Michael Billington discusses his book celebrating the art of the dramatist with theatre director Sam Walters. Michael Billington says, “Shakespearians will be outraged, Beckettians astonished.” “Lucidly written and argued this is a seriously pleasurable book, founded upon a life spent valuably in theatres.” The Independent.
Nominated for the Theatre Book Prize for titles published in 2015
Michael Billington has been theatre critic of the Guardian since 1971 and of Country Life since 1986. He is the author of biographies of Harold Pinter and Peggy Ashcroft, of critical studies of Tom Stoppard and Alan Ayckbourn. He frequently lectures and broadcasts on the arts, teaches drama for the University of Pennsylvania and is a Visiting Professor at King’s College, London and an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford @billicritic
Sam Walters, educated at Merton College Oxford, trained as an actor at LAMDA. He founded the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond in 1971 and was its director until his retirement in 2014. Sam is one of three judges for the Theatre Book Prize for titles published in 2015.