performing arts in print

I Joke Too Much

The Theatre Director’s Tale

by Michael Rudman

In I Joke Too Much, the American-born director who helped shape British theatre takes you behind the scenes—from provincial playhouses to the bright lights of the National Theatre, Broadway and the West End.

Along the way, Rudman meets brilliance, chaos, panic, genius and the occasional truly catastrophic audition—often in the same afternoon.

These are theatre tales with bite: auditions that spiral into farce, rehearsals that turn into rewrites, nights when everything goes wrong and somehow the show still works. There are run-ins with legends, moments of accidental truth and the director’s constant tightrope walk between confidence and terror.

Rudman tells it all with an unshowy generosity and a razor-sharp ear for human comedy. The result is funny, frank and unexpectedly tender: a portrait of an artist at work, and of a “golden age” of theatre, remembered from the inside.

“Everyone who loves the theatre will have a wonderful time reading Michael Rudman’s witty memoir, and those who think they aren’t interested in the theatre will still enjoy the stories and the jokes (you can’t have too many)—all good ones! In fact, I found myself wanting to revisit every single one of his productions: since that is not possible, a vivid and at times moving book will have to do.”
Lady Antonia Fraser

FOREWORD BY SIMON CALLOW