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Theatre Biographies A to C

See also: Theatre > Playwrights
Film > Biographies; Directors; Producers

Marina AbramovicMarina Abramovic
Kristine Stiles, Klaus Biesenbach & Chrissie Iles
Since the early 1970s, Marina Abramovic has pioneered the use of performance as a visual art form, exploring her physical and emotional limits in some of the most iconic works in contemporary art. Including a wealth of photographs, spanning her career, this volume explores Abramovic's life and art with a detailed survey, interview, essay, as well as some of the artist's own writings. Softcover, 158 pp. $59.95.


By Myself and Then Some By Myself and Then Some

Lauren Bacall
To celebrate the silver anniversary of its original publication, Lauren Bacall has brought her engaging memoir up to date, chronicling the events of the past twenty-five years, including her recent films and Broadway runs, and her fond memories of many close lifelong friendships. By Myself and Then Some reveals the legend in her own beautiful frank words. Hardcover, 506 pp. $37.95.


Beaton PortraitsBeaton Portraits
Terrence Pepper
Photographer, designer, and reporter, Cecil Beaton was also a facile socialite who's circle of friends included some of the best and brightest names of the 20th century. His social skills coupled with his superlative artisty produced a rich body of portrait photography. This sumptuously illustrated book brings together many of his evocative portraits in celebration of his remarkable life and work. Hardcover, 240 pp. $75.00.


The Unexpurgated BeatonThe Unexpurgated Beaton
Cecil Beaton
Presented here, in their original state (which is to say, uncensored) are the sharply witted and keenly insightful diaries of photographer, artist, writer, and designer, Cecil Beaton. With a cast of characters that includes: Bianca Jagger, Greta Garbo, David Hockney, Truman Capote, Mae West, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlene Dietrich, and countless others, The Unexpurgated Beaton is a book that is not only a great read and wicked fun, but a timeless chronicle of our age. Hardcover, 508 pp. $52.95.

The Unexpurgated Beaton DiariesThe Unexpurgated Beaton Diaries
Cecil Beaton
In his lifetime Cecil Beaton published six slim volumes culled from his personal diaries, but rather than hurt anyone's feelings he decided to censor his own brutally frank entries. Now here, for the first time, are Cecil Beaton's unexpurgated diaries. Introduced by his biographer Hugo Vickers, who has made the selection and annotated the entries, The Unexpurgated Beaton draws on previously unpublished diaries from the years 1970 to 1980. Softcover, 482 pp. $18.95.


Beaton in the Sixties Beaton in the Sixties: More Unexpurgated Diaries
Cecil Beaton
Following the success of the first book of uncensored Beaton diaries, comes this new collection. Here is Cecil in the second half of the 1960s, at the peak of his career as a photographer and designer. The cast of players in this volume include: Katherine Hepburn, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Greta Garbo, Mick Jagger, and Diana Vreeland, to name but a few. Hardcover, 434 pp. $50.00.


Beckett Remembering Remembering BeckettBeckett Remembering Remembering Beckett
James Knowlson & Elizabeth Knowlson
In the first part of this book, Beckett, a notably reclusive man, talks candidly with his official biographer, James Knowlson, about his family, his youth, his school years in Dublin, his early life in Paris as lecteur at the famed Ecole Normale Superieure, his friendship with James Joyce, his work in the French resistance movement during the Nazi occupation, his precipitous flight from Paris when his involvement was discovered by the Gestapo, his clandestine years in the Vaucluse region of southern France, his postwar volunteer work with the Irish Red Cross Hospital in Saint-Lo, and his return to Paris in the late 1940s to resume his literary life. The second part of this book offer the other side of the coin, as friends and colleagues share their memories of Beckett. Hardcover, 313 pp. $39.95.


Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama

Carol Ockman & Kenneth E. Silver
Sarah Bernhardt was an extraordinary performer, so much so that her name became synonymous with acting. Yet her importance extended beyond the world of theatre -- she was an icon of French nationalism, a target for both admiration and scorn, an artist and sculptor, and a trendsetting avatar of style. This fascinating book examines the many sides and talents of Bernhardt, from her beginnings at the Comedie Francaise through her international stardom. Wonderfully illustrated, the book features an unprecedented collection of images relating to Bernhardt's life, including paintings, posters, photographs, costumes, jewelry, stage designs, self-portraits, and sculptures. Softcover, 216 pp. $65.00.


Arguments With England: A MemoirArguments With England: A Memoir
Michael Blakemore
In this vivid autobiography by actor/writer/director Michael Blakemore, candid observations about life and art are recounted alongside colourful anecdotes from drama school and working with characters such as John Osborne and Tyrone Guthrie. Tragic and comic in equal measures, Arguments With England is an altogether honest memoir that theatre fans will find hugely compelling. Hardcover, 404 pp. $46.00.


Hamlet and the Baker's Son: My Life in the Theatre and PoliticsHamlet and the Baker's Son:
My Life in Theatre and Politics
August Boal
From his childhood and early day's in Brazil's political theatre movement to his more recent experiments with Forum Theatre as a democratic political process, Boal's story is a moving and extraordinary one. He has devised a unique way of using the stage to empower the disempowered, and taken his methods from the favelas of Rio to the rehearsal studios of the Royal Shakespeare Company. A distinctive warmth and humour fill these pages, demonstrating Boal's commitment to his personal/political slogan, "Have the courage to be happy." $34.95.


Kenneth BranaghKenneth Branagh
Mark White
From humble beginnings, Kenneth Branagh drove himself to dizzy heights of accomplishment. By twenty-one he had starred in a West End hit. At twenty-three he was playing Henry V for the Royal Shakespeare Company. By twenty-six he had established his own theatre company. Shortly after that he directed and starred in a movie version of Henry V, the start of a series of Shakespeare films that resulted in him being viewed by many as the leading interpreter of Shakespeare in the world. No actor of his generation achieved so much so rapidly. And yet no actor of his generation received such relentless criticism. Based on extensive research in previously untapped archival materials and on numerous interviews, Mark White's new biography traces the vicissitudes of Branagh's career, examining his meteoric rise and the backlash that accompanied it. Hardcover, 323 pp. $39.00.


The Undertaker's Daughter: The Colourful Life of a Theatre DirectorThe Undertaker's Daughter: The Colourful Life of a Theatre Director

Yvonne Brewster
Yvonne Brewster is one of the founders and leading lights of Britain's Black Theatre Movement. She has directed plays by writers as varied in period and background as Derek Walcott, Shakespeare, and Wole Soyinka, in theatres all over the world: from Britain, to Australia, to the U.S.A. Softcover, 257 pp. $24.95.


Peter Brook: A BiographyPeter Brook: A Biography
Michael Kustow
Peter Brook is the most influencial director of the second half of the twentieth century, whose productions are a byword for imagination, energy and innovation. In this first authoritative biography, arising out of an an association and friendship with Brook of more than forty years, Michael Kustow tells the fascinating and revealing story of a man whose life has been a never-ending quest for meaning. Softcover, 334 pp. $60.00.


Threads of TimeThreads of Time
Peter Brook
Peter Brook's memoir in which he reflects upon his artistic fortunes, his idols and teachers, his philosophical path and personal journey. $14.99.



 Between Two Silences
Between Two Silences:
Talking With Peter Brook
"This book of Brook in dialogue is an opening to amazement for all of us who work in the theatre, or teach it or think about it." Ranging widely over many topics, this book is the result of twelve hours of spontaneous answers and questions with theatre students in a university setting. $25.95.


Richard Burton: Prince of PlayersRichard Burton: Prince of Players

Michael Munn
Here is the full story of Richard Burton's life and remarkable career, revealed by a writer who knew him from 1968 up to the time they were together on Burton's last film in 1984. Hardcover, 260 pp. $39.95.

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Theatre Biographies are listed alphabetically by last name.
New & Featured
A to C
D to H
I to M
N to S
T to Z
Film Biographies
Television Biographies


Theatre Studies
Canadian Theatre Studies
Criticism/Theory/History
Musical Theatre
Theatre Biographies
National Theatre Studies
Playwrights
Playwrighting
Theatre Reference
Actors & Acting
Plays
Shakespeare
Technical Theatre
Drama in Education


Conversing with CageConversing with Cage
Richard Kostelanetz
Cage was perhaps the 20th century's most radical classical composer. From his famous "silent" piece (4'33") to his proclaimation that "all sound is music," Cage stretched the artistic boundaries of what could be performed in the modern concert hall. But more than that, Cage was a provacative cultural figure, who played a key role in inspiring scores of other artists in the second half of the 20th century. Softcover, 332 pp. $38.00.


Seeing Chekhov: Life & ArtSeeing Chekhov: Life & Art

Michael C. Finke
Michael C. Finke explodes a century of critical truisms concerning Chekhov's objective eye and whatbeing a physician gave him as a writer in a book that foregrounds the deeply subjective and self-reflexive aspects of his fiction and drama. Seeing Chekhov is essential reading for students of Russian literature, devotees of the short story and modern drama, and anyone interested in the intersection of literature, psychology, and medicine. Hardcover, 237 pp. $38.95.


A Life in LettersA Life in Letters
Anton Chekov
From his teenage years in provincial Russia to his premature death in 1904, Anton Chekhov wrote thousands of letters to a wide range of correspondents. Vividly evoking landscapes, people and his daily life, this collection of letters offers a intimate glimpse into Chekhov's mind, revealing a character who is resilient, generous, charming and life enhancing. Softcover, 552 pp. $23.50.

The Other ChekhovThe Other Chekhov: A Biography of Michael Chekhov
Charles Marowitz
A significant figure during his lifetime, Michael Chekhov continues to exert his influence over theatre artists today. A charismatic actor, a compelling director, and a teacher who developed a dynamic antidote to Russian Naturalism, Chekhov remains the invisible man of the modern theatre. This elegant biography discusses his life, his career, and his theories on acting. Hardcover, 302 pp. $39.95.


The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close
The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close
Kim "Howard" Johnson
For nearly a half century, Del Close - cocreator of the Harold, director for the Second City, San Fancisco's the Committee, and the ImprovOlympic, and "house metaphysician" for Saturday Night Live - influenced improvisational theatre's greatest comedic talents. Del was never one to let the truth of his life stand in the way of a good story - and yet the truth is even more fascinating than the fiction. Hardcover, 422 pp. $29.95.


Let Me Stand AloneLet Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie
Let Me Stand Alone reveals the late activist Rachel Corrie's striking gifts as a poet and writer as she tells her story in her own words, from her precocious reflections as a young girl to her final emails. Her writing brings to life all that it means to come of age--a dawning sense of self, a thirst for one's own ideals, and an evolving connection to others near and far. Hardcover, 311 pp. $23.95.


The Letters of Noel CowardThe Letters of Noel Coward
Edited by Barry Day
The first and definitive collection of letters (most of them previously unpublished) both from and to the incomparable Noel Coward, a unique and irresistible portrait of a society and age. Profoundly savvy, witty, loving, bitchy, and often surprisingly moving, The Letters of Noel Coward give us "Destiny's Tot" at his crackling best. Hardcover, 780 pp. $47.00 $40.00.


The Noel Coward Audio CollectionThe Noel Coward Audio Collection
Noel Coward
From moving war-time encounters to satirical barbs at familar Coward targets and personal reminiscences, this delightful collection is a perfect blend of vintage Noel Coward sure to be enjoyed by faithful fans and new listeners alike. This collection includes two short stories, Cheap Excursion and The Kindness of Mrs. Radcliffe, and various poems. And from the Caedmon Treasury, Coward himself and Margaret Leighton perform Coward's adaption of his Brief Encounter, scenes from Blithe Spirit and Present Laughter, the interlude from Bernard Shaw's The Apple Cart, concluding with the duo reading more from Coward's Collected Verse. Audio CD. $42.50.


Future IndefiniteFuture Indefinite
Noel Coward
This second volume of Noel Coward's legendary autobiography includes Future Indefinite and the unfinished Past Unconditional. With his celebrated panache, Coward shares anecdotes about his South American travels, Hollywood encounters and his later theatrical successes, including the Broadway triumph of Design for Living. A wonderful memoir by one of the most exuberant characters in British theatrical history. Softcover, 348 pp. $23.95.


Present Indicative Present Indicative
Noel Coward
Displaying an early dedication to the theatre, Noel Coward's first autobiography hints at the success that would come to him as an actor, playwright, novelist and performer. Charting his progress from a 'brazen odious little prodigy' to Cavalcade in 1931, Present Indicative is a must read for anyone with an interest in the British stage and the man who so clearly owned it. Softcover, 340 pp. $23.95.


Kingfisher DaysKingfisher Days
Susan Coyne
The story of the correspondence between Susan Coyne, age 5, and her summer cottage neighbor, the elderly R. C. Moir, who sends her letters from Nootsie Tah, an imaginary faerie princess. Through the course of their correspondence, Moir encourages Coyne's belief in magic and awakens her to a love of the written word. "Kingfisher Days" has been a runaway favorite this fall, as shown in the words of Dan Smith, a Toronto Star book editor: "One of the prerogatives of the book editor is the option of getting to choose that one special book, that one read of the many that stays in the head -- and, with any luck, the heart -- and won't let go. Of all the big, thumping novels by name authors and gripping non-fiction subjects this fall, the one book that best meets that highly subjective test happens to be [Kingfisher Days].....We'll be reading Kingfisher Days aloud with our own little people." $25.95.


700 Sundays700 Sundays
Billy Crystal
One of America's most beloved entertainer's takes us home. Billy Crystal opens the front door to a time in his life when he shared joy, love, music, and laughter with an eccentric family headed by the hardworking father who left them all too soon. Based on his Tony Award-winning play, 700 Sundays celebrates the memories, the love, and all the other wonderful gifts parents can give a child. Softcover, 182 pp. $16.99.


 

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Last modified February 12, 2009
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.