After doing the book meme a few days ago, it reminded me that I had intended to buy Antony Sher's latest book, Primo Time, and so yesterday it arrived from Amazon (a signed copy). I'm halfway through it already. I find Sher compulsive reading, ever since Year of the King, through Indoor Boy, Woza Shakespeare, Characters, and his autobiography, Beside Myself. The first play I saw him in was something of creative soul-opener for me, Stoppard's Travesties at the Barbican. For some reason I find I identify with him, but I'm not sure why - after all, I'm not South African, gay or Jewish - it's probably on a more creative level. I can relate to the acting experiences having been involved in theatre for a number of years, I can relate to his writing, and I can relate to his artwork.

His writing is fantastic and very readable. Here's a funny little extract, from when he was on the set of Churchill - the Hollywood Years, in which he plays Hitler.

"... I confine myself to my trailer, which is the size of a horsebox. This is a low-budget movie, and only the two American stars get proper Winnebagos. I always bring books to read and sketchbooks to fill, but a weird apathy takes over, and I end up on the little bed, drifting in and out of dull, sluggish sleep. This afternoon I was out for about two hours! Waking, I had no idea where I was. I struggled off the bed, and suddenly found myself face to face with Hitler. I screamed out loud. For a Jew to wake from sleep, look in a mirror, and see Hitler looking back is a shock of existential proportions."

The only downside to the book is that it is a fairly small publisher (I think he changed after his previous publisher didn't put enough weight behind his autobiography) and I presume this is why there are none of his wonderful sketches. Antony Sher was in one of the best things on the tele in the last couple of years (before Doctor Who made a somewhat triumphant return recently), a TV film called Home by J. G. Ballard. I also treasure a postcard sent to me by Antony Sher on which he wrote a couple of lines about my comic strip adaptation of The Tempest.