Being an Actor

by SimonCallow (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $3.66

  When it was first published in 1984, this book exposed the pressures, rewards and insecurity of an actor's life, and caused a storm of controversy for its forthright views on the shortcomings of contemporary directors. Ten years later, Simon Callow has provided a new and gloomy assessment of the state of British theatre today, with the decline of ensemble playing, a lack of training for young actors, brochure theatre where novelty replaces substance, and audiences who applaud the hydraulics of the stage machinery rather than the quality of the actor's performace. It ends with a warning that without attention to the roots of the art of stagecraft, the tree of British theatre will surely die.

• Used

  Paperback
  1985

  $3.28

• New

  Paperback
  2004

  $14.06

  Few actors are more eloquent, honest or entertaining about their life and their profession than Simon Callow. Being an Actor traces his stage journey from the letter he wrote to Laurence Olivier that led him to his first job, to his triumph as Mozart in the original production of Amadeus. This new edition continues to tell the story of his past two decades onstage. Callow discusses his occasionally ambivalent yet always passionate feelings about both film and theatre, conflicting sentiments partially resolved by his acclaimed return to the stage with his solo performances in The Importance of Being Oscar and The Mystery of Charles Dickens, seen in the West End and on Broadway in 2002. Being an Actor is a guide not only to the profession but also to the intricacies of the art, told with wit, candour, and irrepressible verve by one if the great figures of the stage.