About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated

ISBN-100195414713

ISBN-139780195414714

eBay Product ID (ePID)116935303

Product Key Features

Book TitleStanding Naked in the Wings

TopicGeneral

LanguageEnglish

GenrePerforming Arts

AuthorTedde Moore, Lynda Mason Green

FormatUk-Trade Paper

Dimensions

Item Weight18.3 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Reviews"Standing Naked in the Wings is a treasury of theatre lore over the past 50 years...[it] captures the flights--and falls--in fascinating detail, dialogue and punch line. The book is a natural for anyone in love with Canadian show business." Hamilton Spectator, "If you want to be moved to tears and laughter by the backstage stories of our theatre artists, get yourself a copy of Standing Naked in the Wings...Reading these stories is like settling down for a delicious, gossipy chat with your favorite actor." Mira Friedlander, Performanc Magazine, "I screamed helplessly with laughter during a good part of this wonderfully entertaining collection of actors' anecdotes." Calgary Herald, "The strength of the collections is its warmth and intimacy. Many of the stories really give the impression of eavesdropping on a couple of actors chating in a bar." Toronto Star, "This very engaging book, a perfect givt for the theatre buff. Or yourself." U of T Bookstore Review, "...[a] funny and revealing book about the truth of that business of which there's no business like it." Vancouver Sun

Table Of Content1. Auditions or "Just have fun with it"2. Beginnings, Mentors, and influences3. Support Staff4. Kids and Animals5. Missed Cues, Missed Lines, Mistakes6. Sets and Props: The Nemeses7. Dressing the Part8. Bare Bods and Bodily Functions9. De Tours and De Cold Tours10. Bigwigs and Legends11. Audiences and Fans12. Fame and Fortune13. Radio Days and Live TV14. Stunts and SFX15. Pranks and Escapades16. Myth, Mayhem and Magic17. The Family Album

SynopsisThis delightful collection is the only work to bring together first-hand stories from Canada's acting community. Funny, shocking, embarrassing and poignant, these are the stories that actors tell each other, providing an intimate glance into the world behind the camera and beyond the footlights. Arranged thematically, it starts with "The Audition", a chapter that focuses on one of the more humiliating experiences that all actors must face. Among the many stories is one by Patrick McKenna called "Dead Man Dancing" that relates a disastrous audition and amply shows why one of the two Gemini awards he won this year was for comedy. Othe chapters look at mentors, directors and producers, working with kids and animals, missed cues and lines, touring, audiences and fans, pranks and escapades, and live radio and TV performances. "Big Wigs and Legends" contains anecdotes starring names like Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Sir John Gielgud, Julie Andrews, Vanessa Redgrave, Steven Speilberg, Richard Burton, Barbra Striesand, Laurence Olivier, and Katherine Hepburn.Included are many stories from the Stratford Festival: Scott Wentworth cracking up during Richard III, an actor on stage catching fire during a production of Othello and William Hutt's dying in an unconventional manner when Christopher Plummer's Hamlet could not get his sword out of the scabbard (Polonius' death did not look accidental). Along the way you'll find "Bare Bods and Bodily Functions", which includes an anecdote by Bruce Greenwood that begins intriguingly "Standing naked in the wings before an entrance...," as well as "Stunts and SFX", which includes Timothy Findley's story from the first season of Stratford in 1953, when he had to make a "ten-foot leap [from the balustrade] through the dark...and not land on Alec Guiness, whose single spotlight was the only light there was."Brought together by two veteran Canadian actors, Standing Naked in the Wings features a star-studded cast giving the performance of their lives.