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Eddie Izzard

The stand-up comedian of his generation. Star of stage and screen. Tireless supporter of charity. Runner. Political campaigner. Fashion icon. Human. There is no one quite like Eddie Izzard. 
 
This is the story of how a boy who wanted to become a professional footballer and win the lead in Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat found comedy. Affecting, witty and nothing less than rousing, readers will, as Eddie himself says, 'look at my life and say, 'If that idiot transvestite can run a whole bunch of marathons, play the Hollywood Bowl, and travel across France with a French-speaking tour, then what's holding me back?''

Believe Me

A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens

Lisa Gee

When Lisa Gee's six-year-old daughter, Dora, goes to an open audition for the West End production of The Sound of Music, it's just a fun way to occupy some time in the Easter holidays. But when Dora unexpectedly lands the role, Lisa soon learns that Dora's brush with fame has less to do with paparazzi and lucrative paydays and more to do with endless rehearsals and outsize egos. 
 
Part fairy tale, part cautionary tale, this is the hilarious, engaging account of one child's step into the limelight. From the initial try-out with over a thousand Von Trapp hopefuls to performing on the London stage with Connie Fisher and an encounter with Julie Andrews, mother and daughter navigate the minefield of rehearsals, auditions and fame. This is a heart-warming glimpse into the sometimes not-so-glamorous world of show business and the delicate balance between being proud and being pushy. Stage Mum is a story for every parent who dreams big and every child who dreams bigger.

Stage Mum

Judi Dench

Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig; cavorting naked through the countryside painted green; acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head... these are just a few things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare. 
 
In this book, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career. In a series of conversations with actor/director Brendan O'Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare's plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets behind her rehearsal process and vignettes of her creative partnerships, all told with her mischievous sense of humour and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes.

Shakespeare

The Man Who Pays The Rent

Jasper Rees

A major and definitive portrait of Sir Michael Gambon, one of the greatest actors of the last fifty years who died in 2023 
 
Jasper Rees, the acclaimed Sunday Times bestselling author of Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood, interviewed Gambon more than any other journalist alive, and has been granted exclusive access to Gambon’s personal archive and effects. Rees is in the process of conducting over one hundred interviews with actors, playwrights and directors who across a career that spanned more than half a century were witness to some of Gambon’s most magnificent performances, including Penelope Wilton, Alan Ayckbourn, Brian Cox, Eileen Atkins, David Hare, Judi Dench, Christopher Hampton, Simon Russell Beale, Richard Eyre, Patricia Hodge, Simon Callow, Stephen Poliakoff and his closest friend in theatre, Oliver Cotton. 
 
The biography spans Gambon’s epoch-defining roles on stage, television and screen: the early years as a spear-carrier in Laurence Olivier’s newly formed National Theatre, his pre-eminence as an interpreter of Harold Pinter and Alan Ayckbourn, the triumphs in The Life of Galileo and A View from the Bridge, the screen roles that won him global fame, from Philip Marlow in The Singing Detective to Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. It promises to be a deeply personal, moving and surprising book that will enrich our understanding of an acting legend who was as hilarious and elusive off stage – renowned for spinning mischievously tall tales – as he was mesmerising and chameleon-like on stage.

Michael Gambon

The Authorised Biography

Michael Holroyd

Henry Irving - a merchant's clerk who became the saviour of British theatre - and Ellen Terry, who made her first theatre appearance as soon as she could walk, were the king and queen of the Victorian stage. Creatively interdependent, they founded a power-house of arts at the Lyceum Theatre, with Bram Stoker as business manager, where they recast Shakespeare's plays on an epic scale and took the company on lucrative and exhilarating international tours. 
 
In his masterly new biography, award-winning writer Michael Holroyd explores their public and private lives, showing how their artistic legacy and their brilliant but troubled children came to influence the modern world.

A Strange Eventful History

The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families

Michael Simkins

As a boy, Michael Simkins always wanted to be someone. While his friends were out getting laid and stoned, he was tucked up at home dreaming of his name in lights, of holding an audience rapt, of perhaps becoming a TV heart-throb, or having someone, anyone, ask for his autograph in the supermarket. This is the true story of an obsessive pursuit of acting fame. It is a life marked by occasional hard-fought successes and routine helpings of ritual humiliation: scout hut Gilbert and Sullivan, dodgy rock operas, sewage farm theatre workshop, Christmas panto hell, straight-to-video film flops, leading roles in Crimewatch reconstructions and dressing up as a chicken to advertise TV dinners. It is a hilarious tale of turgid theatre, tights, trusses and tonsil tennis with Timothy Spall.

What's My Motivation?

BBC Audio

Highlights from Richard Burton’s finest BBC radio performances from the 1940s to the 1980s. 
 
Richard Burton was one of the most famous British actors of the twentieth century, renowned for his magical, mellifluous voice. Before Hollywood tempted him away, he worked frequently for the BBC and many of his most electrifying performances were recorded there. 
 
This classic compilation features some of the very best of Burton, including his very first radio role in The Corn is Green; the heroic Roland in The Dark Tower; the apocalyptic poem 'Fire and Ice'; Henry V on the eve of Agincourt; the spine-tingling Under Milk Wood and the poignant In Parenthesis. Also included is the complete recording of Emlyn Williams’ suspenseful thriller Night Must Fall. 
 
In addition, there are extracts from interviews in which Burton talks about Dylan Thomas, his love of rugby, his deepest ambition and his own feelings about his incomparable voice. 
 
Whether performing Shakespeare, reading Robert Frost or simply talking about his life and career, Burton is never less than compelling, and this unique anthology is a superb tribute to one of the great icons of stage and screen. 
Duration: 2 hrs 50 mins approx.

Burton at the BBC

Classic Excerpts from the BBC Archive

Anna Massey

In 2005, Anna Massey was awarded a CBE for services to drama. 
 
Daughter of the Canadian actor, Raymond Massey (perhaps best-known for his role as Dr Gillespie in the TV series Dr Killdare), and Adrianne Allen (also a very successful stage actress), drama was in her blood. Her brother, Daniel, was a much-acclaimed actor. And even her godfather was one of the great film directors of all time - John Ford. 
 
Anna's first marriage was to Jeremy Brett, famous in his later years for his elegantly febrile performance on television as Sherlock Holmes. They had a son, David, together. But it was not a happy relationship and ended in divorce. 
 
In fact, family life was never easy or straightforward. Raymond fled the roost for the United States when Anna was very little, and married again. Adrianne was the most marvellous hostess who filled the house with an exotic mixture of guests, but, as a child, crucial emotional support was supplied by Nanny, who remained with Anna until her death. 
 
From her stage debut in The Reluctant Debutante to her performance in Michael Powell's notorious film, Peeping Tom, on through TV successes like The Pallisers and Hotel du Lac to a range of work in radio, Anna Massey has enjoyed the most remarkable career. And a whole host of extraordinary, often highly eccentric characters make their entrances and exits during its course. 
 
On and off set or stage, there are encounters with the theatrical knights, Olivier, Redgrave, Richardson and Gielgud. Noel Coward takes more than one bow. Great friendships are formed with fellow actors like Alan Rickman, Alec McCowen, Dame Judi Dench, and the playwright, David Hare. And there are inevitable difficulties with directors like Otto Preminger. Anna also has to play the part of hostess to the Duke of Edinburgh - in real life. 
 
After all the inevitable vicissitudes and upsets, Anna Massey ends her book with the story of personal happiness, achieved without make-up, lighting or script. Telling Some Tales does not kiss and tell, or tell tales out of school. It is the candid, wry, funny and emotional account of a life intensely lived.

Telling Some Tales

Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh&rsquo;s 1970s classic play &lsquo;Abigail&rsquo;s Party&rsquo; focuses on an evening of domestic hell in the guise of a suburban drinks soir&eacute;e. While teenager Abigail parties a few doors away, the pretentious Beverly and her estate agent husband, Laurence, entertain their neighbours &ndash; Abigail&rsquo;s mother, Susan, ex-footballer, Tony, and his wife, Angela. But as the alcohol flows, tensions in the hosts&rsquo; barely functional marriage emerge and their obsessions, prejudices and petty competitiveness are ruthlessly, and hilariously, exposed. 
 
&lsquo;Goose-Pimples&rsquo;, meanwhile, is easily as sharp and uncompromising. This time, the action focuses on ambitious casino croupier, Jackie, and Saudi businessman, Muhammad, who meet &ndash; and misunderstand &ndash; one another spectacularly.

Abigail's Party & Goose-Pimples

Jenny Landreth

'With spot-on injections of humour and a frequently raised sardonic eyebrow, joy and warmth shine from this fascinating and funny book' Jo Brand 
 
A joyful celebration of amateur theatre 
 
From the Mystery Plays of the Middle Ages, via the Georgian aristocrats who built opulent private theatres in their own homes, to the radical lefties taking political theatre to the streets, this is the story of amateur dramatics in Britain. We meet a cast of characters who tell us about the joy amateur theatre brings them and we follow the full arc of a production, from first auditions to last night party, with all the mishaps and forgotten lines that come in between. In a triumphant mix of memoir, social history and manifesto, Jenny Landreth opens our eyes to am-dram and shows us a vibrant world that is a crucial part of our culture.

Break a Leg

A memoir, manifesto and celebration of amateur theatre

Cicely Berry

Cicely Berry, Voice Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, is world-famous for her voice teaching. The Actor and the Text is her classic book, distilled from years of working with actors of the highest calibre.

The Actor And The Text

John Heilpern

John Osborne (1929-1994), unapologetic rebel and original Angry Young Man, changed the face of modern British theatre forever with Look Back in Anger. An actor turned playwright, Osborne was married five times, his private life generating a tumult and drama to match that of his work. 
 
This startlightly candid, authorised but intimate and informal biography is the first to have access to Osborne's own notebooks and private letters, which record for posterity his often anguished nature. It includes personal interviews with scores of his friends and enemies, among them a bombshell of a confession from Osborne's alleged male lover, and the first public comments from his estranged daughter Nolan, who was thrown out of the family home at just sixteen. 
 
This is an essential, unorthodox, moving and extraordinarily frank portrait of the man, the playwright and his era.

John Osborne

A Patriot for Us

Voice and the Actor is the first classic work by Cicely Berry, Voice Director of the Royal Shakespear Company and world-famous voice teacher. Encapsulating her renowned method of teaching voice production, the exercises in this straightforward, no-nonsense guide will develop relaxation, breathing and muscular control - without which no actor or speaker can achieve their full potential. 
 
Illustrated with passages used in Cicely Berry's own teaching, Voice and the Actor is the essential first step towards speaking a text with truth and meaning. Inspiring and practical, her words will be a revelation for beginner and professional alike.

Voice And The Actor

Lenny Henry

A collection of BBC radio shows presented by comedian and actor Lenny Henry. 
 
Stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, TV presenter: Lenny Henry is a multi-talented Renaissance man with a wide range of interests. But there are a few things (and people) he just doesn't get, despite their iconic status - and in What's So Great About...?, he explores them to find out what makes them so appealing. He questions the mystique surrounding Method Acting; discusses the benefits of Life Coaches with Phill Jupitus; hears about the joy of Maths from Carol Vorderman and asks Simon McBurney and Fiona Shaw to persuade him of the genius of Samuel Beckett. He also investigates the art of Jackson Pollock, meets stars from the world of Snooker to discover the lure of the cue and chats about Chaucer with Terry Jones. 
 
Lenny was once sceptical about Shakespeare too, but he's now a passionate convert. In Lenny Henry Plays Othello, we follow him as he embarks on his first straight stage role and first Shakespearean role, playing one of theatre's most tragic characters. From voice coaching to first night nerves, we eavesdrop on his journey from comedian to tragedian. 
 
In August Shines, inspired by his theatrical success in August Wilson's Fences, Lenny travels to Pittsburgh to tell the story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American playwright. The city was also home to the bad-boy pop artist whose work Lenny explores in Andy Warhol: Time Regained. Visiting the Warhol Museum, he learns about the 'Time Capsules' - an artwork consisting of 300,000 eclectic objects assembled across the last 13 years of Warhol's life - and joins the audience for the unboxing of the mysterious Capsule 528... 
 
Finally, in the compelling 10-part series Raising the Bar: 100 Years of Black British Theatre and Screen, Lenny traces the long, painful road that black Britons have travelled on stage and screen, from the overt racial discrimination of the 19th Century, via the veiled slurs that persisted throughout the 20th, to today's more equal society. Talking to playwrights such as Kwame Kwei-Armah, and actors and directors including Carmen Munroe, Yvonne Brewster and Steve McQueen, he tells the story of black drama and the influential artists who have shaped it over the past century, and looks to the future to examine the prospects for young black British talent. 
 
Published by Penguin Random House Ltd 
Licensed by BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
MCPS 
Presented by Lenny Henry 
 
What's So Great About...? 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
With Ellen Burstyn, James Lipton, Phill Jupitus, Carol Vorderman, Celia Hoyles, Professor Brian Butterworth, Simon McBurney, Fiona Shaw, John Calder, James Knowlson, Brian Sewell, Julian Joseph, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Dennis Taylor, John Virgo, John Parrott, Terry Griffiths, Ardis Butterfield, Mike Poulton, Terry Jones 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5 July 2008-11 June 2011 
 
Lenny Henry Plays Othello 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 February 2009 
 
August Shines 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
With Chris Rawson, Professor Larry Glasco, Kim Ellis, Jeff Folino, Sala Udin, Nelson Harrison 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9 October 2014 
 
Andy Warhol: Time Regained 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
With Ben Harrison, Rick Armstrong, Tim Marlow, Erin Byrne, Benjamin Liu, Donald Warhola 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 11 September 2014 
 
Raising the Bar: 100 Years of Black British Theatre and Screen 
Presented by Lenny Henry 
Produced by Simon Elmes 
Series Consultant: Dr Michael Pearce 
Featuring: Bola Agbaje, Yvonne Brewster, Michael Buffong, Lolita Chakrabarti, Isaac Julien, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Mustapha Matura, Steve McQueen, Carmen Munroe, Horace Ové, Winsome Pinnock, Paulette Randall, Roy Williams 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9-20 November 2015

Lenny Henry's What's So Great About...?

And 4 other BBC documentaries

Donald Spoto

In 1956, at the age of 22, Alan Bates was cast in John Osborne's controversial play, Look Back in Anger. The play changed the course of British theatre - and of Alan's life. 
 
With a sudden rush of fame, he became a member of a new circle of actors at the Royal Court: the English Stage Company. From then on, he also worked steadily in television and won international acclaim for his roles in a number of major films, from A Kind of Loving and Zorba the Greek to Women in Love. 
 
But his personal life was not always as seemingly straightforward as his career - his relationships, including that with his wife, Victoria Ward, were often turbulent. Drawing on dozens of interviews with his family, lovers, colleagues and friends - and mining a rich store of primary research - Donald Spoto chronicles Alan's achievements as a performer against the backdrop of a complicated personal life.

Otherwise Engaged

The Life of Alan Bates

Elaine C Smith

'How did I end up here?' A question Elaine C. Smith asked herself when sitting in the dressing-room of a top theatre in London's West End, about to go on stage with one of the UK's most successful plays. 
 
In Nothing Like a Dame, Elaine reflects on a 50-year journey that took her to the peak of the entertainment world. She recounts her long struggle to make it in a male-dominated, working-class society when women were supposed to just shut up and stay thin, especially in the sexist world of theatre and television, where she was told, 'Look, women just aren't funny.' 
 
Despite many highs and lows, she proceeded to forge a stellar career in show business, hosting her own TV series and becoming a household name thanks to her comic portrayal of Mary Nesbitt, the long-suffering wife in the award-winning BBC comedy Rab C. Nesbitt. 
 
Nothing Like a Dame is a heart-warming memoir: candid, outspoken, hilarious and at times deeply sad.

Nothing Like a Dame

My Autobiography

Nicholas Hytner

The Sunday Times Bestseller 
 
This is the inside story of twelve years at the helm of Britain’s greatest theatre. 
 
It is a story of lunatic failures and spectacular successes such as The History Boys, War Horse and One Man, Two Guvnors; of opening the doors of the National Theatre to a broader audience than ever before, and changing the public’s perception of what theatre is for. It is about probing Shakespeare from every angle and reinventing the classics. About fostering new talent and directing some of the most celebrated actors of our times. Its cast includes the likes of Alan Bennett, Maggie Smith, Mike Leigh, Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren. 
 
Intimate, candid and insightful, Balancing Acts is a passionate exploration of the art and alchemy of making theatre.

Balancing Acts

Behind the Scenes at the National Theatre

Charles Hazlewood

The Royal Albert Hall has attracted some of the biggest names in showbiz throughout its 140-year history. From rock events to The Proms, Cirque du Soleil to the Chelsea Arts Ball, it has played host to an huge variety of performers. In these two programmes, Charles Hazlewood introduces a montage of artists who have graced the stage of the Hall, including the Rolling Stones, Pavarotti, Gillian Weir, Jimi Hendrix and Russell Watson. There are contributions from Sir Cliff Richard, Katherine Jenkins, Jamie Cullum, Hayley Westenra,  Jools Holland, Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Mike Batt and Jeff Wayne. In the company of V &amp; A design curator Abraham Thomas, historian Helen Rappaport and others, Hazlewood explores the Hall's history, discusses some of the spectaculars that have taken place under its roof and tells how various charitable organisations have found a home there, including the Prince's Trust, Amnesty International and Music for Youth.

Celebrating The Royal Albert Hall

Luvvies. Tyrannical directors. Useless agents. Less job security than an England football manager. Who’d be an actor? 
 
Michael Simkins isn’t sure, even though he’s been one himself for over thirty years. Join him backstage as he examines that business called showbusiness, from am dram to Hollywood, and from Shakespeare to ads for flatulence pills. 
 
In a career that started as a plump teenager in ballet tights at RADA, Michael has appeared in countless West End plays and musicals, presented safety training workshops for sewage workers, and when resting, worked as a crate smasher at a car factory. He’s done movies, soaps, ads, and voice-overs, and worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Kelly Osbourne. As the ultimate jobbing actor he’s flirted with triumph and oblivion without ever quite managing either. 
 
InThe Rules of Acting he shares his hard-won wisdom. Covering everything from learning your lines to tilting for Oscar success in Hollywood, surviving a flop, to why it’s advisable to read the whole script if you wish to avoid improper relations with a pig, it’s the ultimate survival guide for anyone contemplating a life in showbiz. 
 
'Throw out An Actor Prepares! Michael Simkins' book tells actors all they need to know about the realities of the acting profession; the passion, the struggle, the noble idealism and the heartache.' 
HELEN MIRREN 
 
'It is thrilling that Micahel Simkins is having such success as a writer - anything to keep him off the stage' 
IAN MCKELLEN

The Rules of Acting

Lenny Henry presents this groundbreaking BBC radio series exploring a century of black British theatre, TV and film 
 
In this fascinating ten-part series, Lenny Henry traces the long and painful road that black Britons have travelled on stage and screen, from the overt racial discrimination of the 19th Century, via the thinly veiled slurs that persisted through the first 70 years of the 20th, to today's more equal society. 
 
Interviewing playwrights, actors, directors and filmmakers – including Mustapha Matura, Roy Williams, Lolita Chakrabarti, Michael Buffong, Horace Ové and Steve McQueen – he tells the story of black drama and the influential artists who have shaped it over the past hundred years. 
 
Beginning with the breakthrough arrival of Kwame Kwei-Armah's celebrated tragedy Elmina's Kitchen to the West End, he goes on to examine the evolving depiction of Afro-Caribbeans on TV from Love Thy Neighbour to Desmond’s; explores the complex stage history of Othello; focuses on how Caribbean migration has been reflected on stage and screen; and journeys back to the 1960s and 70s to explore the spirit of protest that welled up with the advent of the Black Power movement. 
 
In addition, he looks at the burgeoning black theatre companies of the 1970s and 80s; charts the breakthrough of a host of powerful new voices in the 90s; scrutinizes attitudes towards homosexuality; investigates the current blossoming of new theatrical voices with roots in Africa and concludes with a look at future prospects and opportunities for black British talent.

Raising the Bar: 100 Years of Black British Theatre and Screen

Joan Bakewell

Humphrey Carpenter

Francine Stock

Matthew Parris

Well-known personalities pick their favourite entertainers for BBC Radio 4's Great Lives 
 
One of the BBC's most acclaimed programmes, Great Lives has been a regular Radio 4 fixture for 20 years, presented by Joan Bakewell, Humphrey Carpenter, Francine Stock and Matthew Parris. Every week, a famous name is invited into the studio to nominate a figure from the past who has inspired them, and discuss their subject with the presenter and a guest expert. 
 
Included in this special collection, marking the programme's 20th anniversary, are the very best episodes featuring the lives of entertainers - artists, comedians, clowns, magicians, sporting heroes and stars of stage and screen. Among them, Julian Clary champions Noël Coward, Anthony Horowitz advocates Alfred Hitchcock, Penelope Keith puts forward Morecambe and Wise and David Bailey plumps for Pablo Picasso. Here, the lives of the celebrity guests are as intriguing as those of the people they pick: as is also the case with Alan Davies on Richard Beckinsale, Mica Paris on Josephine Baker, Ken Dodd on Stan Laurel, Mark Gatiss on Peter Cushing and many, many others. 
 
From Simon Callow on Orson Welles, to Fiona Shaw on Eleonora Duse, these engaging episodes put some of the world's best-known entertainers under the spotlight, examining their achievements and probing their personalities to find out what made them so inspiring, influential and extraordinary. 
 
 
List of episode and date of first broadcast on BBC Radio 4: 
 Umm Kulthum 22.11.02 
 Tommy Cooper 14.11.03 
 Charles M Schulz 15.4.05 
 Mae West 7.10.05 
 Morecambe &amp; Wise 4.4.06 
 Noël Coward 18.4.06 
 Johnny Weissmuller 9.5.06 
 Tamara Karsavina 23.5.06 
 Max Miller 15.8.06 
 Joan Littlewood 5.1.07 
 Richard Beckinsale 9.1.07 
 Lilian Baylis 7.8.07 
 Thora Hird 11.12.07 
 Groucho Marx 15.1.08 
 Peter Cushing 1.4.08 
 Joyce Grenfell 20.5.08 
 Richard Pryor 12.8.08 
 Harry Houdini 22.9.09 
 Gerald Durrell 27.9.11 
 Stan Laurel 4.9.12 
 Pablo Picasso 19.01.10 
 John Ford 08.05.12 
 Karel Reisz 11.09.12 
 Dave Allen 14.01.14 
 Lucille Ball 30.09.14 
 Alfred Hitchcock 05.04.16 
 Joseph Grimwaldi 31.05.16 
 Gracie Fields 02.08.16 
 Orson Welles 08.05.18 
 Josephine Baker 15.05.18 
 Eleonora Duse 10.09.19 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
Presented by Humphrey Carpenter and Matthew Parris 
Produced by John Byrne, Christine Hall, Beatrice Fenton, Perminder Khatkar, Miles Warde, Toby Field, Mary Ward-Lowery, Lucy Lunt, Jolyon Jenkins, Sarah Langan, Tim Dee, Maggie Ayre, Peter Everett, Mark Smalley, Camellia Sinclair, Beth O'Dea

Great Entertainers' Lives

A BBC biography collection

Christopher Andrew

Julius Green

A vastly entertaining and unique history of the interaction between spying and showbiz, from the Elizabethan age to the Cold War and beyond. 
 
'A treasure trove of human ingenuity' The Times 
 
Written by two experts in their fields, Stars and Spies is the first history of the extraordinary connections between the intelligence services and show business. 
 
We travel back to the golden age of theatre and intelligence in the reign of Elizabeth I. We meet the writers, actors and entertainers drawn into espionage in the Restoration, the Ancien Régime and Civil War America. And we witness the entry of spying into mainstream popular culture throughout the twentieth century and beyond - from the adventures of James Bond to the thrillers of John le Carré and long-running TV series such as The Americans. 
 
'Thoroughly entertaining' Spectator 
 
'I found it extremely difficult to put this book down' Daily Telegraph

Stars and Spies

The Astonishing History of Espionage and Show Business

The story of Intelligence Operations…

Michael Sheen

Michael Sheen explores the strange art of acting, from classic techniques to Method madnessFrom Tony Blair and David Frost to Aziraphale and Hamlet, Michael Sheen has taken on a host of iconic roles, inhabiting each one with complete conviction. But – whether he’s transforming himself into real figures or bringing fictional ones to life – how does he go about immersing himself in his characters? The answer lies in an obscure Russian theatre technique that has evolved to become a central plank of modern-day acting training.In this three-part series, Michael explores Stanislavski’s ‘System’, beginning in 1906, when a bad performance inspired Constantin Stanislavski to develop a revolutionary new process for actors to create authentic, naturalistic characters. He goes on to examine how this formula got lost in translation; how it was interpreted in radically different ways by famed acting teachers Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler; and how it morphed into the famous modus operandi popularised by Hollywood’s elite: ‘The Method’.Speaking to experienced stars including Adrian Lester and Anne-Marie Duff, he analyses their approaches to their craft, and delves into the off-stage drama of drama schools. He also chats to up-and-coming actors Mia McKenna-Bruce and Brandon Grace, discussing their non-traditional routes into the profession and the challenges faced by vulnerable young performers today. And, as he considers the fragile boundaries between actors and the parts they play, he muses on the flip side of getting into character – getting out of character – and reflects on how his many roles have stayed with him, shaping and changing him to make him the actor he is today.Production creditsPresented by Michael SheenProduced by Alice McKee for BBC AudioWith Isaac Butler; Tom McClane, Adrian Lester, Simon McBurney, Patsy Rodenburg, Anne-Marie Duff, Michael Goldfarb, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Brandon Grace, Lou Platt and David ThackerayFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14-28 May 2024

Michael Sheen Gets Into Character

A BBC Radio 4 Series

Simon Callow

A companion volume to Being an Actor, Callow's classic text about the experience of acting in the theatre, Shooting the Actor reveals the truth about film acting. The book describes his film work, from Amadeus to Four Weddings and a Funeral, from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls to Shakespeare in Love. 
 
Its centrepiece is a hilarious and sometimes agonising account of the making of Manifesto, shot in the former Yugoslavia. When Callow first met the film's director Dušan Makavejev to discuss the movie, they both got on famously. Months later the two were barely speaking. Insightful and always entertaining, Shooting the Actor reveals more than any formal guide could about the process of film-making and the highly complex nature of being both actor and director.

Shooting the Actor

Following on from the widely acclaimed The Actor and the Text - which was addressed directly to the actor - Text in Action is drawn from Cicely's group work experiences, encompassing the viewpoint of the director as well. To begin with, the author explores language from a cultural and personal perspective. In these days of management jargon and internet technology are we losing touch with the ability to communicate fully?' Is the deeper imaginative world being left unexpressed? The main body of the book contains detailed, practical exercises for actors and directors during the rehearsal process. All exercises will be tied to specific scenes, leading to a fuller exploration of the rext. Text In Action analyses the imagery of plays, speech structures, the physicality of language and emphasises the importance of finding a collective voice. Cicely's guidance on the matter of voice will help actors find relationships and situations through the text in a unique way, in order to make it more dynamic and creative.

Text In Action

A Definitive Guide To Exploring Text In Rehearsal For Actors And Directors

Derek Jarman

Impassioned, witty and polemical, At Your Own Risk is Derek Jarman's defiant celebration of gay sexuality. 
 
In At Your Own Risk, Derek Jarman weaves poetry, prose, photographs and newspaper extracts into a rich tapestry of gay experience in the UK. The buttoned-up repression of the fifties and sixties makes way for liberation and free love in the seventies, only to be chased by the terror and pain of HIV/AIDS. This is Jarman at his passionate best, written when he was already ill with HIV and in the midst of the moral panic surrounding the AIDS crisis. Defiant and furious, he not only celebrates his own sexuality but skewers wider society for its brazen homophobia. 
 
Reissued here 25 years after Jarman's death, with an introduction by Straight Jacket author Matthew Todd, At Your Own Risk remains a singular work. It is a powerful reminder of how far we have come and how much further we have left to go. 
 
'It blew my mind quite honestly !', It's A Sin star Olly Alexander via Twitter

At Your Own Risk

A Saint's Testament

Few actors are more eloquent, honest or entertaining about their life and their profession than Simon Callow. Being an Actor traces his stage journey from the letter he wrote to Laurence Olivier that led him to his first job, to his triumph as Mozart in the original production of Amadeus. This new edition continues to tell the story of his past two decades onstage. Callow discusses his occasionally ambivalent yet always passionate feelings about both film and theatre, conflicting sentiments partially resolved by his acclaimed return to the stage with his solo performances in The Importance of Being Oscar and The Mystery of Charles Dickens, seen in the West End and on Broadway in 2002. 
 
Being an Actor is a guide not only to the profession but also to the intricacies of the art, told with wit, candour, and irrepressible verve by one if the great figures of the stage.

Being An Actor

A brilliant biography of the young Orson Welles, from his prodigious childhood and youth, his triumphs with the Mercury Theatre, to the making of Citizen Kane. Vivid, vastly entertaining, this is the definitive Welles biography.

Orson Welles, Volume 1

The Road to Xanadu

Kathleen Tynan

The Letters of Kenneth Tynan- drama critic, talent snob, intellectual dandy, inveterate campaigner - provide a record of a soul: written between the ages of 11 and 53, they not only chart the extraordinary parabola of his career but show the constancy of his quest for grace, style and effortless wit.

Tynan Letters

Emma Smith

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
'An outstanding book ... lively, curious and passionate' Literary Review 
 
Why should you read a book about Shakespeare and his plays? 
Because he is a timeless genius whose work encapsulates the human condition? 
Or is it something more unexpected?

This Is Shakespeare

How to Read the World's Greatest Playwright

Roald Dahl

The Roald Dahl Series

Penguin Readers Roald Dahl

The Roald Dahl Classic Collection

Roald Dahl’s Words for…

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Hunt the Villain

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White Nights

Little Black Classics Box Set

Puffin Announces The Roald Dahl Classic Collection to keep author’s classic texts in print

acts you didn’t know about James and the Giant Peach

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7 juicy facts you didn’t know about James and the Giant Peach

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Matilda by Roald Dahl

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The BFG by Roald Dahl

The Kumback II by Roald Dahl

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Where to start with Roald Dahl’s books

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Which Roald Dahl hero are you?

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10 audiobooks for a listen-aloud adventure

How to be a great storyteller | The Roald Dahl Museum

How to be a great storyteller

Are you Roald Dahl's biggest fan?

6 of the most gloriumptious Roald Dahl heroes

Ten hopscotchy moments in Roald Dahl books

10 hopscotchy moments in Roald Dahl books

Christmas gifts for 2025: Books for 6 to 9-year-olds

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Download the Roald Dahl Story Day 2021 activity pack

11 inspirational quotes that celebrate books and the joy of reading

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Make your own Charlie and the Chocolate Factory costumes

Weekly Penguin quiz: How well do you know Watership Down?

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Weekly quiz: How well do you know classic children’s books?

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13 inspiring Roald Dahl quotes

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