About book Year Of The King: An Actor's Diary And Sketchbook (2004)
This book is a series of journal entries (with brilliant illustrations) by Antony Sher as he decides to take on the title role in the RSC's 1984 production of Richard the Third. The accounts are full of gems, like Sher's meetings with his therapist: "At our first meeting back in March he said, 'You'll go through various attitudes towards me. You'll mistrust me, then you'll love me like a father, then I'll be a guru, then you'll hate me, and then with any luck you'll see me as just another person.' I don't think I ever got past the guru stage" (25)."He talks about Fritz Perls and the Gestalt theory. The here and now is the only time that exists. And being yourself. Not accepting yourself, not taking yourself for granted. Being yourself. Your self. Monty defines 'normality' as a contentment with who you are" (37).I also loved the insight into Sher's thoughts on creating the image of Richard as a composite of animal images, and I loved seeing that even at this most elite level in the world, Sher goes through struggles I've experienced with nerves and line flops etc. I also learned some new theatre vocab: To "corpse" is to crack up during a scene. To "dry up" is to temporarily forget your line on stage. I've done both of these, and next time I do them I'll know what they're properly called.
This is the finest memoir of an actor that I've read. All the Shakespeare greats are in there; Nigel Hawthorne, Ian Holm, a young "Ken" Brannagh, Richard Briers, Michael Gambon, you name it.Sher is cast at a rather young age to play Richard III at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he wrote journal entries and sketches during the rehearsals.There's a specifically wonderful part that describes Brian Blessed (playing Hastings of course) deciding his character should always be helping Richard. Hoisting him out of chairs, cheerily lending a shoulder, brushing his coat. Constantly muttering under his breath during scenes, "Copes well for a cripple, don't he? Marvellous how he copes...never grumbles! Ah, there we go your lordship, you'll want to have a word with your mate Buckingham over there, off you go now! On your holidays!"Since the actors at Stratford never had a moment off, they liked to have little japes about how their holidays had been going. "Been to the arcade yet? Fine place for a vacation, that..."Blessed would lean on a table and say, "I pulled a cracker in the tunnel of love last night."And hell, it's got some nice acting things in it. It captures the manic airs of a production without being overdramatic or preachy. Just read it. If you can find it.
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I really enjoyed this book - more than I expected, actually. It's basically the diary of Antony Sher over the year that he considers playing and then plays Richard III. Fascinating in terms of the process, and also with the random dropping of names that in 1985 probably weren't the names they've become - Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart, etc. Plus, he just seemed like the kind of guy it would be fun to talk to about both theater and just about random stuff over a pint at the pub. Made me want to watch both the Olivier Richard III, which I've never seen, and then his if it was ever put on film.
—Sara
I can't even begin to say how much I loved this book. It's Antony Sher's memoir of the year he played Richard III for the RSC (1984), and I knew that it's a book much loved by actors and theatre lovers. I can see why. What I wasn't expecting, however, was to find a detailed, step by step chronicle of the creative process - and I mean any creative process, not just acting. He describes what happens when you (try to) make any kind of art - how your work starts to take form; how everything you hear/read/feel ends up informing it, at first unconsciously, then more and more deliberately, then obsessively; how you paddle through the worst parts of the process, despair, rejoyce, then despair again, then go into anarchy-mode, then just keep struggling until, one way or another, everything falls into place. He sounds so honest and self-deprecating it's disarming. The writing is delightful and he's particularly brilliant at writing descriptions. They're always short, never more than three or four lines at a time, and you can literally see and feel people and places come alive - quite often in half a sentence. Bonus point - tons of anecdoctes about the RSC that had me in giggles of delight. Straight to the favourites shelf. And now I need all his other books.
—Diana
Anyone interested in learning about the acting process and a glimpse behind that Shakespearean curtain will enjoy this book. Antony is an excellent writer and artist as well as classical actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He reviews his preparation for the role of Richard III from interviewing for the role until opening night. I really enjoyed it and wished I had seen his performance (I have 2 friends who actually saw it in London and still remember it). I highly recommend this book and plan to read more written by Mr. Sher.
—Linda
