Will I love Year of the King?

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1984 production of Richard III was so iconic that I was aware of the late Antony Sher’s star turn without ever having seen it – his use of crutches to augment and elongate his limbs creating the indelible image of a giant, malevolent spider.

Sher’s contemporaneous acting journal and sketchbook, republished on the 20th anniversary of the play’s premiere, is similarly extraordinary, charting his journey through rehearsals and into performance and revealing him to be as talented a writer as he was an actor – and a skilful artist and caricaturist to boot. Sher’s later… show more.

I majored in dramatic arts in college and later became a professional actress. Though I haven’t acted in years, I wanted to read this book because I’m a huge fan of the book’s author, the late Antony Sher.

Antony Sher was one of the great English actors. As a teenager, Antony left his home in South Africa to try his luck as an actor in England. Though he failed to be accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he gradually learned the art of being an actor, became a leading player with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was given… show more.