A Piece of Work

Simon Russell Beale is one of Britain's most recognisable and well-loved actors. He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio - ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin, George Smiley to King Arthur. But ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes that rendered him half-blind, he has been captivated by Shakespeare. In A Piece of Work, Russell Beale tries to get under the skin of the playwright and find out what interested him. Was Shakespeare an instinctive 'conservative' or, rather, gently subversive? How collaborative was he? Did he add a line to Hamlet in order to accommodate his ageing and increasingly chubby principal actor, Richard Burbage? Did he suffer from insomnia and experience sexual jealousy? This is a brilliant account of an actor's life and work - and his relationship with our foremost dramatist.'As intelligent and thoughtful as his acclaimed stage work... offers fascinating pen-portraits of greats Beale has worked with and vividly conveys the excitement of live theatre' Guardian 'A glorious feast of insight, memory, gossip and revelation' Dominic Dromgoole