Description
Book SynopsisWith a new foreword by Stewart Pringle, Playwright and Dramaturg of the National Theatre of Great Britain.
Winner of the 1997 Theatre Book Prize
Peggy Ramsay was the most admired British play agent of the twentieth century. With a matchless ability to visualise a play just by reading it on the page, she set up in business in 1953, and over the years nurtured and developed the most dazzling client list which included Eugene Ionesco, Joe Orton, Robert Bolt, David Mercer, John McGrath, Iris Murdoch, John Mortimer, James Saunders, Peter Nichols, Charles Wood, Ann Jellicoe, Edward Bond, Christopher Hampton, David Hare, Alan Ayckbourn, Caryl Churchill, Howard Brenton and Willy Russell. Her role in the development of modern British drama was central.
One of the most remarkable things about her was her instinctive generosity. Peggy believed that the living playwright belonged at the centre of the theatre. A theatre without new writing talent to refresh it was worthless.
Table of ContentsForeword
1 Under African Skies
Roots – Parents – Birth – Childhood – Education – Marriage
2 If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Macbeth
In England – Separation – Touring Opera – Acting – Bill Roderick – Bristol Old Vic – Q Theatre – Becoming an Agent
3 Opening Gambit
Starting Out – First Year – John Holmstrom – Peter Hall and Waiting for Godot – Eugène Ionesco – Robert Bolt
4 Iron In The Soul
New Landscape – John Osborne – Ann Jellicoe – John Mortimer – Peters and Ramsay – Michael Codron – Michael Meyer – The Arts Theatre – James Saunders – Charles Wood – Henry Livings – Northerners – Alan Plater – David Mercer – David Rudkin – Peter Nichols – Alan Ayckbourn
5 Tie Ruffian On The Stair
Frank Marcus – Joe Orton – Kenneth Halliwell
6 Queen Bee
Independence – Attempted Takeovers – In Brighton – In the Office – Visiting Peggy – Views on Talent, Writers, Partners, Sexuality – Jean Rhys
7 At Court
Christopher Hampton – the Royal Court – George Devine – William Gaskill – Oscar Lewenstein – Edward Bond – Caryl Churchill – Max Stafford-Clark
8 For the Love of Talent
Subsidised Theatre – Commissioning – Hampstead Theatre Club – RSC and NT – the Fringe – Steve Gooch – Censorship – Anti-Apartheid – Mustapha Matura – Martin Sherman – John McGrath – John Arden and Margaretta D’Arcy – Willy Russell – Stephen Poliakoff – Wallace Shawn – David Hare
9 Memento Mori
Illness – Last Years – Death of Bill Roderick – Fire – Peggy’s Death – New Firm – Foundation – Tribute”
Notes
List of Clients
