Me and Orson Welles

I finished it already (God, I miss reading books in a matter of hours. I haven't had the chance of late) - it was brilliant. That's an understatement, but there isn't a word to expostulate it properly.

Kaplow writes actors really well. Although he wrote it recently, and it's set in 1937/1938 about a cast doing 'Julius Caesar' (I had to read at High School. Our class got Caesar, the rest of the year got Romeo and Juliet) I got the feeling that he'd had an experience like the one he was writing, but juxtaposed in a time where he could distance himself. All the characters seemed individual and believable.

Richard Samuels is incredible. I could see why they cast Zac Efron in the film (something that's said about the subtlety of his eyes, and his performance in 17 again made me go ' ... actually, yes!') - he's like Holden Caulfield with a likeable personality, a conscience and a sense of compassion and humanity. God, if J.D.Salinger had written Holden like Richard, I would have loved The Catcher In The Rye. Catcher In The Rye would've had more of an impact over here, maybe, if Holden had some of Richard's outer innocence.

I've been looking up Orson Welles too. Good ol' normally-incorrect-because-the-pro-members-change-things-more-than-wikipedia IMDB ... he's been in loads, but the only thing I've watched of his was a few snippets of Citizen Kane (I've really got to watch that in full. We got the table shot at the start, but 20 minutes of the weirdest interpretation of The Tempest ever at uni. Have I mentioned before how pointless my uni was?). Kaplow must have watched a few of his things though (out of the 120 performances listed on wikipedia) and he's right in that Welles does a LOT of Shakespeare. He's got his history down pat, the loss of both parents, the creation of the Mercury Theatre in 1938. Even one of Welles favourite actors, Joseph Cotten, is included in the production Kaplow refers to (though it was the original, and best War Of The Worlds, not Caesar performed in Mercury) ... actually, I take it back, there is something on IMDB (I'm reading as I post) about his production of Caesar, how it was adapted, how this person and that person was included, mentioned in Kaplows book too, and the role Welles played.

I love a book that's so well researched, and makes me look things up too. I'm sure if I researched songs in 1937/1938, and ad campaigns, books and magazines, I'd find all that Kaplow included too. I cannot wait until the boy's in bed tonight to crack my DVD out. I can't watch a DVD without reading the book first.

I'm getting into Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You. I need more challenge, Kaplow's completely sparked my craving for knowledge. My chick-lit can take a shelf for now.