(Applause Books). This book isn't a critical examination of high comedy. Rather, it's a collection of suggestions for the middlemen: the actors who have to catch the comic spark from the playwright and pass it on to the audience. The effort involved must be imperceptible: one has to acquire the cleverness, the articulacy, the febrility of the characters and then make the whole laborious exercise seem like swimming through silk...The characters in high comedies don't find verbal sophistication difficult or unfamiliar; they enjoy it as you might enjoy slang.

The art of acting in restoration comedy, the buoyant, often bowdy romps which celebrated the reopening of the English theatres after Cromwell's dour reign, is the subject of Simon Callow's bold investigation. There is cause again to celebrate as Callow, one of Britain's foremost actors, aims to restore the form to all its original voluptuous vigor. Callow shows the way to attain clarity and hilarity in some of the most delightful roles ever conceived for the theatre.

When media baron Rod McCain (Kevin Kline) buys Marwood Zoo in England, he sends over his son Vince (also Kline) and the sexy Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis) to ensure that it turns over a 20% profit. The zoo is being run by McCain employee Rollo Lee (John Cleese), who has instigated a policy that only fierce creatures should be on display. When Vince sets up advertising hoardings and arranges bogus celebrity sponsorship, the zookeepers, led by insect specialist 'Bugsy' Malone (Michael Palin), revolt. John Cleese reassembles the cast of 'A Fish Called Wanda' for this film, described as an 'equal' rather than a sequel.

When media baron Rod McCain (Kevin Kline) buys Marwood Zoo in England, he sends over his son Vince (also Kline) and the sexy Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis) to ensure that it turns over a 20% profit. The zoo is being run by McCain employee Rollo Lee (John Cleese), who has instigated a policy that only fierce creatures should be on display. When Vince sets up advertising hoardings and arranges bogus celebrity sponsorship, the zookeepers, led by insect specialist 'Bugsy' Malone (Michael Palin), revolt. John Cleese reassembles the cast of 'A Fish Called Wanda' for this film, described as an 'equal' rather than a sequel.