Dead Now Of Course

Dead Now Of Course
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‘My future mother-in-law burst into tears when she heard her son was to marry an actress. There’s still something disturbing, I grant you, about the word “actress”. If an MP or some other outstanding person plays fast and loose with an actress the world is unsurprised. She is certainly no better than she should be, and probably French…’As well as being a mother (to the actresses Sophie and Emma Thompson) and a devoted carer to her own mother and mother-in-law, Phyllida Law is also a distinguished actress, and Dead Now Of Course is the tale of her early acting career.As a young member of a travelling company, Phyllida learned to cope with whatever was thrown at her, from making her own false eyelashes to battling flammable costumes and rogue cockroaches. We find her in Mrs Miller’s digs, which were shared with a boozy monkey bought from Harrods, an Afghan hound known as the ‘the flying duster’, several hens and various children.Filled with funny, charming anecdotes, Dead Now Of Course paints a fascinating picture of life in the theatre – and at the heart of the story is an enchanting account of Phyllida’s courtship with her future husband, the actor and writer Eric Thompson.

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4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thEstate.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2017

Text and illustrations copyright © Phyllida Law 2017

Phyllida Law asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008244743

Ebook Edition © April 2017 ISBN: 9780008244750

Version: 2017-04-25

CONTENTS

COVER

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

DEDICATION

EPIGRAPH

OVERTURE

DIGS AND TOURS

MILDEW

STAGECRAFT

GREASEPAINT

FOOTLIGHTS

RUDE BITS

PROPS!

OPEN-PLAN THEATRES

WIGS AND WARDROBE

CURTAIN CALLS AND ENTRANCES

OFF

NAME-DROPPING

NORMAN POPHAM

DRESSING ROOM NUMBER 10

DRESSING ROOM 11

TYRONE GUTHRIE

DIRECTORS

EXTRA JOBS

THE RUSSIANS

TOM

THE WEDDING

FINALE

PHOTOGRAPHS AND PROGRAMMES

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

For my grandchildren,

Ernie, Walter, Gaia & Tindy

‘Here’s tae us

Wha’s like us

Damn few,

And they’re a’ deid’

Old Scottish toast, Anon

‘Our revels now are ended. These are our actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits, and

Are melted into air, into thin air;

And like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit shall dissolve;

And like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.’

Prospero, The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1