Antony Sher (1949–2021)

Anthony Sher's diary covering the period of nearly a year from when he first heard rumours that he was going to be asked to play Richard III in Stratford up to the opening of the show in June 1984. A fascinating, detailed account of a process that most of us never get to see. The diary format, cutting out hindsight and including all the false starts and blind alleys, works very well for this. It's really interesting to see how he goes about researching the character, roping in his physio and show more his shrink, going to meet disabled people, stealing ideas from movies and medical documentaries, endlessly sketching faces and body shapes. Most of the ideas are eventually discarded in the light of what works on stage, but the technical knowledge is still there, informing the theatrical interpretation. Richard III is such a high-profile part that no-one can "just" get up there and do it, you have to be able to bring something to it that the audience haven't already seen a thousand times in the Olivier film...

The description of the rehearsal process, getting to grips with the text and trying out different interpretations of the characters, is fascinating as well, and it's interesting to hear how fraught it often seems to be, even for the very experienced and distinguished actors who work at the RSC. And I loved Sher's drawings of the other cast members done in the margins of the text of the play!

Probably essential reading for actors, but frank, funny and very enjoyable for those of us who never get to go backstage as well. show less

Really top-notch. Sher is very open about his own foibles and fascinating personality, and - impressively, I thought, for a book released not long after the events it describes - about the foibles of those around him! Truly a remarkable insight into the preparation for a role, but also for the vicissitudes of mounting a live stage production in these days at a high level. As a performer, I found it both hauntingly true and also very, very funny. I hope it appeals as much to people outside show more the profession; I suspect it will. show less

This was fascinating.

Obviously, this is, as the title suggests, about how Greg Doran and Tony Sher put on a production of Titus Andronicus in the new South Africa in 1994, but it is about so much more, too. The authors jump from topic to topic but instead of feeling disjointed, the jumping around makes total sense, and some of the asides really make me laugh.

It's not the jokes that keep me reading, tho. It's the insights to how they approach interpreting play(s), how they find relevance in show more the context of current affairs, how they teach, direct, and interact with the other cast members.

It's pretty fab. And I haven't even touched on the way that they give a picture of South Africa past and present (in 1994) that seems very realistic.

Woza Shakespeare! won't make me love Titus Andronicus, or even like the play, not even a little bit, but I love reading about how Greg, Tony, and the rest of the cast are approaching the play and interpreting the characters. I don't have to agree with everything - I don't have to agree with anything in their approach but even thinking about their different view is eye-opening.

It is such a great example of how when plays - or poetry, or any work of literature, art, music - are taught in a classroom setting, it should encourage people to seek out different performances, adaptations, etc. show less

I loved this book! I've always found it reassuring to know that even respected actors have the same sorts of sensations I do - about pre-show jitters, post-show depression, forcing emotion, speeding through lines - and Sher's writes with such clarity and evocation that it was a compelling read on all fronts.