Exit Through the Fireplace: The Great Days of Rep

Many of today's leading British actors and directors began their careers in the far less exalted world of local repertory companies. In this nostalgic, often hilarious book, Kate Dunn draws on theater people's first-hand experiences of the great days of British rep, with contributions from Eileen Atkins, Phyllida Law, Rachel Kempson, Derek Jacobi, Tom Conti, and many more.

Actors have capacious memories and love to tell stories about themselves and others in their profession. This oral history of the repertory theater system in Great Britain is told by an impressive number of well-known stage and screen figures who rose through repertory theaters. Dunn, author of Always and Always and a veteran of rep, interviewed 180 theater people and got them to reveal their personal experiences. She then organized this mass of material into one topic per chapter: stage managers, directors, rehearsals, acting, training, the audience, and so forth. Dunn provides the thematic and narrative glue but lets her interviewees tell the stories, get us to laugh, voice opinions, reminisce, and create the ambiance and the experience for the reader. Although the methodology calls for each chapter to have the same structure, which is somewhat static, this is a masterly assemblage. She ends with a thoughtful and telling chapter on the decline of rep. Recommended for public and academic libraries.AThomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., MA
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