Let Me Play the Lion Too

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.

Auteur

Michael Pennington has been a leading British actor for thirty years, playing a wide variety of roles in London's West End and for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre and his own English Shakespeare Company, which he co-founded in 1986. He has also directed in England, Japan and the United States. His other books include The Faber Pocket Guide to Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg, Hamlet: A User's Guide, Twelfth Night: A User's Guide and Are You There, Crocodile: Inventing Anton Chekhov.