Her natural performance in Willy Russell's masterpiece seemed effortless but Collins found it hugely challenging " and still made every day a party Pauline Collins was a unique phenomenon: a…
As the Swan of Avon celebrates his birthday on Sunday, the actor pays tribute to a 'miraculous' book that rescued plays such as The Tempest and Macbeth from oblivion This Sunday, 23 April, S…
In 1979 Simon Callow was offered the dream role of Mozart in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus. As the play returns to the National, he recalls his early doubts and backstage battles The first I heard…
Premiered after the Suez crisis, Osborne's portrait of a clapped-out music hall star mirrored a Britain in decline. Sixty years on, it continues to reflect a country questioning its place in…
A pregnant bride, a father who lived in fear of arrest, a son-in-law charged with 'carnal copulation': Shakespeare's own family was just as wild and wicked as his creations. Illustration: Ma…
'Fathers should be neither seen nor heard,' runs one line in An Ideal Husband: 'Mothers are different'. The influence of Lady Wilde and other women helps solve the puzzle of her playwright s…
When Simon Callow set out to write a biography of Welles, he thought it might take four years. A quarter of a century and three volumes later, he's still not finishedI understood from the be…
Never underestimate the power of a heavyset hero in fishnet tights. Panto has long provided the heart, soul and high camp of the festive season. How did it all begin?As you get your kids and…
Phony politicians, flashy oligarchs, gay marriage. As Simon Callow takes his one-man show to Edinburgh, he explores the timeless bite of Juvenal's Satires Continue reading...
Noël Coward wanted to be a spy, but Churchill said he should stick to theatre. So his contribution to the war effort was to stage a 'light comedy about death' as London was bombedNoël …
When he starred in a 1970s fringe production based on Juvenal's satires, Simon Callow found that he loved the call and response with the audienceYou always know, as an actor, when you have a…
Civil war at the National Theatre: a tale of righteous revenge, told in cold rageThis is a most unusual book. It is a theatrical memoir that is remorselessly honest: this in itself is enough…
Simon Callow on a brisk yet elegant chronicle of the Laurence Olivier phenomenonAnd still they come. Eight years after the authorised biography of Laurence Olivier by Terry Coleman, here is …
Snoo Wilson's collected plays constitute a glorious Corybantic frieze covering vast tracts of human experience, filtered through an imagination that took in anthropology, history, physics, a…
His acting 'method' has been adopted by stars from Brando to Day-Lewis, but Stanislavski's company rejected his theories " and the Russian felt his own acting was lackingThis year marks the …
Simon Callow, Mark Elder and Gerard McBurney share a love for the music of Ivor Novello, which will be celebrated in a Prom, Glamorous NightOne day over lunch some 15 or more years ago, the …
Four books introduce young readers to Charles Dickens, whose life was as fascinating as his work.
Simon Callow applauds an irresistible survey of theatrical lifeTheatre, Robert Tanitch remarks in his riotously enjoyable new book, has never been more popular than it was in the 19th centur…
These men are both playing Richard III. How can acting styles have changed so much? Simon Callow on the fashions, theories and hypnotic faces that have shaped the stage Continue reading...