Letters from an Actor
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
The legendary 1964 Broadway run of Hamlet directed by John Gielgud is one of the most famous productions of Shakespeare's most important play. Audacious for its time in concept and execution, it placed the actors in everyday clothes within an unassuming "rehearsal" set, with the Ghost of Hamlet's father projected as a shadow against the rear wall and voiced by the director himself. It was also a runaway critical and financial success, breaking the then-record for most performances of a Broadway show. This was in no small part due to the starring role played by Richard Burton, whose romance with Elizabeth Taylor was the object of widespread fascination.
Present throughout, and ever attentive to the backstage drama and towering egos on display, was the actor William Redfield, who played Guildenstern. During the three months of the play's preparation, from rehearsals through out-of-town tryouts to the gala opening night on Broadway, Redfield wrote a series of letters describing the daily happenings and his impressions of them. In 1967, they were in 1967 collected into Letters from an Actor, a brilliant and unusual book that has since become a classic behind-the-scenes account that remains an indispensable contribution to theatrical history and lore.
This new edition at last brings Redfield's classic back into print, as The Motive and the Cue--the Sam Mendes-directed play about the Gielgud production that is based in part on the book--continues its successful run in London's West End.
About the Author:
William Redfield was a founding member of the Actors Studio who enjoyed an active career on stage and screen, including memorable roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Odd Couple. He died in 1976.
See the publisher website: Applause Books
See the complete filmography of William Redfield on the website: IMDB ...
> On a related topic:
Shakespeare (2025)
The Man Who Pays the Rent
by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea
Subject: Actress > Judi Dench
Hamlet Lives in Hollywood (2017)
John Barrymore and the Acting Tradition Onscreen
Dir. Murray Pomerance and Steven Rybin
Subject: Actor > John Barrymore
Screening the Royal Shakespeare Company (2020)
A Critical History
by John Wyver
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
Shakespeare on screen - Macbeth (2014)
by Victoria Bladen, Sarah Hatchuel and Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
Shakespeare on Screen - A Midsummer Night's Dream (2004)
by Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin and Sarah Hatchuel
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
Guiding Royalty (2018)
My Adventure with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
by Yoram Ben-Ami and Nat Segaloff
Subject: Actress > Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton
Cocktails with George and Martha (2025)
Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Subject: One Film > Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Cleopatra and the Undoing of Hollywood (2024)
How One Film Almost Sunk the Studios
Subject: One Film > Cleopatra (Mankiewicz)
Back
