King Lear is arguably the most complex and demanding play in the whole of Shakespeare. Once thought impossible to stage, today it is performed with increasing frequency, both in Britain and America. It has been staged more often in the last fifty years than in the previous 350 years of its performance history, its bleak message clearly chiming in with the growing harshness, cruelty and violence of the modern world.Performing King Lear offers a very different and p...

A popular romantic actor with a fan club rivalling that of Ivor Novello, John Stuart was frequently mobbed by his adoring fans. He starred in films by Alfred Hitchcock and G.W. Pabst, played opposite British stars such as Madeleine Carroll, Fay Compton, Gracie Fields, and German actor Conrad Veidt, and was also the first actor to ever speak on screen in Britain. Yet despite a film career lasting six decades and 172 films, his name and achievement are little known today.With access ...

This unusual collection of short stories captures the essence of life in the theatre. Behind the superficial glamour lies a world marked by ambition, jealousy and heartache.Among stories featured in All is Fortune are an actress under stress at an audition, a struggling playwright committing a deception, a biographer falling out with his subject, a female playwright suffering sexual harassment, and many others. Lighter stories tell of the mysterious disappearance of a memb...

Hamlet is arguably the most famous play on the planet, and the greatest of all Shakespeare's works. Its rich story and complex leading role have provoked intense debate and myriad interpretations.To play such a uniquely multi-faceted character as Hamlet represents the supreme challenge for a young actor. Performing Hamlet contains Jonathan Croall's revealing in-depth interviews with five distinguished actors who have played the Prince this century:Jude Law...

Fifty years ago Sir Peter Hall directed the English language world premiere of Samuel Backett's Waiting for Godot. Now he has returned to this extraordinary classic, the quintessential absurdist piece that has become one of the most important works of modern drama.Jonathan Croall, who had access to rehearsals for this landmark anniversary production, combines an account of this theatrical journey with an informative history of the play that has intrigued, baffled, provoked and ente...

Containing over a hundred interviews conducted over the last fifteenyears with leading directors, actors and writers at the NationalTheatre, Buzz Buzz! is a fantastic compendium that offers unrivalled insight into the work and practice of the best theatre talent.In these illuminating interviews playwrights such as Michael Frayn,Kwame Kwei-Armah, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, David Hare, Pam Gems and TonyKushner and many others talk about the roots of thei...

I can hardly believe that it is more than half a century since I first stepped on to the stage of the Old Vic Theatre and into a way of life that has brought me the most rewarding professional relationships and friendships. I cannot imagine now ever doing anything else with my life except acting…" – Judi DenchFrom London's glittering West End to Broadway's bright lights, from her Academy Award-winning role as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love to "M" in the James Bond films...

'National treasure? I hate that. Too dusty, too in a cupboard, too behind glass, too staid ... What I love is being part of a company. On stage I am not trying to be myself, I'm trying to be someone else, the more unlike me the better.'From her first theatrical roles as a teenager in York to her scene-stealing performances as 'M' in the James Bond films, Dame Judi Dench's professional life has consisted of non-stop acting, leading to numerous accolades, including an Academy Award.

This entertaining guide reveals the unusual origins of typical contemporary terms, from A-OK to Top Dog and beyond.So many of the phrases we use day-to-day seem perfectly clear to us despite having no idea where they came from. But in Common Phrases, Max Cryer gives us a deeper understanding of contemporary English by tracing their journeys from new concept to common coinage.The former host of Today, Jane Pauley, claims to have coined the ...

'An impressive achievement' Mail on Sunday'Fascinating' Irish Times'Penetrating and entertaining ... This book is probably as close as we shall get to him [Burton]' LA TimesRichard Burton: star. The roaring boy from the Welsh coal valleys who came to sport on the banks of the old Nile, playing great Antony to Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra.From the West End to Hollywood, from Camelot...

Star of stage, screen and television, and one of only two people to be awarded two Knighthoods, Sir Derek Jacobi is one of Britain’s most distinguished actors.‘If you want to be an actor, don’t. If you need to be an actor, do.’The world of theatre could not have been further from Derek’s childhood: an only child, born in Leytonstone, London. With his father a department store manager and his mother a secretary, his was very much a working class background. But nonetheless D...

A gorgeous collection of classic poems that the whole family will enjoy, thoughtfully chosen by actor John Lithgow.From listening to his grandmother recite epic poems from memory to curling up in bed while his father read funny verses, award-winning actor John Lithgow grew up with poetry. Ever since, John has been an enthusiastic seeker of poetic experience, whether reading, reciting, or listening to great poems.The wide variety of carefully selected poems ...