The riveting story of the rivalry between the two most renowned actresses of the nineteenth century: legendary Sarah Bernhardt, whose eccentricity on and off the stage made her the original diva, and mystical Eleonora Duse, who broke all the rules to popularize the natural style of acting we celebrate today.Audiences across Europe and the Americas clamored to see the divine Sarah Bernhardt swoon--and she gave them their money's worth. The world's first superstar, she traveled with a chimpanzee named Darwin and a pet alligator that drank champagne, shamelessly supplementing her income by endorsing everything from aperitifs to beef bouillon, and spreading rumors that she slept in a coffin to better understand the macabre heroines she played. Eleonora Duse shied away from the spotlight. Born to a penniless family of itinerant troubadours, she disappeared into the characters she portrayed--channeling their spirits, she claimed. Her new, empathetic style of acting revolutionized the theater--and earned her the ire of Sarah Bernhardt in what would become the most tumultuous theatrical showdown of the nineteenth century. Bernhardt and Duse seduced each other's lovers, stole one another's favorite playwrights, and took to the world's stages to outperform their rival in her most iconic roles. A scandalous, enormously entertaining history full of high drama and low blows, Playing to the Gods is the perfect "book for all of us who binge-watched Feud" (Daniel de Vise, author of Andy & Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show).

This expanded second edition of Contemporary European Theatre Directors is an ambitious and unprecedented overview of many of the key directors working in European theatre over the past 30 years. This book is a vivid account of the vast range of work undertaken in European theatre during the last three decades, situated lucidly in its artistic, cultural, and political context. Each chapter discusses a particular director, showing the influences on their work, how it has developed over time, its reception, and the complex relation it has with its social and cultural context. The volume includes directors living and working in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Russia, Romania, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, offering a broad and international picture of the directing landscape. Now revised and updated, Contemporary European Theatre Directors is an ideal text for both undergraduate and postgraduate directing students, as well as those researching contemporary theatre practices, providing a detailed guide to the generation of directors whose careers were forged and tempered in the changing Europe following the end of the Cold War.

By combing through the journals that Hannah has kept for much of her life, this collection of narrative essays deliver a fuller picture of her life, her experiences, and the things she's figured out about family, faith, love, sexuality, self-worth, friendship and fame. Revealing what makes Hannah tick, this sometimes cringe-worthy, poignant collection of stories is sure to deliver plenty of Hannah's wit and wisdom, and hopefully encourage you to try your hand at her patented brand of reckless optimism. Personal note: Hello, my darlings! I am incredibly pleased to present BUFFERING: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded! As a big fan of memoirs, I wanted to try my hand at writing about the events of my life that deserve a little more consideration than can be accomplished in 140-characters or a 6-minute vlog. Now on the cusp of turning 30, I'm ready to expose some parts of my life that I haven't shared before. Before, it was all about privacy, process and time. And now the time has come! I'm ready to put myself out there, for you. I'm a little nervous about all these vulnerable words going into the world, these tales about my love life, the wrestling I've done with faith, how I feel about sex and my family and myself. I've had a lot of trials, a lot of errors, but also a lot of passion. Here's the thing - I've always found comfort in the stories shared by others, so I hope my stories, now that I feel ready to tell them, will bring you some comfort too. And when you read this book please remember: Buffering is just the time it takes to process. Enjoy! Love, Hannah

Lights, Camera, Lions tells the remarkable story of Hungarian Hubert Geza Wells, who defects to America during the communist era and goes on to make a name for himself as one of the desired animal trainers in Hollywood. His hair-raising memoir (pun intended) gives insight into training animals that has never been revealed before.

This book focuses on the "dark side" of stand-up comedy, initially inspired by speculations surrounding the death of comedian Robin Williams. Contributors, those who study humor as well as those who perform comedy, join together to contemplate the paradoxical relationship between tragedy and comedy and expose over-generalizations about comic performers' troubled childhoods, addictions, and mental illnesses. The book is divided into two sections. First, scholars from a variety of disciplines explore comedians' onstage performances, their offstage lives, and the relationship between the two. The second half of the book focuses on amateur and lesser-known professional comedians who reveal the struggles they face as they attempt to hone successful comedy acts and likable comic personae. The goal of this collection is to move beyond the hackneyed stereotype of the sad clown in order to reveal how stand-up comedy can transform both personal and collective tragedies by providing catharsis through humor.

From two distinguished academics, Stars: The Film Reader brings together key writings and new perspectives on stars and stardom in cinema including coverage of stars and star systems from Europe and Asia as well as Hollywood, such as Mario Lanza, Oprah Winfrey and Roseanne Barr.

Including contributions from top scholars such as Richard Dyer, the book addresses questions of production, labour and circulation, and examines neglected areas of study such as the Avant-Garde star, the non-American stars, and the question of ethnicity.
Grouped in thematic sections, the articles explore key issues and developments in the study of stardom, providing a comprehensive overview of stardom across the world and in different genres and media.

This biography tells the story of Alice May, a touring prima donna in the nineteenth century who travelled from England to Australia, New Zealand, India and the US, taking part in pioneering performances of the popular light operas of the day. Along the way she took part in many premieres, including the first production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer and the first authorised American production of The Mikado. This colourful life story will appeal to theatre historians, fans of the melodrama, burlesque, and the musical stage.

Yukio Ninagawa (1935-2016) was Japan's foremost director of Shakespeare whose productions were acclaimed around the world. His work was lauded for its spectacular imagery, its inventive use of Japanese iconography and its striking fusion of Eastern and Western theatre traditions. Over a career spanning six decades, Ninagawa directed 31 of Shakespeare's plays, many of them, including Hamlet, on multiple occasions. His productions of Macbeth, The Tempest, Pericles, Twelfth Night and Cymbeline became seminal events in world Shakespeare production during the last 30 years. This is the first English-language book dedicated exclusively to Ninagawa's work. Featuring an overview of his extraordinary output, this study considers his Shakespearean work within the context of his overall career. Individual chapters cover Ninagawa's approach Shakespeare and Greek tragedy, in particular his landmark productions of Macbeth and Medea, and his eight separate productions of Hamlet. The volume includes a detailed analysis of the Sai-no-Kuni Shakespeare Series - in which Ninagawa set out to stage all of Shakespeare's plays in his hometown of Saitama, north of Tokyo. Written by Conor Hanratty, who studied with Ninagawa for over a year, it offers a unique and unprecedented glimpse into the work and approach of one of the world's great theatre directors.

Garry O'Connor, highly respected for his theatrical biographies, presents a richly drawn, fully dimensional portrait of the great actor Paul Scofield. He interviewed the intensely private Scofield himself, as well as many of the actors and directors he has worked with, including Simon Callow, Trevor Nunn, Richard Eyre and Peter Hall. The result is a masterly biography that paints a revealing portrait of a man who, for the serious film and theatre-goer, is more of an icon than any other living actor.

An access-all-areas book marking the 25th anniversary of the era-defining Oasis concerts at Knebworth, with stunning images taken by acclaimed music photographer Jill Furmanovsky - including contributions from Noel Gallagher and Alan McGee, and hundreds of never-before-seen pictures *** "A wonderful document of the last great gathering of the pre-internet age. No camera phones, no social media, just a band and its fans as one" - NOEL GALLAGHER On 10th and 11th August 1996, Oasis played the concerts that would define them, a band at the height of their powers playing to over 250,000 people. Twenty-five years on, this is the inside story of those nights, told through the breathtaking photographs of Jill Furmanovsky, granted unprecedented access to Oasis throughout that summer. Also includes newly obtained first-hand accounts from the people who were there - including Noel Gallagher and Alan McGee - in text by award-winning author Daniel Rachel. From relaxed rehearsals and warm-up concerts to Knebworth itself - backstage, onstage, flying high above the site - many of the stunning photographs in this book have never been seen anywhere before. This the definitive account of two nights that a generation will never forget.

Hollywood Comedians, The Film Reader brings together key writings on one of the most consistently popular genres of Hollywood cinema. Despite the cult reputations enjoyed by star performers such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Woody Allen, comedians and the contexts within which they worked have not always received their due in scholarly discussions of cinema culture. Hollywood Comedians, The Film Reader seeks to fill this gap, combining distinguished work on comedian comedy produced since the early 1980s together with more recent material that explores the genre's contemporary revival.
This reader provides a comprehensive guide to a range of comedians, contexts and issues: from the silent films of Chaplin and Keaton to the early sound comedy of Mae West and the Marx Brothers, and from the gender dynamics of Hope and Crosby, Lucille Ball and Jerry Lewis to contemporary comedians such as Jim Carrey and Chris Rock. In addition to exploring issues of genre, narrative, stardom and performance, the reader also traces how comedian films manage representations of otherness that are defined through ethnicity, race, class, gender and the body.
Articles are grouped in thematic sections, each exploring a central issue to the study of comedian comedy, and featuring an editor's introduction outlining the context of issues and debates. Sections include:
*Genre, narrative and performance
*Approaches to silent comedy
*Sound comedy, the vaudeville aesthetic and ethnicity
*Comedian comedy and gender
*Post-classical comedian comedy

Say 'Eh-oh!' to Nikky Smedley and Laa-Laa Over the Hills and Far Away follows Nikky through the Teletubbies years, from her role as a bistro table during her audition to the show's international success and the accompanying hounding by the press. In this warm, funny, affectionate look back at life on the Teletubbies set, Nikky reveals all, including tales about dogs and asthma, raging arguments about fruit, and the games the cast and crew played to amuse themselves during long shoots in their massive costumes. Join Nikky and Laa-Laa on their extraordinary journey from the very beginning to handing the torch to another performer for the next generation.

Hans Conried was once described by the well-known Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as "a high-strung, droll fellow, plagued by a multitude of talents." Conried was indeed a talented and versatile actor, but his talent often went unrecognized because his versatility worked against him and made it difficult for him to find his niche as an actor. Hans Conried gets the recognition he deserves in this work. Part One covers his birth in 1917 and his early years, the launch of his career as a radio actor, his move to motion pictures, his marriage, and his military service in the Philippines, Korea, and Japan in World War II. Part Two deals with Conrieds return to the United States following the war, the birth of his first child, the decline of radio and his first television performances, and his involvement with such productions as The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, The Twonky, Peter Pan, Can-Can, and numerous others. Part Three details his work with Jack Paar (Conried became a semi-regular "television personality" on the early Tonight Show), his summer stock theater work, and his work doing guest spots on various programs and providing voices for cartoon characters. Part Four discusses Conrieds final years touring with stock productions, his increasing health problems and problems at home, and his death in 1982.

Still only in his thirties, he has become one of Britain's great acting exports and has brought both the big and small screen to life for audiences around the world. First emerging on British television and stage - winning the Lawrence Olivier Award in 2008 and appearing in Othello opposite Ewan Macgregor - Hiddleston's breakthrough came when he was cast as Loki in the 2011 Thor film, and again in The Avengers (2012) and the 2013 blockbuster Thor: The Dark World , a role that cemented him as a star. He has since worked with legends of stage and screen, including Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg, and recently won a Golden Globe for his role in the BBC adaptation of John Le Carre's The Night Manager . In this book, Sarah Marshall traces Tom Hiddleston's career to date, from his early introduction to theatre as a child, through to his role at the heart of the blockbuster Marvel Universe and leaves few readers doubting the incredible talent of this modern star.

Christine's Kilimanjaro: My Suburban Climb Up the Mountain of Life began with the author writing a thank-you letter to God. Christine found herself at a crossroads in her life when she stumbled across an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show one day. There she sat transfixed before the television, not expecting that her reality in an ordinary world would ever change. She never saw it coming-that this was the day her dreams would begin to change her life forever. "For the first time, I was going to be my own tour guide up my mountain. I could take a new path, instead of the tired one I had become accustomed to. I discovered something new-something that was no longer impossible-along the way, learning as I wrote that life is going to be messy, hurtful, confusing, even magical at times. But if I don't stop to enjoy my view in the climb, when and if I finally make it to the top, the top will be nothing more than that. The 'top' of a mountain!" A beautifully written story about one woman's quest to be the change she wishes to see in this world. A spiritual awakening took place as the author wrote out snapshots of her life, standing up to her past and a few demons she really never faced until she began to write her memoir. A moving and poignant path to self-discovery about her present and what she envisions her future to become. "Please stay seated, keep all hands and arms inside the moving vehicle at all times. It's going to be a bumpy ride, people!" That is, unless when you are reading this book you want to stand up and shout WOO-HOO with me. Face it, some rules are meant to be broken!"

The films of Georges MEliEs (1861-1938) are landmarks in the early history of narrative filmmaking and cinematic special effects. He was a harbinger of modern aesthetics and media manipulation, and this book, written by his granddaughter, is the only one that tells his full story. Magnificent MEliEs is a thoroughly researched but highly accessible book that is a crucial source for the scholar and an entertaining read for the nonspecialist. The core of the biography provides detailed accounts of MEliEs's filmmaking years (1896-1912), from his first motion pictures shortly after the public premiere of the LumiEre CinEmatographe through such worldwide successes as his film Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) and his eventual marginalization by the very industry he had helped to found. The biography also chronicles MEliEs's formative work as director of Paris's preeminent magic theater, the ThEAtre Robert-Houdin; his subsequent career staging operettas for the ThEAtre des VariEtEs Artistiques (1917-1923) in Montreuil on the site of one of his former film studios; and his later years selling toys and candy at the Gare Montparnasse (1926-1932) before being rediscovered by journalists and the avant-garde. These and other fascinating chapters highlight the remarkable range of MEliEs's creative work while suggesting how his singular life was nevertheless shaped by the seismic historical shifts of Second Empire and Third Republic France.

Through the performance ritual, the audience vicariously experiences the freedom, cultural risks, and utopian possibilities that society has denied them. Audience members are encouraged to touch us, smell us, feed us, defy us. In this strange millenial ceremony, the pandora box opens and the post-colonial demons are unleashed. - Guillermo Gomez-Pena's Performance Diaries
Guillermo Gomez-Pena has been variously described as among the most significant of late-twentieth-century performance artists - The Village Voice; a peacemaker in the worlds culture clash - Vanity Fair; and a wizard of language - The Chicago Tribune. He is without doubt, a unique outsider-artist who crosses the border and talks back.
In Dangerous Bordercrossers, Gomez-Pena continues his epic, artistic journey through globalisation, the commodification of identity, and the continuing culture wars. His writings, like his performances, point towards a borderless future and a poetics of hybridity.
This latest anthology of his performance chronicles, diary entries, poems, essays, and texts, sheds an extraordinary light on the life and work of this migrant provocateur. He documents and illuminates his brilliantly inventive collaborations with Roberto Sifuentes and Sara Shelton-Mann, among others, and reveals, for the first time, what it's like to be a Chicano on the road.
Dangerous Bordercrossers is at once sexy, scary and inspiring. Be prepared to be provoked.

Through the performance ritual, the audience vicariously experiences the freedom, cultural risks, and utopian possibilities that society has denied them. Audience members are encouraged to touch us, smell us, feed us, defy us. In this strange millenial ceremony, the pandora box opens and the post-colonial demons are unleashed. - Guillermo Gomez-Pena's Performance Diaries
Guillermo Gomez-Pena has been variously described as among the most significant of late-twentieth-century performance artists - The Village Voice; a peacemaker in the worlds culture clash - Vanity Fair; and a wizard of language - The Chicago Tribune. He is without doubt, a unique outsider-artist who crosses the border and talks back.
In Dangerous Bordercrossers, Gomez-Pena continues his epic, artistic journey through globalisation, the commodification of identity, and the continuing culture wars. His writings, like his performances, point towards a borderless future and a poetics of hybridity.
This latest anthology of his performance chronicles, diary entries, poems, essays, and texts, sheds an extraordinary light on the life and work of this migrant provocateur. He documents and illuminates his brilliantly inventive collaborations with Roberto Sifuentes and Sara Shelton-Mann, among others, and reveals, for the first time, what it's like to be a Chicano on the road.
Dangerous Bordercrossers is at once sexy, scary and inspiring. Be prepared to be provoked.

TO LIVE AND DREAM IS A WICKED DANCE. MY DREAMS OFTEN COME TRUE- A CURSE, AND A BLESSING. PAMELA ANDERSON's blond bombshell image was ubiquitous in the 1990s. Discovered in the stands during a Canadian football game, she was quickly launched into superstardom, becoming Playboy's favourite cover girl and an emblem of Hollywood glamour and sex appeal. Yet the Pamela Anderson we think we know was created through happenstance rather than careful cultivation. Love, Pamela brings forth her true story, that of a small town girl getting tangled up in her own dreams. Growing up on Vancouver Island, the daughter of young, wild, and unwittingly stylish parents, Pamela lived a hardscrabble childhood but developed a deep love for nature, populating her world with misfits, apparitional friends, and injured animals. Eventually overcoming her natural shyness, Pamela let her restless imagination propel her into a life few can dream of, in Hollywood and the Playboy Mansion. As her star rose, she found herself becoming a fixture of tabloid fodder, at the height of an era when paparazzi tactics were bent on destroying a person's image and self-esteem. Pamela forged ahead with grace, finding sanctuary in her love of art and literature, and emerged a devoted mother and activist. Now, having returned to the island of her childhood, after a memorable run starring as Roxie in Chicago on Broadway, Pamela is telling her story, a story of an irrepressible free spirit coming home and discovering herself anew at every turn. With vivid prose interspersed with bursts of original poetry, Love, Pamela is a pensive, layered, and unforgettable memoir.

'Mesmerising . . . an extraordinary piece of writing.' - The i paper 'A book that has the rare quality of being both poetic and accessible . . . missing Delicacy would be a huge mistake.' - Guardian 'A book that gets wiser, darker, and more brutally truthful every time you turn the page. Word of mouth is slowly turning it into a passionately recommended cult hit. A book you give a friend in trouble.' - Caitlin Moran 'Hilarious . . . heartbreaking.' - The Observer 'A layer cake of truth, pain and wisdom iced with charm. I loved it.' - Sue Perkins From award-winning comedian and writer Katy Wix comes Delicacy - a different kind of memoir from an astonishing new voice. Twenty-one snapshots of a life - some staccato, raw and shocking, some expansive, meditative, and profound, underpinned with moments of startling humour that shatter the darkness - all beginning with a single memory. A memory of cake. The sickly royal icing marked the moment Katy found her voice. The madeira cake was the sun her group therapy sessions orbited. The 'missing cake' from a lost holiday has never let go. The Bara brith eaten in hospital after a life-altering car crash was as tough as the metal that hit her. The supermarket rock cake was where she 'practised wanting'. Shocking, raw, darkly funny and deeply humane, Katy Wix's exploration of trauma, grief, addiction, love, loss, memory and hope is truly unforgettable. 'Painfully raw and incredibly funny' - Simon Amstell 'A book that offers many pleasures . . . hectically funny, eloquently angry.' - TLS 'Katy sees the world like no one else and deciphers it with extraordinary beauty. Delicacy took my breath away' - Lolly Adefope 'Heartbreaking, ridiculously clever and laugh out loud funny. One of the best books on trauma I've ever read' - Scarlett Curtis 'Fabulous story-telling and completely delicious writing' - Cariad Lloyd, host of Griefcast 'Katy is a stunning writer, seamlessly moving between bitingly funny moments and moments that make you violently, cathartically sob at 2am. An absolute belter of a book that stays with you' - Roisin Conaty 'Brilliantly original, funny and insightful. Dry and comic, but also very moving. I absolutely loved Delicacy' - Katy Brand 'Gentle, heartbreaking, laugh out loud funny and poetically told - an intimate memoir that stays with you' - Rose Matafeo 'A stunning book in which darkness and light, tragedy and humour, pain and hope are all masterfully, affectingly balanced' - Liam Williams 'Deeply comforting in how relatable it is, hilarious, and moving. I felt like this book was my best friend as soon as I started reading it' - Mae Martin 'Brimming with graceful, charming writing - this book perfectly encapsulates so many moments we face as girls and women and I only wish I'd read it sooner' - Kiri Pritchard-McLean 'Honest, raw, profound, deeply moving and funny' - Bridget Christie