On Friday, one of the episodes of Shakespeare Uncovered was on Richard III. It was "hosted" by Antony Sher who played Richard in the early 1980s to much acclaim. In fact, he wrote a book about it. I read it this weekend.
YEAR OF THE KING: An Actor's Diary and Sketchbook by Antony Sher.
In 1984 Antony Sher, hailed as "the most exciting actor of his
generation" by the Observer , made his debut on homemade crutches
as the infamous Richard III in the Royal Shakespeare Company production
of the play. He would go on to win the Laurence Olivier and Evening
Standard Awards for best actor. In his own words and sketches, he
chronicles his personal and professional journey to this award-winning
performance, from the moment he was offered the role to opening night,
in the critically acclaimed book Year of the King , now available in
this special 20th anniversary edition. From his brainstorm to use
crutches to bring the king's deformity to life, to his research for the
role, which included watching interviews with psychopaths, reading about
mass murderers, and speaking with doctors and physically challenged
individuals, to his visit to his homeland of South Africa, to his
experiences in working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the reader is
given a front-row seat to Sher's physical and mental preparation or
rather transformation for his landmark performance as "the bottled
spider."
Published 1985; 252 pages. I enjoyed it immensely.
I also started reading a Netgalley advanced reading copy of WATCHER IN THE WOODS by Kelley Armstrong. 4th of 4 in series featuring asey Duncan, a homicide detective with a secret, living off the grid in the wilds of northern Canada.
The secret town of Rockton has seen some rocky times lately;
understandable considering its mix of criminals and victims fleeing
society for refuge within its Yukon borders. Casey Duncan, the town's
only detective on a police force of three, has already faced murder,
arson, and falling in love in the several months that she's lived there.
Yet even she didn't think it would be possible for an outsider to
locate the town and cause trouble in the place she's come to call home. When
a US Marshal shows up demanding the release of one of the residents,
but won't say who, Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are
skeptical. And yet only hours later, the marshal is shot dead and the
only possible suspects are the townspeople and Casey's estranged sister,
smuggled into town to help with a medical emergency. It's up to Casey
to figure out who murdered the marshal, and why someone would kill to
keep him quiet—before the killer strikes again.
Will be published February 2019; 368 pages.
I've enjoyed reading these because I've been mainly reading how to write books but I noticed this weekend they took my thoughts/mind/subconscious out of my own story I'm trying to write. I can't be doing that.
Tonight on TV, Arrow, "Crossing Lines":
Still in prison, Oliver faces his biggest challenge
yet. Meanwhile, Felicity gets an intriguing
offer, and Diggle asks Curtis to go
undercover for ARGUS.
I may watch it; I may skip it to watch later and just work on what I can. I didn't make as much progress as I wanted to this weekend. I'm trying to look at it as not a bad thing but as a good thing -- a sort of last relaxation fun thing before the beginning of NaNoWriMo on Thursday.
Have a good day
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
