Mark Twain is coming home – at least in spirit – to help to celebrate Bermuda's 400th anniversary.

The Corporation of Hamilton decided that celebrating one of Bermuda's most famous adopted sons would be an appropriate way to mark the anniversary – especially as it's reputed that the first time he came to Bermuda, he stayed at the Hamilton Hotel, now home to City Hall Theatre.

So the Corporation invited Richard Garey, who has been performing and writing Mark Twain shows for more than 20 years, to bring his show 'Mark Twain in Bermuda' to the Island.

Mr. Garey said his route to performing Mark Twain was not straightforward.

"I was teaching theatre and doing a comedy section and I brought in some Mark Twain material and they just loved it," he said.

His teaching involved performing a play. Not finding anything he thought was appropriate he wrote a play called 'An Evening with Mark Twain' which featured about 20 of his characters, with Mr. Garey playing a cameo role.

They play was so popular that it tour along the US east coast and even when it had finished its tour he continued to get requests to perform Mark Twain.

"So I never sat down and said, 'I want to do Mark Twain and this is what I want to do with the rest of my life', it kind of came to me," said Mr. Garey.

"Next November is going to be the 175th anniversary of his birth, and so it is the year of Mark Twain, so Bermuda is kind of the kick-off for us."

Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel L. Clemens, came to Bermuda over a period of more than 40 years, leaving the Island for the last time just few days before his death in April, 1910.

Mr. Garey said he had discovered that Twain stayed at the old Hamilton Hotel, now the site of City Hall.

"It is just a wonderful connection; it is kind of full circle. I don't think it was very long, I think it may have been just one night."

Mr. Garey said Twain himself did two shows in Bermuda a benefit for the Aquarium and a benefit for the hospital.

"He did what was called lectures, but it is what we would call a stand up comedy routine.

"What I do is straight from his writings, I don't change the words or tinker with the material at all. I move the set pieces around, so no show is exactly like another show.

"And that is what he did. He'd come out and throw out a little material and see how the audience reacted and decide what he would do for the rest of the show. He was a marvellous performer.

"So much humour is short lived and it may last a couple of years, but it quickly becomes dated, but the marvellous thing about his humour is that it is just as funny as it was 125 years ago."

Mark Twain started writing when he was apprenticed after his father died when he was 11-years-old.

"He starting writing right away, he was famous here when he was all of 11 years old. A lot of people think he started writing later, but he started writing early."

"He is very popular in China now and there is a new Japanese translation, so he still continues to be a very popular author 100 years after his death."

One of the stories is something truly Bermudian in that most everyone knows you.

"He was in a carriage and he said to the driver why don't you pass, and the driver said, 'The man is turning off on the next road,' and when Mark asked how did he know, the driver told him that he knew the driver of the other carriage.

"So Mark Twain asked, 'Do you know everybody on the Island?' And the driver said, 'Pretty much.'

"A funny personal story: My wife lived on the Island when she was a little girl, her father was the pastor of the Hamilton Seventh Day Adventist Church, and so she went to Bermuda Institute and when we were there last, and I don't know how many years it was, but it was a long time ago. People would stop us on the street and say, 'Aren't you (Patricia) Pattie Fabre, didn't you live here? It just shocked us and it happened three or four times while we were there and how they did it, we don't know, she was a first grader and then as an adult – it was pretty amazing."

While on the Island, Mr. Garey wants to find the home, known as the Boat House in Fairylands, where Mark Twain spent most of his time while on the Island.

"I know a lot of the places where he stayed and spent time, so I'll be looking," said Mr. Garey.

"He made friends wherever he went, and loyal friends too," he said. "People either loved him or hated him, there was no middle ground. He inspired great loyalty and he never became too big for his friends."

The shows start tomorrow with a 2 p.m. matinee followed by an evening show at 7.30. On Monday at Tuesday shows start at 7.30 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for students, children and seniors, and $45 for adults, and are available at www.bdatix.bm or the City Hall Box Office on 292-1234.