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I Will Be CleopatraEditions
Review
She was born in Australia during the Depression, daughter of a plumber and a dance hall hostess and took to the stage at the age of nine in ‘Peter Pan’ and by the age of fourteen was a regular in Radio soaps, before a ten-year stint in Repertory. The powers of observation which made her such a fine actress, serve her well as the details of her early years are recalled in her own charming but determined voice. She somehow managed to get herself to England and to Stratford-upon-Avon and in the company there, headed by stars such as Michael Redgrave, Edith Evans and Charles Laughton, she joined Albert Finney, Ian Holm, Geraldine McEwan and Dorothy Tutin, all of them trying to make their mark. In sometimes only a few words, she conjures up remarkable pen-portraits of some of the greatest names in our theatrical history and with an endearing sense of self-deprecation passes on the skills she learned from these accomplished practitioners. Her tales are apt and amusing, not least when served with papers in a divorce case and named as co-respondent, she tells the officer that it couldn’t possibly be her as dyslexia prevented her from writing many letters. The roster of her roles over three seasons is considerable, but it was when she went to Canada to the Stratford Festival in Ontario, that she came into her own. Here she tackled the repertoire which established her reputation as a performer of range and depth in plays like ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ and Whiting’s ‘The Devils’; she was Lady Anne in ‘Richard III’, leading up to her most celebrated incarnation as Cleopatra. And there this engaging memoir ends. The insights of this extraordinary woman into the actor’s craft, reveal an artist still impassioned and dedicated to its perpetuation. I look forward to volume two (and perhaps even three?) very much indeed. - review by Stewart Grimshaw |
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John Sandoe [Books] Ltd |
With four ‘Tony’ awards under her belt for roles ranging from her definitive ‘Miss Brodie’ (pace Dame Maggie!) to Medea, Zoe Caldwell is a true Broadway legend. Without a body of work in TV or in the movies, she is much less well known here in Britain and since her last appearance in the West End as ‘Emma Hamilton’ in Rattigan’s late, and frankly not very good play, ‘Bequest to the Nation’ which received notices which were less than benign all round, she has declined to return.
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