At the turn of the century; Mrs. Patrick Campbell was Englandrsquo;s most celebrated and notorious actress. An acclaimed beauty; loved by many; she is remembered for her wit; for bad behaviour; and her close friendship with George Bernard Shaw. She was a great actress; when she wanted to be. She had a low boredom threshold and frequently behaved dreadfully on stage.Her work was daring and unpredictable; enhanced by her great beauty. Shaw worshipped her; wrote Pygmalion for her and begged her to play Eliza. Rather than living to work she always worked to live and died in exile and poverty.Pam Gems new play is about the art and craft of acting and the turmoil of being a woman who was meant to please but couldnrsquo;t resist using her mind. Mrs Pat opened at the York Theatre Royal in March 2006.
#3327346 in eBooks 2002-02-13 2002-02-13File Name: B00AXZYSE6
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Tosh meets up with Babylon and ...By kristen227This is an excellent and eye opening bio of the much maligned reggae singer/songwriter Peter Tosh. Masouri shows how the music industry; at every turn; works to stifle true artists in exchange for pushing bubble gum music and commercial pop-rock. In so many instances the book shows how unfairly Toshs music was reviewed by the so-called critics in both the US and UK.I found the book very interesting in exposing the recording process that cover 7 albums in 10 years; and the incredible musical line-up that Toshgathered to complete his vision. The outstanding work of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare is evident throughout and their falling out with Toshis once again a financial and not a musical one..12 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Biography and Data Dump Makes It Tough on ReadersBy CustomerJohn did step up to take on a tough; first-time biography of a hugely complicated person/subject. Peter was the sort of person who was larger than life; and so virtually everyone (except; perhaps; John himself) had or has a range of opinions on him. So this book is basically an amalgamation of stories; opinions; perceptions and details; some of which are presented without description (or sometimes misidentification) of where or from whom such information or data had come from; and much of which is conflicting. John leaves the reader to make up her or his own mind; from a heap of such utter raw data; but that is particularly difficult given the fact that readers are blind to so much. John interjects his own opinion in a few parts of the book; but then usually covers that up with many other (often conflicting) accounts; so that (once again) a reader is left bewildered; or else free to move anywhere. Im not certain that makes for an effective biography.He portrays Tosh as angry and serious; but humorous and witty; and your general impression will probably depend on where you are in the book. This may seem true; but that may be based more on first blush-type accounts--most who knew Peter well describe him as having been very humorous; very intelligent and witty; but with a sense of earnestness and moral righteousness. Some may see this as arrogance or judgmentalism; but others will view it as integrity and a moral foundation. He was playful but respectful; suspicious but also somewhat naive.Johns choices of which stories to include; and which ones are NOT included; are curious (and may indicate that he had not spoken to many who knew Peter well; including his family). To be fair; his descriptions of Toshs reviews by the UK press is particularly interesting and insightful. His reports on Toshs time in Africa was also interesting; and his discussions of Toshs time with Marlene Brown was also pretty clear and seems on point.But John does not deal with the alleged "Marley vs. Tosh" media nonsense particularly clearly--he does not indicate what the musicians; friends and family all say: that the core was some hurt feelings of abandonment of what essentially had been a Wailers "family" by Marley; but as with all cases of hurt feelings; it was based upon fundamental love and admiration; all of which otherwise was deeply enshrouded with media fantasy; exploitation and spin (of like ilk to "Lennon vs. McCartney" and other alleged internal squabbles).Tosh; Marley and Livingston were all phenomenally gifted. Tosh and Livingston probably were more gifted vocally; but that just enabled them to harmonize with great sweetness; and Marley had a great voice for lead vocals. Tosh was a naturally gifted musician and artist. Marley had incredible songwriting skills; but so did Tosh. And like Lennon and McCartney; Tosh and Marley had a yin and yang effect on each other in their songwriting. John blessedly points this out in the first third of his book; but then it becomes lost in all the data dump of conflicting details and reports and opinions. In attempting a magnum opus; sadly; the truth about Peter is lost under all the detritus.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Brian PallasIf you like Peter Tosh; I think youll like this book. I enjoyed it a lot.