Review
'... I was not a stranger to the world of the stage. At the age of five I became a member of the Thelma Bickerstaff tap-dancing troupe appearing at the Garrick Theatre, Southport. Four years later I went solo and sang Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major to an audience of wounded soldiers transported from the local hospital.'
'Bainbridge the novelist can't resist the essential absurdity of people pretending not to be themselves eight times a week... the sending-up, however, is done with great affection. Bainbridge can never be a great critic of the theatre because she loves it too deeply and still identifies with people on the other side of the proscenium arch.' (Kate Saunders
Sunday Times )
Interview with Beryl Bainbridge, mentions the book. (
Financial Times )
'Enjoyable... there is a lack of snobbishness in the columns collected here; Bainbridge is as happy to sit through Shakespeare as she is through a farce or a muscial. She still marvels at the magic of theatre and her reviews lack the dour quality of so many braodsheet hacks... Front Row is an ideal book to gorge all at once or dip into every now and then... an idiosyncratic record of the last decade of the theatre, but also an intimate portrayal of one of our greatest writers and is perhaps as close as we will ever get to a full autobiography.' Attitude Magazine
'Contains fascinating insights... as well as delightful sketches of actors.' Good Book Guide
