Let Me Play the Lion Too: How to be an Actor - Softcover

Pennington, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571231063 ISBN 13: 9780571231065

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2015

Synopsis

How do you prepare for your first day on the set? Why might a bad audition lead to a good job offer? How should you research? What's the effect of a long tour on your love-life? Can you have a glass of wine before a matinee? What's the difference between transitive and intransitive corpsing? What is stage fright?

In Michael Pennington's highly personal guide and memoir there are sections on rehearsals, on television then and now, on who does what on a film set, on the disciplines and rewards of musical theatre, and five directors discuss why the scenery is better on radio. Disability and racial bias in the theatre are discussed and we sometimes hear from other, younger voices who are following parallel paths.

Infectiously enthusiastic, both conversational and profound, Let Me Play the Lion Too draws on the author's fifty years of experience to celebrate the deadly serious, sometimes hilarious, often misunderstood but infinitely enriching life of a professional actor.

About this title

Review:

'As honest as it is hilarious. A must read.' (Felicity Kendal)

Perhaps an implicit theme underlying Let Me Play The Lion Too is the difference between conscientious, hard-working professionals and an acclaimed genius...He writes evocatively of the 'nauseated fear' of first nights and the melancholia of last nights when, within hours, the set is dismantled, people disperse and the entire production is 'gone beyond recovery'...Pennington describes the soap studio atmosphere brilliantly. Madness seems to loom. (Roger Lewis Daily Mail)

'If viewed as a mini-memoir, Pennington is amusing and often thoughtful, and some theoretical remarks on his craft are illuminating. His belief that a good actor should "imply the opposites in your characters without inconsistency - the tenderness in a fighter, the courage in a coward" strikes me as dead on.' (William Moore The Independent)

Book Description:

An expert guide to the theatre for actors and theatre professionals, from one of Britain's most acclaimed actors.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0571231063
• ISBN 13: 9780571231065
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432