Michael Blackmore's STAGE BLOOD Gets 9/19 Release

Michael Blakemore, an actor, director, and writer of books such as Next Season and Arguments with England: A Memoir, has written another book, Stage Blood, due to come out September 19, 2013. Growing up in Sydney, where movies were more prominent than stage, it wasn't until he saw Laurence Olivier's productions of Richard III and School of Scandal that Blakemore realized that stage acting was what he wanted to do with his life. However, the story doesn't end there. After attending Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he became an actor. After being an actor for fifteen years, he found the life frustrating enough to write his book Next Season. After directing a few plays for a friend, another friend gave him a play, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, to direct that transferred from Glasgow to the West End to Broadway, and Blakemore had done it, he'd become a director. Since then, he has been nominated seven times for a Tony Award, and won twice, in the same year, for the direction of a play, and for the direction of a musical.

Blakemore's newest book, according to Amazon, is about his time at The National Theatre. "In 1971, Michael Blakemore joined The National Theatre as Associate Director under Laurence Olivier. The National, still based at the Old Vic, was at a moment of transition awaiting the move to its vast new home on the South Bank. Relying on generous subsidy, it would need an extensive network of supporters in high places. Olivier, a scrupulous and brilliant autocrat from a previous generation, was not the man to deal with these political ramifications. His tenure began to unravel and, behind his back, Peter Hall was appointed to replace him in 1973. As in other aspects of British life, the ethos of public service, which Olivier espoused, was in retreat. Having staged eight productions for the National, Blakemore found himself increasingly uncomfortable under Hall's regime. Stage Blood is the candid and at times painfully funny story of the events that led to his dramatic exit in 1976. He recalls the theatrical triumphs and flops, his volatile relationship with Olivier including directing him in Long Day's Journey into Night, the extravagant dinners in Hall's Barbican flat with Harold Pinter, Jonathan Miller and the other associates, the opening of the new building, and Blakemore's brave and misrepresented decision to speak out. He would not return to the National for fifteen years."

The book will be available on September 19, 2013 on Amazon for Kindle, as well as various book stores in hardback.