The Reluctant Escapologist

2010 | Biography

An unrivalled unofficial history of the rise - and partial fall - of Fringe Theatre, Mike Bradwell's deadpan account of his adventures is one of the funniest books to come out of the theatre in years. As he travels through a sub-culture peopled by lunatics, hippies and the perennially unemployed, we marvel at his resilience and creativity, captured in a succession of vivid - and often hilarious - episodes such as: creating a character for Mike Leigh; witnessing the on-stage mass orgasms of the Living Theatre in the 60s; teaching Bob Hoskins how to eat fire; becoming an escapologist (reluctantly) in the Ken Campbell Road Show; and doing battle with health-and-safety inspectors in his ten years running the famous Bush Theatre in West London. Bradwell is an endearing champion of the Fringe, and makes a compelling - and urgent - case for preserving it from castration at the hands of bankers, consultants, stakeholders and the Arts Council.

Mike Bradwell (Author)