Sitting In The Cheap Seats

Antony Sher’s diaries, charting his exploration of some of Shakespeare’s most iconic roles, could easily be marketed as essential ‘how to’ guides for young actors , his honesty and anxiety must be reassuring for performers who no doubt all feel the same way at various points in their careers.

Photo by Ellie Kurttz (c) RSC For many actors Lear is the ultimate role, hence the proliferation of productions that appear every year. In 2016 alone we’ve had Timothy West, Don Warrington and Michael Pennington all pop up in the role and Glenda Jackson is currently giving us a female perspective over at the Old Vic. RSC stalwart Antony Sher ’s take on the role has been something we’ve been waiting a few years for… so how does he do?

I’m a relatively new convert to Shakespeare. Going to an all-boys secondary school in the mid-nineties there was very little focus on arts subjects and it put me off the bard for a long time. Even when I finally started going to see productions of Shakespeare’s plays I was wary of the Royal Shakespeare Company . These were the protectors of the canon and surely would be the toughest to truly appreciate! Then I saw Antony Sher as Falstaff…

It’s strangely comforting to realise that even the greatest actors have their fair share of fears and worries over their performances. Though most performers work hard to hide them, in his latest book  Year of The Fat Knight   Antony Sher  (a Sir himself) confronts those feelings head on in a brilliantly honest and wonderfully engrossing diary that encompasses the days between the  Gregory Doran  deciding to direct the Henry plays and opening night at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.