LITMIR.BIZ

To this day The White Hart and The Red Lion are two of the most popular names for a public house in England – both talismans that served as the insignia for Richard II and the banished Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, who usurped the throne in 1399.Nick Asbury acted in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s famed Histories cycle which staged Shakespeare’s vision of the deposition of Richard II through to the notorious Battle of Bosworth in 1485. With fellow RSC actors for company, Nick travels the country visiting the buildings, landscapes and former sites of war and intrigue that feature in the plays, and asks the question: what is it about the England of Shakespeare’s Histories that continues to fascinate? From Alnwick to Eastcheap, Windsor Castle to a Leicester car park, this is his snapshot of England and its people, then and now.‘John Shakespeare, William’s father, was an Ale Taster before he was a glover and luminary of Stratford-upon- Avon, so in his footsteps I and my travelling players will be exploring the hostelries and byways of an England forged on the battlefields, triumphs and betrayals of TheHistories: on the one hand, Red – be it a pub or bloody Rose. On the other hand, White – be it the alabaster tombs of broken Princes or the quill of a playwright from Stratford-upon- Avon.’‘This bloody MG is so light it’s like driving a roasting tin. At the next turning, forewarned this time, I make the corner cheering victoriously and drive straight into a snow driftft that could swallow a bus let alone the mid-life crisis that is this MG. It turns out I am in the one area where it is as bad as they say it is. I dig myself out and reverse back on to the mainroad, all the time thinking life would be much better on a horse.’‘England, the tolerant bearer of religion that was the flower of the Northern Renaissance, was fast becoming a useless fist clothed in an old glove. It was fighting a war abroad, the cause of which it was not party to, and the execution of which was undermined by in-fighting at home. Plus ça change.’‘Geoffrey and I are swept like pooh sticks into Rouen. The road keeps tumbling down and the one time we want traffic lights to stop us, to catch our breath and to establish where we are, is of course the one time we are carried along on a river of green. We swoop into thecentral town square over cobbles that surely can’t be for everyday access, and on a hunch we turn right, only then realising that our hotel is in front of us and we have arrived. It’s the most remarkable entrance to a town I have ever made. We haven’t stopped once fornavigation, traffic lights or junctions and yet here we are.’

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On the south bank of the Thames, outside the jurisdiction of the ancient City of London, Bankside has long been known as a hotbed of creativity, dissent and loose living. With its brothels and bear-pits, its prisons and its pubs, the area has inspired the nation's greatest writers – Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Keats and Blake – and been home to its most famous theatres – the Globe, The Rose, The Old Vic and the National. These same south London streets have given sanctuary to immigrants and refugees, to tradesmen, craftsmen and Thames Watermen, to the workhouse poor and the criminal underclass. Writer, performer and local historian John Constable is well known for his walks around this fascinating area. The eight walks collected here are among his most popular. Packed with social history and local lore, they are witty, insightful and hugely entertaining. Each walk is easy to follow, accompanied by maps and clear directions, and illustrated with period prints and contemporary photographs. Together, they tell the extraordinary and, until recently, largely forgotten story of London's anarchic, irrepressible 'Outlaw Borough'.

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In Two Minds … is the story of Jonathan Miller, one of post war Britain's most intriguing polymaths. Descended from immigrants who fled Tsarist anti-Semitism to become shopkeepers in Ireland and London's East End, Miller was born into an intellectual milieu, between Bloomsbury and Harley Street – the son of a novelist and a leading child psychiatrist. Miller trained as a doctor but then forged a career as a stellar comedian and as a world renowned theatre and opera director. He is a controversial humorist, public intellectual and TV personality. As a star in the ground breaking satirical revue Beyond the Fringe , he shot to fame alongside Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett. His expertise and interests encompass many areas, from medicine (he wrote and presented the hugely acclaimed BBC documentary series The Body in Question ) to the history of art, Mozart, atheism and the nature of laughter. Jonathan Miller is one of the most multi-talented Britons of his generation, celebrated for his dazzling intelligence and anti-establishmentarian wit. This is the first comprehensive biography of him, written by leading arts journalist Kate Bassett (the Independent on Sunday ). Drawing on in-depth interviews, it is an entertaining and illuminating portrait of a fascinatingly complex man. ‘I suppose it is true, my life does resemble a butterfly’s existence, moving around from one flower to the next. But, of course, butterflies do pollinate. There is a point to their activity. I hope there is to mine.’ Jonathan Miller ‘He was always my idea of an impossible Renaissance man … he has been a benign and hopeful presence in my life, and the life of my mind, from Cambridge until now.’ A.S. Byatt ‘He was groundbreaking, willing to take risks. His impact upon the opera world has been, without question, one of the most significant of any director in modern times…part of all the schools of thought whose developments we are now experiencing.’ Thomas Hampson ‘If he’d been born French, there would be streets named after him.’ John Fortune

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Originally part of the UK alternative comedy scene, Andy de la Tour spent many years on the circuit, performing with the likes of Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle and French and Saunders. After a 20‐year break from stand‐up he returned to New York City, the genre’s spiritual home, to start all over again in the back‐rooms and dive bars of the Big Apple.This is one man’s journey through New York’s underground comedy scene. From ‘Rubber Bullets’ in lower Manhattan to the ‘Hot Tub’ in Brooklyn, Andy takes the stand. Can he makethem laugh? Will New Yorkers stomach his outsider’s take on Obama, the Tea Party and 9/11? Andy’s a long way from home and dying is not an option.

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‘John Gielgud was not just a great actor: he was also a formidable wit, a brilliant raconteur – and a very naughty boy.’ – Simon Callow from the prologue. This delicious feast of ‘Gielgoodies’, compiled by Gielgud’s biographer, reveals a less well‐known side to this celebrated man of the theatre: his lightning wit, his love of scandal and gossip, his wicked delight in putting down his fellow‐artists, his relish of bawdy humour. Full of startling new material, drawn from many unpublished letters and Jonathan Croall’s extensive interviews, the book also celebrates the man who dropped a thousand bricks. Gielgud’s excruciating gaffes were legendary, and here are both the famous and the unknown, collected in all their glory. Whether committed backstage, in the wings or in rehearsals, on film sets or in television studios, they bring this merry and much‐loved man vividly to life.

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Peter Bowles invites us backstage to witness the job of acting as it really is. This is a warm-hearted look at the lived experience of a jobbing actor – and a survival guide to anyone thinking of entering this most emotionally gruelling of industries. Behind the Curtain is the inside scoop on ‘the profession’ as told by a master raconteur – one who has trodden the boards in the West End for five decades. Armed with an array of classic anecdotes, Bowles shares some of the infamous ad-libs, opening night disasters and dressing room dramas that he has been party to over the years. Full of sage advice about the pitfalls of celebrity and the fluctuating fortunes of an actor – and his own journey from TV stardom to the labour exchange and back again.With tales of some biggest personalities in the history of showbiz such as Michael Gambon, Noel Coward, Rex Harrison, Laurence Olivier & John Gielgud, this is a book that captures the acting profession in all its eccentric glory.

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In conversation with Patrick O’Kane, eleven experienced actors who have made a living, a life, in theatre, television and film, share their process, comment on their experiences and consider their role as theatre artists within the broader spectrum of Art and Culture. Contributors, who have worked across a range of forms from mainstream theatre to experimental performance practice, include: Claire Price, Ruairi Conaghan, Mojisola Adebayo, Tim Crouch, Olwen Fouéré, Gerrard McArthur, Gabriel Gawin, Selina Cadell, Simon Russell Beale, Paterson Joseph and Jim Norton. A book that actors can mine for tips on craftsmanship and the business. A book that reveals to directors which approaches enable actors and which block them. A book that calls the UK industry to attention: actors should be embraced as primary creators along with the writer, director and designer of any production. “The book is a rare creature, offering privileged and disarmingly frank encounters with the people behind the performances. It will engage anyone involved in or in love with theatre – practitioners, critics, customers, administrators, agents, teachers, students” – Irish Theatre “An excellent exposé of the trials and tribulations, joys and insecurities of a life on the stage.” – British Theatre Guide “Plenty of tips here both on actor craftsmanship and on how the industry works… the real strength of O’Kane’s book is its breadth” – The Stage "This is a book about the precious dedication that makes this profession ancient and new. A clutch of wonderful minds provoked, represent the important ongoing conversation about stories, skill and life. It’s a treat." – Fiona Shaw

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‘“What’s he angry about ?” they used to ask. Anger is not about … It comes into the world in grief not grievance. It is mourning the unknown, the loss of what went before without you, it’s the love that another time but not this might have sprung on you, and greatest loss of all, the deprivation of what, even as a child, seemed to be irrevocably your own, your country, your birthplace, that, at least, is as tangible as death.’

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I would really like to have had the guts and the energy and so on to be able to write about people having battles with DHSS. But I haven't … I'm an arty person. Okay, I write overblown, purple, self-indulgent prose. So what… Alienated is the only way to be, after all. Since 1990, Angela Carter’s reputation, as writer and thinker, has soared, to the point where her collection of folk and fairy tales for the modern age, The Bloody Chamber , is now a GCSE set text in England, and is taught on most university-level literature courses. There are MA programmes entirely devoted to her writings. Her complete works have been printed and reprinted over the last quarter-century, and films, The Company of Wolves , The Magic Toyshop ; and plays, such as Nights at the Circus (Kneehigh), have been derived from them. Her influence on ‘the contemporary Gothic’ is both wide-ranging and profound.

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What is King Lear really thinking? What has made his daughters what they are? What does his mysterious Fool dream about? What really lies behind the familiar lines of Shakespeare’s great tragedy? Michael Pennington appeared triumphantly as King Lear in New York in 2014 and repeats the part in a major UK tour in 2016. As well as giving an enthralling account of the circumstances and fortunes of the New York production, he dispels the idea of this great play as something forbidding and remote by bringing its characters vividly into the present in their contemporary voices to explain their reactions, strategies, struggles and setbacks. This counterpoint of Shakespeare’s play seen from this point of view with the earthly story of the actor working in Brooklyn with real people is uncanny and beautiful. Pennington’s account is also funny, highly personal and deeply illuminating, both honest and scholarly. Invaluable for theatre practitioners, theatregoers and all lovers of Shakespeare, KING LEAR IN BROOKLYN is the work of one of our very finest actor-writers at the top of his game.

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