List $28.98

Written by David Timson - Audio book narrated by Derek Jacobi & cast - Unabridged audio-original - Nonfiction - 4 COMPACT DISCS - 4 hours

Publisher, Naxos AudioBooks (July 2000)

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2001 Audio Publisher's Association Audie Award Winner - ORIGINAL WORK

"We have followed the same pattern which won awards for The History of Classical Music and The History of Opera," said Naxos AudioBooks managing director Nicolas Soames. "Apart from being a well-known radio, audiobook and theatre actor, David Timson has been a closet theatre historian," remarks Soames. "He has a voluminous collection of theatrical memorabilia and an extensive knowledge of growth of theatre around the world. With his unquenchable enthusiasm, he was the ideal person to prepare this History."

In February, Derek Jacobi came into the studios of Motivation Sound in North London to record the main narrative section. He had come back to London to make the recording after a brief holiday in France - and before leaving for New York where he will open for a six-week run of Uncle Vanya.

"I was very pleased to do it - and I certainly learned things from the script which I didn't know," commented Jacobi. "I didn't know the origin of the word slapstick - I do now." Despite his busy theatre and TV career, Jacobi remains one of the busiest actors in audiobook studios. The week before The History of Theatre, he was recording a book on the Theory of Relativity. Though an exceptionally fluent and engaging reader, that took him a little longer than normal: "I wanted to understand what I was reading," he remarked.

There were no such problems with the History of Theatre. David Timson's text, which considers the subject from the Greeks to Pinter and David Mamet, will include some 50 excerpts from plays down the ages, performed by Carole Boyde, Caroline Weber, Teresa Gallagher, John McAndrew - and David Timson. And, as usual with Naxos AudioBooks productions, classical music of the changing periods sets the atmosphere. "We intend to continue this series," declared Soames. "They are among our best-sellers."

David Timson has just starred in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore in the Covent Garden Festival. The production - sold out months in advance - was presented on H.M.S. President, a 19th century yacht moored on the Thames.