Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent

 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea, 400 pages

This book started as a series of interviews between theater director Brendan O'Hea and actress Judi Dench, originally intended for a theater company's archives. O'Hea soon realized this work was something a whole lot of people would want to read, and decided to turn it into a book instead. However, especially in audiobook form, this book retains the feel of an intimate conversation between old friends. Although Dench read only small portions of the audiobook, the actress they got to read her part sounded so similar I couldn't always tell when they switched.

The book covers the dozens of Shakespeare roles Judi Dench has played in her decades-spanning career, as well as collecting a whole lot of general thoughts about performing Shakespeare and working in theater. I was very impressed how the book managed to twist together biography, funny anecdotes, and very solid Shakespeare analysis into something that felt so cohesive. Judi Dench is riotously funny, and it was a pleasure to feel as if you were in her living room listening to her chat with an old friend. I would strongly recommend this to anyone with an interest in Shakespeare, performing live theater, or Judi Dench. 

Station Eleven

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, 336 pages.

This strange, quiet book is a little hard to describe. It swings back and forth between the life of famous Hollywood actor Arthur Leander, who dies on stage the same night that the world changes forever, and Kirsten Raymonde, a young woman performing in a traveling Shakespeare troupe twenty years later in the early days of the new world. There are a few other perspectives included, but these two characters serve as the anchors to guide us through their respective worlds. Arthur sits at the middle of a net of connections that exist invisibly in the world that remains after a plague wipes out the majority of humanity. 

I found this novel completely immersive. Once I started reading I found it difficult to put down, and I found the author's prose deeply moving. This is a quiet, reflective book, and I would recommend it wholeheartedly. 

My Life in Pieces

 

My Life in Pieces: An Alternative Biography by Simon Callow 320 pp.

Actor and author Simon Callow provides an overview of his life and work in theaters, movies, and authoring articles, critiques, and books. It is part memoir and part anthology of his writings and sometimes seems jumbled as a result. His beginnings in the theater were not as an actor but in the workings and accounting in the box office, first at the Old Vic when Laurence Olivier was running things, and later at other venues. Watching the actors and the process of producing plays made Callow decide he wanted to act and he began to study acting. It was during that period when he became active in the gay liberation movement. He also began writing, generally about the theater and was frequently published in periodicals involving theater, film, and actors. Directing soon followed. While not as well known in the U.S., Callow has become a fixture in British theater earning a CBE for his service to acting. As I said, this book is a mixture of his life and his writings but, while mostly linear in time frame, still feels disjointed. Callow read the audiobook.

Vintage Murder

Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh 274 pp.

This is the second Inspector Roderick Alleyn mystery to take place in a theater . I know there is at least one more that I read many years ago (not surprising as the author was also a theater director). Alleyn is on holiday in New Zealand and is offered a seat in the train carriage carrying a traveling dramatic troupe. He is trying to stay incognito so as not to disrupt his vacation but he is recognized by a few of the players, including one who was present at the previous theater murder he solved. An after performance party in honor of the leading lady becomes the murder scene with the victim being the manager of the theater company. An elaborate surprise was planned where a Jereboam of Champagne was set to drop easily onto the arrangement on the table. Someone removed the weight that was to control the descent and instead, it smashed into the head of the manager/husband of the leading lady. Once the local police learn the identity of Alleyn, they enlist his help in solving the crime. In my opinion there are a few too many suspects which make the story a bit convoluted. However, it is nice to read Marsh's descriptions of the lush scenery in her native land.  

Enter a Murderer

 Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh  245 pp.

Inspector Roderick Alleyn is invited by reporter Nigel Bathgate to attend a performance of a play. In the play two characters fight over a gun which discharges. However, someone replaced the blanks in the gun with real bullets cause the real death of one of the players. It's up to Alleyn with assistance from Bathgate to figure out who in the cast and/or crew in the theater is responsible for the crime. I remember reading another Marsh/Inspector Alleyn mystery involving a theater but it concerned the "Scottish Play" of William Shakespeare. Marsh's mysteries are tightly woven, quick to read, and satisfying.

Fay Wray and Robert Riskin

 

Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir by Victoria Riskin (2019) 416 pages

The author is the youngest daughter of the actress Fay Wray and writer Robert Riskin. I've been noticing a trend of many dual biographies being published, and I was curious to learn more about these two entertainers. The author also provides brief biographical details about a handful of people living and working adjacent to the title figures such as John Monk Saunders, Frank Capra, Merian C. Cooper, Jo Swerling, and, of course, the author herself and her siblings. I appreciated the supporting photos throughout rather than limiting the photos to a few glossy pages right in the middle. Fay is so linked to her one role in King Kong (1933), in which she is wearing a blond wig, that I don't think I recognized her in the couple other films from her filmography that I have seen. I am intrigued to watch more of her performances. The films Frank Capra directed are thought to be stamped with his style, but this book makes the case for Riskin's screenplays sharing authorship for the films so many love. The witty dialogue and values of rooting for the little guy are definitely something I enjoy, and now I know how much of Riskin is contained in what he wrote. 

Enter a Murderer

Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh  245 pp,

This is the second in the Roderick Alleyn mystery series. Alleyn is an oddity in that he is an aristocrat who has chosen police work rather than the life of  leisure. While attending a play with an acquaintance a murder occurs onstage. A prop gun supposedly filled with blanks turns out to have live rounds in it and an actor is shot at point blank range. The entire cast, the backstage crew, and theater owner are suspects. Since Alleyn was on the scene and a witness to the murder, he is the prime investigator. In this book takes place before the Inspector married the artist Agatha Troy and he finds himself attracted to an actress who is also a suspect. This becomes a pattern for the Inspector in later books. 

City of girls

City of Girls / Elizabeth Gilbert, read by Blair Brown, 470 pgs.

A fantastic story of Vivian Morris' life.  Who is Vivian?  Well, she is a fantastic seamstress who worked for her aunt Peg who owned a small theater in New York City.  She grew up there, discovering all the things a nice girl should not do.  Her family would/did heartily disapprove of her life style. But as time goes on, she learns a lot about her self and others.  Now she is ninety-five and telling her life story to Angela, the daughter of the only man she ever loved.  Frank knew her brother in the war but he was so injured that he now can't tolerate the human touch.  He is anxious and can't sit still.  He is a beat cop because it is the only thing he can do that keeps him outside and moving.  Frank and Vivian are not lovers but they are friends...something they value much more than a physical relationship.  I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did.  Blair Brown is the perfect narrator and the audio book is well paced and a total pleasure.

Fates and Furies

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff  390 pp.

This novel was a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award and winner of multiple other awards. I can understand why. It is beautifully written. It is the story of a marriage between Lancelot, aka Lotto, and Mathilde. Both suffered unpleasant and/or horrific childhoods. They enter into a marriage that is a true partnership with Mathilde doing what she can to support Lotto in his career in the theater, first as a failed actor then as a successful playwright. It is only after Lotto's untimely death that the secrets and the furies emerge. There is horrible and understandable anger in the last half of the story. many characters emerge as unlikable people. In spite of that, the depth and descriptiveness of the writing overshadows any dislike for the characters. Well worth reading.

Gielgud: An Actor and His Time

Gielgud: An Actor and His Time, a memoir by Sir John Gielgud  255 pp.

This memoir, written twenty-one years before the actor's death, chronicles his life in the theater up to 1979. He was born into a family of actors (the Terrys), with grandparents, great uncles, great aunts, aunts, uncles and cousins who were all well known on the English stage. Gielgud divided the book into chapters each covering 10-15 years of performances he acted in or directed. There are anecdotes about particular actors he worked with as well as technical discussions of various productions. Frequently mentioned is his work with friend and fellow actor Ralph Richardson on the stage and in motion pictures and the book is dedicated to Richardson and his wife, Mu. Gielgud mentions nothing about his personal relationship with impresario, Hugh "Binkie" Beaumont except in terms of their professional life. His partner of thirty-five years, Martin Hensler does not appear in the book at all. Many photos of the actor in his various roles are included.

Drama

Drama: An Actor's Education by John Lithgow  320 pp.

John Lithgow's acting life began at age two in a production of the theater run by his father, Arthur Lithgow. In this memoir John Lithgow chronicles growing up in the uncertain life of a theater family. The family moved around a lot as his father took on jobs as artistic director at colleges and small theaters around the east and midwest. The junior Lithgow had no intention of a career on the stage, planning instead to be an artist. But acting in plays at Harvard hooked him in and he went on to study in London and work his way up through summer stock and small theater companies before becoming a favorite on the Broadway stage, ultimately winning Tonys, Emmys, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, and other awards along with Oscar nominations.. Lithgow recounts his successes and failures, foibles and strengths without conceit. In fact it seems he writes more of his mistakes than his accomplishments. A large part of the book is an homage to his father and an acknowledgment that he is indebted to the theater education he received often through osmosis. The book mainly focuses on Lithgow's stage acting although there are brief mentions of some of the films he was in as well as the t.v. show "Third Rock from the Sun."  I wish there had been more about his motion picture work and less about his affair with Liv Ullmann and the resulting break-up of his marriage.

And Furthermore

And Furthermore by Judi Dench  268 pp.

I've been a fan of Judi Dench since her days in various Britcoms--"As Time Goes By" being a favorite. In this book Dame Judi shares anecdotes about her life as an actor--a life that included working with such greats as Sir John Gielgud, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, John Mills, Trevor Nunn, and spanned roles as varied as Shakespeare heroines, Queens Elizabeth I and Victoria, Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Iris Murdoch, "M" in the recent James Bond films, and Aereon in "Chronicles of Riddick." It's not a biography because, as she says in the preface, that's already been done. She chose, instead, to tell stories about her life that were not included in the two previous volumes by John Miller. It's definitely not a "tell all" with lurid tales of racy escapades. The most "shocking" thing in it are the practical jokes she and other actors played on each other. Instead it's a chronicle of the work she has done on the stage, on television, and in the movies in a career that began in the late 1950s. One of the most amusing parts was her rant on "Merchant of Venice." It's not often you hear a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company dissing one of his most famous plays. Those not familiar with her body of work may find her tales uninteresting but I enjoyed it. Now I guess I should read the actual biographies.