Nick Asbury

I should open this review by saying that I'm about to give a decidedly mixed reaction to "Exit Pursued by a Badger", so I want readers to be aware that this is based solely on what I thought the book was, and shouldn't be seen as a negative response to Nick Asbury or his insights here.

Had I been aware of Asbury's blog in 2007, I would have been one of its most voracious readers. I'm a performer with a strong interest in Elizabethan texts, and to experience a working environment like that of the RSC Histories cycle would be a dream come true. Reading this book is full of warm moments of recognition and empathy, and interesting little factoids. The best elements are those with a feeling of specificity. Whereas a bog-standard actor's biography might gloss over the more "informative" parts of a tech rehearsal, Asbury gives us a cute scene of actors stuck below trapdoors for hours on end, gradually devolving into schoolchildren after lights out. It's neat.

At the same time, I can't help but being disappointed that this book is - very literally - a blog printed in book form. We are deprived of real insights into the two-dozen actors involved in the project, nor do we get interviews or words from the dedicated crew and creative team. We don't get to explore in gritty detail what it's like to audition for the RSC, to work with them as a company. We also don't get - more disappointingly - much insight into character creation, work with the text, and interaction during rehearsal. Again, I realise that isn't the point of the book, but I feel as if what the RSC has published should have stayed in blog form.

Ultimately, the Histories cycle was a unique experience, and I am saddened to find that I won't really learn much that is new. Indeed, as a performer, there was very little insight or surprises in it for me, even if Asbury's prose was consistently entertaining. On the other hand, though, I'm not sure a neophyte would take all that much away from the books either - while the language is not overly technical, the brevity of each post brings with it a sort of "insiders" feel about the experience. Play names, characters, and general atmospheres are conveyed in broad strokes which would probably not interest a lot of non-theatre people.

In short, I'm not completely sure who this book is aimed at. I certainly would have liked to get much more insight into an incredible experience. And, conversely, I would still like to praise Asbury for what he DID capture: that feeling of passion and dedication that we give to our craft; the clearly-written, wryly phrased anecdotes about cast members drying or occasionally losing their nerve. While the book was not what I wanted it to be, I was still enthralled by the halfway point, and happy to be on a journey with actors doing their job because they love it. That much, at least, is a blessing.
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