Compelling, groundbreaking and full of startling revelations, a dazzling, definitive biography of the man who changed the face of British theatre.
Born in Manchester and educated at Oxford, John Heilpern wrote award-winning interviews for the Observer before becoming a Times columnist in New York. He has worked with Peter Hall at the National Theatre and with Michael Bennett on Broadway. He is the author of a classic book about the theatre, Conference of the Birds- The Story of Peter Brook in Africa, and of How Good Is David Mamet, Anyway - Writings on Theatre and Why it Matters. He now lives in Manhattan where he is drama critic of the New York Observer.
[Heilpern] writes with infectious verve, championing the plays
against carpers and cavillers, and showing how close they were to
their creator's raw experience. Above all he celebrates Osborne's
cross-grained vitality. His book brings a flesh-and-blood human
being back from the shades, shouting, like Jimmy Porter
'Hallelujah! I'm alive!'
*Sunday Times*
His biography is surely a model of its kind: tightly written,
vivid, witty, knowledgeable and with a seamless, and often moving,
interweaving of the past and present
*Mail on Sunday*
An enjoyable, exhaustive, well-researched and highly readable
biography
*Independent*
Heilpern has produced a riveting biography - Heilpern orchestrates
his complex narrative with flair and contrives to invoke affection
in the face of bad behaviour....judicious and dependable
*The Times*
Osborne has found his ideal biographer
*John Banville*
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