Well-constructed
story about those on the other side of the footlights. (Review by Michael
Green)
David
Bloomberg is a former mayor of Cape Town (as was his father, Abe Bloomberg) who
has lived in Europe for many years.
He is a
lawyer by profession, and in retirement he has written six books, mainly of the
memoir type, but he first attained prominence in Cape Town as a producer of plays
in a theatre called The Barn, at his father’s home in Constantia. His late
wife, Toby Fine, was a distinguished ballet dancer, and so was his mother,
Miriam Bloomberg.
His new
book, The Don, is a novel that stems
from the author’s lifelong interest in the theatre and the people who work in
that heady environment. It traces the career of an English actor who rises from
unpropitious beginnings to become a star of the West End. The story is given a feeling
of authenticity by the inclusion of real, non-fictitious big names – Anton
Dolin, Ivor Novello, Laurence Olivier and others - and by copious references to
famous plays, their themes and their characters.
The
principal figure, the Don, is certainly vivid. He is portrayed as a vigorous
bisexual involved in a large number and variety of sex scenes, with explicit
language. This is of course a common practice in novels today, presumably
because it is reckoned to be good for sales.
That aside,
The Don is a well-constructed story
about the people on the other side of the footlights, their strengths and
frailties, their hopes and fears. It is a good read for the many people who are
interested in the remarkable, artificial, imaginative world of the theatre.
The Don
... Story of an Actor by David Bloomberg is published by Arena Books/Ampersand Press, R185. ISBN-13: 9781909421363 - Michael Green
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