Johnny Flynn Bought Richard Burton's Rehearsal Diaries for £3

Actor Johnny Flynn managed to buy Richard Burton's copy of the rehearsal diaires for The Motive and the Cue for just £3.

Flynn is currently starring as Richard Burton in The Motive and the Cue, the story of how Burton and Sir John Gielgud clashed as they staged Hamlet on Broadway in 1964.

The actor told Radio 3 programme Private Passions he wanted to purchase the rehearsal diairies in order to further his research. However, the cost was prohibitive.

“It’s hundreds of pounds because it is out of print,” Flynn said.

He dug deep into the internet and found a copy going from a bookseller for just £3, which proved to be an even greater bargain than he first thought. “When it arrived, it was Burton’s copy,” Flynn said. “It had his inscription in it and a dedication to a friend.” Flynn saw this as auspicious.

Flynn chose Bizet's "Au Temps du Temple Saint" from the opera The Pearl Fishers and Stephen Sondheim's "Send In The Clowns", which his father Eric Flynn performed with Siân Phillips in a production of A Little Night Music, which started in Chichester in 1990, as some of his music picks.

Listen to Johnny Flynn on BBC Radio 3's Private Passions here.

Photo Credit: Piers Allardyce

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