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A fascinating insider account of researching, rehearsing and performing the part of King Lear for a major Royal Shakespeare Company production, Antony Sher's Year of the Mad King won the 2019 Theatre Book Prize awarded by the Society for Theatre Research. In 1982, rising actor Antony Sher played the Fool to Michael Gambon's King in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of King Lear. Shortly after, he came back to Stratford to play Richard III – a breakthrough performance that would transform his career, winning him the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor. Sher's record of the making of this historic theatrical event, Year of the King, has become a classic of theatre writing, a unique insight into the creation of a landmark Shakespearean performance. More than thirty years later, Antony Sher returned to Lear, this time in the title role, for the 2016 RSC production directed by Gregory Doran. Sher's performance was acclaimed by the Telegraph as 'a crowning achievement in a major career', and the show transferred from Stratford to London's Barbican. Once again, he kept a diary, capturing every step of his personal and creative journey to opening night. Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries is Sher's account of researching, rehearsing and performing what is arguably Shakespeare's most challenging role, known as the Everest of Acting. His strikingly honest, illuminating and witty commentary provides an intimate, first-hand look at the development of his Lear and of the production as a whole. Also included is a selection of his paintings and sketches, many reproduced in full colour. Like his Year of the King and Year of the Fat Knight: The Falstaff Diaries, this book, Year of the Mad King, offers a fascinating perspective on the process of one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of his generation. 'Wonderfully written and keenly observed' James Shapiro on Year of the Mad King 'An inspirational joy... It lays bare the art of the actor in such an accessible, enjoyable way' Daisy Bowie-Sell, Judge of the 2019 Theatre Book Prize, on Year of the Mad King 'One of the finest books I have ever read on the process of acting'Time Out on Year of the King 'Antony Sher's insider journal is a brilliant exploded view of a great actor at work – modest and gifted, self-centred and selfless – a genius capable of transporting us backstage' Craig Raine, The Spectator (Books of the Year) on Year of the Fat Knight
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
Antony Sher
YEAR OFTHE MAD KING
The Lear Diaries
with illustrations by the author
NICK HERN BOOKS
London
www.nickhernbooks.co.uk
Contents
Dedication
1 The American Lear
May-August 2015
2 Lear-learning
August-September 2015
3 A Big Birthday
September-October 2015
4 Husbands?
October-December 2015
5 Big Bard Year
January-February 2016
6 Shashibiya
February-March 2016
7 Dimbleby
March 2016
8 Dumbo
March-May 2016
9 The Villa Solemar
May 2016
10 A Little Bit of Noise
May-June 2016
11 Lear’s Ear
June-July 2016
12 Enter King Lear…
July-September 2016
Epilogue
October 2016
About the Author
Copyright Information
For Randall
Year of the Mad King
1. The American Lear
Wednesday 27 May 2015
He’s known as the American Lear.
Willy Loman.
But are they really alike?
I’m about to find out…
These thoughts occur as I stand in the kitchen of our London home, wearing my dressing gown, my eyes still sleepy, my hair a tangle of thin strands – it’s from all the Brylcreem I put into it for last night’s show. I’m currently in Death of a Salesman at the Noël Coward Theatre, playing Willy Loman, and he has a shiny-neat, sharply parted 1940s haircut.
Meanwhile, my hand is resting on a script from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Literary Department: King Lear.
I’ve been pestering Greg (Doran; RSC Artistic Director, and my partner) to arrange for the text to be typed up into this A4 format, so that we can both mark up some suggested cuts for the production scheduled for the second half of next year. It may be a long way ahead, but I’ll need to start learning the lines quite soon.
Greg was asleep when I got home from the theatre last night, and he had to drive up to Stratford early this morning, so he’s left the script on the kitchen table, with a note: ‘This is yours.’
He just means, ‘This is your copy’, but it could read as, ‘This is a part you should play, and we’re doing it now.’
In fact, we’ve been talking about the play for years, as one of our Shakespeare collaborations: Titus Andronicus, The Winter’s Tale,Macbeth and Othello, with the surprise addition in 2014 of Henry IV Parts I and II. But it’s one thing to talk about doing King Lear, and another to actually touch the script on your kitchen table on a bright May morning.
I feel lucky.
Older actors queue up to play Lear like younger ones do for Hamlet, and if they want to perform these roles at the RSC or the National, it’s not easy to get into the queue at all.
So despite all the years – no, decades – that I’ve spent working for the RSC, I still feel lucky that I’m going to be playing Lear there. And I’d never have imagined, when Greg and I first discussed the idea, that he’d be running the company when we finally came to do it.
Ahead is a hectic schedule. Salesman runs till July, then Greg directs Henry V, then the company revives the Henry IVs and Richard II (starring David Tennant), and plays the whole tetralogy at the Barbican, and then we take it on tour, to China and New York.
And then we do King Lear.
If I’m still standing.
Saturday 30 May
In between the matinee and evening shows of Salesman today, I went for a little stroll. Found myself heading towards the Pastoria Hotel in tiny St Martin’s Street, just off Leicester Square. This is where, having just arrived from my native South Africa, I spent my first ever night in the UK. It was Wednesday 17 July 1968, and my parents and I were to stay there while I auditioned for drama school.
Performing Willy Loman eight times a week is proving to be exhausting, and I was hoping that seeing the Pastoria again would wake me up to the big journey I’ve made – from being a teenage guest in that hotel to a leading actor in a neighbouring West End theatre. But I found the building covered in scaffolding and plastic sheeting. The renovation was unsightly, and didn’t give me the boost I needed. And Leicester Square itself was rather intimidating, with huge crowds, a gang of chanting football fans, and bouncers outside every bar and restaurant. This was the real West End, very different to the sedate and cultured atmosphere of the Noël Coward Theatre. I scurried back to its safety.
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!