Synopsis:

Shortly after he left the directorship of the National Theatre, Richard Eyre embarked on a series of interviews with people who had played a significant part in making and influencing the theatre of the second half of the twentieth century. Forty of these interviews threaded through with Eyre's own commentary are published here for the first time. Because the interviewees, however famous, are talking to a fellow theatre practitioner one who was also often a friend and colleague, they are engagingly candid in their opinions, offering rare insights behind the scenes. The majority, well over thirty, are actors or writers. The actors range from John Gielgud, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Vanessa Redgrave to Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea and Fiona Shaw; the writers from Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard and Alan Bennett through David Hare and Christopher Hampton to Tony Kushner and Patrick Marber. There are also directors, such as Peter Brook and Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn and Robert Lepage, three designers, a composer (Stephen Sondheim) and a producer (Cameron Mackintosh). An appendix gives voice to Britain's last Theatre Censor. The topics Eyre sets out to cover are Shakespeare; Brecht and Beckett; Ireland and America; the British theatre before and after 1956; and the future... What emerges is a fascinating account of how theatre is made by the very people who made it. With unrivalled access, Eyre has allowed us to eavesdrop on the stories behind many of the most important productions and performances in the theatre of recent times.