In the original dustsheet. Red cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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                               A great characters book

This volume tells the story of touring theatre and strolling players from Thespis to Branaugh and recalls the author’s own life spent in the theatres, dirty dressing rooms and boarding houses of many provincial towns. In the 1920s there were nearly 250 touring companies constantly weaving their way across Britain, giving their all in such diverse venues as the Alexandra, Widnes and the Alexandra, Birmingham. This frenzy lessened with the onset of cinema and television, but for some thespians life carried on as it had for centuries. Brian Rix has spent eight years of his life on tour or in repertory. From the 1950s to the mid-1970s he only had to appear in touring theatre with one of the Whitehall or Garrick farces for house records to reach new heights. Brian Rix has written two volumes of autobiography, “My Farce From My Elbow” and “Farce About Face ”.

Brian Norman Roger Rix, Baron Rix, CBE, DL (27 January 1924 – 20 August 2016) was an English actor-manager, who produced a record-breaking sequence of long-running farces on the London stage, including Dry Rot, Simple Spymen and One for the Pot. His one-night TV shows made him the joint-highest paid star on the BBC. He often worked with his wife Elspet Gray and sister Sheila Mercier, who became the matriarch in Emmerdale Farm. After his first child was born with Down syndrome, Rix became a campaigner for disability causes, among others. He entered the House of Lords as a crossbencher in 1992 and was president of Mencap from 1998 until his death.