just put himself down for his next solo outing?

Meanwhile, what promises to be a Shakespeare show of high quality may still be available (tickets permitting) at the start of next week.

Oxford Playhouse, Monday and Tuesday. Tickets: 01865 305305 (www.oxfordplayhouse.com).