A Bunch of Amateurs, Paperback/Ian Hislop

Keen to boost his flagging career, fading Hollywood action hero Jefferson Steele arrives in England to play King Lear in Stratford - only to find that this is not the birthplace of the Bard, but a sleepy Suffolk village. And instead of Kenneth Branagh and Dame Judi Dench, the cast are a bunch of amateurs trying to save their theatre from developers. Jefferson's monstrous ego, vanity and insecurity are tested to the limit by the enthusiastic am-dram thespians. As acting worlds collide and Jefferson's career implodes, he discovers some truths about himself - along with his inner Lear "terrific comedy packed with killer comic dialogue... plenty of twists and turns" ***** Whatsonstage "Deliciously stuffed with Shakespeare...a laugh-a-minute" **** Mail on Sunday