Old Vic Prefaces: Shakespeare and the Producer

London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1954. Though much has been written about the art of the actor, little is known about the craft of the producer. This book of Old Vic Prefaces is a collection of the author's talks to the actors on those plays which he produced while a director of the Old Vic from 1949 to 1953. They allow the reader the privilege of penetrating behind the scenes and learning how a producer approaches his work. The prefaces are unique in that they relate to actual preformances and each preface is followed by a short post-script in which the producer draws attention to some point that arose in production or in rehearsal, which illustrates the sort of problems that confront the producer of a Shakespeare play. Frontispiece is a photograph : Juliet : Claire Bloom - Romeo: Alan Badel. A generous list of illustrations provided and 25 photographs on heavier semi-gloss stock. Each play produced begins with a list of actors and actresses and other information such as attendants, scenery and costume design and music composers. The contents : Preface - Love's Labour's Lost - Hamlet - Twelfth Night - The Merry Wives of Windsor - Romeo and Juliet - The Merchant of Venice - Julius Caesar. A patch of brown spotting to outside edge of book. Price-intact illustrated dust jacket. A sound, respectable copy.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good.