Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries by Antony Sher

Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries by Antony Sher

Antony Sher's account of researching, rehearsing and performing one of Shakespeare's greatest roles, Lear, in the 2016 Royal Shakespeare Company production. Winner of the 2019 Theatre Book Prize.

'Riveting… a gripping account of the Herculean effort involved in staging an epic-scale production of Lear'

* Times Literary Supplement *

'A fascinating insight into the creation of a key production'

* The Times *

'As exhilarating as all Sher's other rehearsal journals, managing to encompass many of the biting pains of age, which bring him and Lear together, without losing any of the excitement of the creative journey.. the sense of privileged intimacy is unique… an affecting, inspiring and wise book'

-- Dominic Dromgoole * Spectator *

'Highly readable, full of fascinating Shakespearean insight and detail, and impressively illustrated with the author's own paintings and sketches'

* Shakespeare Magazine *

'Incredibly compelling… a fascinating read'

* Drama Magazine *

'A compelling piece of work, and pretty much impossible to leave to one side until you have reached the end of the story and the curtain goes up'

* Herald *

'A moving account of an intense period in a wonderful actor's life'

* Times Higher Education *

'Fascinating... Antony Sher is a fine writer who is capable of creating vivid images... it is an absolutely cracking read and comes strongly recommended'

* British Theatre Guide *

'Draws a fascinating, detailed picture... a window into a brilliant mind'

* Broadway World *

'A must-read… Antony Sher's diaries [are] essential 'how to' guides for young actors… it's wonderful to be able to read his thoughts and feelings as he comes to term with scaling this Everest of roles'

* Sitting in the Cheap Seats *

Antony Sher (1949–2021) was a leading actor known for his stage performances, particularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was also a highly respected author and artist. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Sher came to London in 1968, and trained at the Webber Douglas Academy. Much of his career was with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he was an Associate Artist. He played Richard III, Macbeth, Leontes, Prospero, Shylock, Iago and Falstaff, as well as the leading roles in Cyrano de Bergerac, Tamburlaine the Great, The Roman Actor, Tom Stoppard's Travesties, Peter Flannery's Singer, Athol Fugard's Hello and Goodbye, and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. At the National Theatre he played the title roles in Primo (his own adaptation of Primo Levi's If This is a Man), Pam Gems's Stanley, Brecht's Arturo Ui, Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (a co-production with the Market Theatre, Johannesburg), as well as Astrov in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Jacob in Nicholas Wright's Travelling Light. In the West End, his roles included Arnold in Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy, Muhammed in Mike Leigh's Goose-pimples, and Gellburg in Arthur Miller's Broken Glass. He played Freud in Terry Johnson's Hysteria at Bath's Theatre Royal and Hampstead Theatre. Film and television appearances included Mrs Brown, Alive and Kicking, The History Man, Macbeth and J.G. Ballard's Home. Following his debut as a writer with Year of the King (1985), an account of playing Richard III, he wrote four novels – Middlepost, Indoor Boy, Cheap Lives and The Feast – as well as other theatre journals, Woza Shakespeare! (co-written with his partner, the director Gregory Doran, who later became his husband) and Primo Time. His autobiography Beside Myself was published in 2001. His plays include I.D. (premiered at the Almeida Theatre, 2003) and The Giant (premiered at Hampstead Theatre, 2007). He published a book of his paintings and drawings, Characters (1989), and held exhibitions of his work at the National Theatre, the London Jewish Cultural Centre, the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and the Herbert Gallery in Coventry. Among numerous awards, he won the Olivier Best Actor Award on two occasions (Richard III/Torch Song Trilogy and Stanley), the Evening Standard Best Actor Award (Richard III), and the Evening Standard Peter Sellers Film Award (for Disraeli in Mrs Brown). On Broadway, he won Best Solo Performer in both the Outer Critics' Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Primo. He held honorary Doctorates of Letters from the universities of Liverpool, Exeter, Warwick, and Cape Town. In 2000 he was knighted for his services to acting and writing. Photograph of Antony Sher © Paul Stuart Photography Ltd

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781848426719
ISBN 10	1848426712
Title	Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries
Author	Antony Sher
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Nick Hern Books
Year published	2018-03-15
Number of pages	256
Prizes	Winner of WINNER: Theatre Book Prize 2019
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.