Covering Shakespeare

Esteemed actor David Weston traces his sixty-two year association with the Bard, from Britain to Hollywood to Hong Kong.

Actor David Weston traces his sixty-two year association with the Bard in this fascinating book, shortlisted for the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography 2015David Weston has spent a lifetime acting in Shakespeare's plays, and has been directed by Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn and Simon Croft. Chosen as Ian McKellen's understudy in the RSC's King Lear, he toured the world and recorded his experiences in his diary, which became the award-winning Covering Shakespeare: An Understudy's Tale, called 'Salty, evocative and informative' by the Daily Mail. It went on to win the prestigious I.T.R. Theatre Book of the the Year Prize for 2012. With Covering Shakespeare he goes even further, tracing his sixty-two year association with the Bard. He has appeared in twenty-nine of the thirty-seven plays, many several times, and has worked with all the major companies to the outmost limits of the Fringe, from Hollywood to Hong Kong, with the great, the mediocre and the forgotten. He has stories and reminiscences about them all, written in his inimitable style. 'Should be in the pocket of every young actor - and also those of us who are not so young.' Patricia Hodge 'A most enjoyable and informative book - very distinctive and very entertaining. I like it a lot and am sure many others will.' Benedict Nightingale 'Mr Weston writes trippingly off the tongue and should be well proud of himself.' Ian McShane