Description
'A sparkling memoir ... A delight from start to finish' NINA STIBBE
'Anyone who loves the theatre will love this book' ZOE WANAMAKER
In 1980s London, Sweetpea Slight is en route to drama school when she is snapped up to work as an assistant to the maverick theatre producer Thelma Holt. Full of wit, charm and backstage intrigue, her irresistible memoir of the resulting twenty years is at once the poignant story of a young woman coming of age, and an exhilarating journey down the rabbit hole into the enchanting world of theatre.
About the Author
Sweetpea Slight spent twenty years working with renowned theatre producer Thelma Holt. Their working relationship spanned the National Theatre, the Peter Hall Company and finally Thelma Holt Ltd.
She lives in London and Dorset.
Reviews
A sparkling memoir full of charm and wit, with moments of poignancy and lots of gossip. If you love theatre, you'll adore this book - it's a delight from start to finish -- Nina Stibbe, author of LOVE, NINA
A sparkling memoir [that evokes] the rougher glamour of backstage life ... With its anecdotes, backstage intrigue and charming portrait of a young woman navigating theatre's enchanting parallel worlds, Get Me the Urgent Biscuits should find itself a wider audience to amuse -- Victoria Segal * SUNDAY TIMES *
A superbly written and moving account of one woman's efforts to understand the world and her own place in it ... Part of its beauty comes from the air of sadness that hangs over it ... In the end, this is a story about learning who you are by pretending to be other people -- Mark Mason * DAILY MAIL *
As this sparkling memoir reveals, it was a heady life of first nights, famous actors, mad deadlines and long, underpaid hours ... But as the years pass, she realises that the long hours, poor pay and her conflicted sexuality are making her unhappy and this adds a dash of melancholy to the deliciously entertaining froth ... Sweetpea's sobering honesty transforms this hugely enjoyable memoir into something more poignant and serious -- Eithne Farry * SUNDAY EXPRESS *
Sweetpea's memoirs catch beautifully (and without malice) London theatreland's engaging resilience ... I loved this book for its selfless, slightly dazed sketch of the clattering chaos of theatre production -- Quentin Letts * DAILY MAIL Books of the Year *
An utterly beautiful description of what it's like to move to London, and come to terms with your changing ambitions as well as yourself -- Mark Mason * THE SPECTATOR Books of the Year *
A charming memoir about offstage theatrical shenanigans ... Get Me the Urgent Biscuits is an elegy for a London that is wholly lost ... [It] contains a number of enchanting thespian vignettes -- Roger Lewis * THE TIMES *
Sweetpea, like Alice following the White Rabbit into the hole, takes us on an extraordinary adventure in theatrical wonderland. An insight into the theatre world which she shares with the reader with such ease and charm. The successes, the failures, but most of all the characters, and her homage to the wondrous Thelma Holt, who takes her on her fantastic journey. Anyone who loves the theatre will love this book. A must -- Zoe Wanamaker
This glorious description of the maverick flame-haired theatre impresaria Thelma Holt by her hapless, charming assistant Sweetpea Slight made me put the book down and laugh loud and long, sweeping away tears so I could carry on reading -- Anna Chancellor
Destined to become an instant classic. For the hardcore theatre buff, it has it all: a passion for performance, beautifully observed backstage howlers, celebrity gossip, devotion beyond the call of duty and, at its heart, a dazzling portrait of one of the great eccentrics of contemporary British theatre ... Get Me the Urgent Biscuits is an assured and ingenious conflation of autobiographical rite of passage, sharp character study and serious theatrical endeavour. It is also crying out to be adapted for the screen -- Nick Smurthwaite * THE STAGE *
The old French saying 'no man is a hero to his valet' gets a sprightly modern twist in Sweetpea Slight's memoir of working for formidable theatrical grande dame Thelma Holt ... Charmingly ditzy and packed with backstage gossip, this is a poignant account of coming of age in the theatre -- Jane Shilling * DAILY MAIL Must Reads *
Terrific memoir of working in the London theatre in the 1980s. Slight's job was lowly, but she has plenty of great anecdotes - not all of them particularly discreet * READER'S DIGEST *
The dazzling debut of a born storyteller. The book crackles with wit while knocking you sideways with its poignancy -- Anne Robinson
The uproarious memoir about the author's apprenticeship to maverick theatre impresario Thelma Holt. Slight was en route to drama school when Holt snapped her up, cancelled her RADA audition and changed her name to Sweetpea. Helen Mirren, Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman all have cameos. It's irresistible * SAGA Magazine *
Slight is brilliant at conveying the intoxicating world of theatre ... [A] triumph of a book -- Emily Bearn * THE OLDIE *
A treasure trove of who's who in theatre ... An utterly beguiling book, full of hilarious and tragic incidents. Absolutely wonderful, darling -- Claire Looby * IRISH TIMES *
Anyone who's ever dreamed of working in theatre will love Sweetpea Slight's memoir ... It's simply hilarious, darling * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING *
Gloriously gossipy ... You'll love it, my darlings -- Sarra Manning * RED online *
The latent luvvie in me adored this piquant coming-of-age memoir -- Caroline Sanderson * THE BOOKSELLER *
A funny and poignant memoir of London theatreland in the 1980s and 1990s ... full of witty anecdotes * TOWNSWOMAN *
Book Information
ISBN 9781474605205
Author Sweetpea Slight
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 241g
Dimensions(mm) 200mm * 135mm * 20mm
