Theatrical chaos
Beautiful Chaos is the arresting title of a book by Carey Perloff, on her life and times as director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. I have a partner with 30 years' experience as an actor but I have no professional understanding of the theatre; yet the book engrossed me with its insights into the dynamics of the world backstage. (Declaration of interest: Carey is a second cousin of mine, though we've never met.) Two themes in the book struck me particularly. The first is the emphasis put on theatre as a vehicle for lifelong learning. At a technical level Carey describes the changes she made to…
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