This book was awesome! Great combination of accounts of directing individual shows, developing shows, and planning an overall season. (Okay, the last chapter, mainly acknowledgements, was a slog.) ( )

The author details his years at the National Theatre, a tenure that overlaps my own experience of the National Theatre through the program begun by him, National Theatre Live, designed to bring live theatre straight from London to your own city. He has worked with some of the finest playwrights, and has seen his work move from London to Broadway (though not always successfully, due to the vagaries of the London stage compared with the vagaries of the Broadway stage). He brings a fascinating, behind the scenes world to life, and the difficulties of bringing a play to life are presented with humor. As one who has seen his work, I feel at times his self-deprecating humility does not play well, but overall, it is a fascinating book about people I will probably never get much closer than 6 degrees of separation to, and I recommend the book to anyone interested in how theatre happens. ( )