The Entertainers

THE ENTERTAINERS is a unique biographical encyclopedia of the live theatre. Here, for the first time, is a beautiful fact-filled record of entertainers, chronologically arranged and with hundreds of illustrations – many of them in print for the first time.

THE ENTERTAINERS is an encyclopedia that places its entries in order of birth, not alphabetically, from the glory of ancient Greece right through to the superstars of today. Shakespeare is next to Christopher Marlowe (his precocious rival and the creator of Dr Faustus) and not sandwiched randomly between Seneca and George Bernard Shaw. But there is much more than playwrights and players in THE ENTERTAINERS: there are mimes and managers, strippers and stage designers, directors, puppeteers – even equestrian artists. The pleasure is as great for the browser as the student, although this is a working book of reference. Amid the fascinating range of entries anodirectors, clowns, freaks, puppeteers – even equestrian artists. The pleasure is as great for the browser as the student, although this is a working book of reference.

Amid the fascinating range of entries are to be found numerous illustrated features spotlighting important developments in the history of live entertainment: Music Hall and Make-up, Cabaret and Vaudeville, Circus and the Commedia dell’ Arte, together with a thorough system of cross-referencing, a glossary to identify the technical terms used in the book and, for instant reference, an alphabetical list of the more than one thousand entries.

Edited by Clive Unger-Hamilton