Being an Actor

Being an Actor: in every role a new person, a new life; intoxication when a performance goes well, misery when it doesn't; and always - even for the great - the threat of unemployment.

Part autobiography, part analysis, part manifesto, this astonishingly honest book exposes all the pressures, rewards and insecurity of such a career. One of the most acclaimed actors and directors of his generation, Simon Callow showed that he could be as brilliant on paper as on stage when this book was first published in 1984. For this new revised edition, he has added a substantial amount of material omitted from the earlier edition and a postscript that offers a fiercely critical analysis of the contemporary British theatre.