'The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good – In spite of all the people who say he is very good.' Robert Graves

In 1996 actor Leigh Lawson was asked to spend a season playing both Oberon and Theseus in Adrian Noble’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Royal Shakespeare Company, during which (and in-between visits from Prime Ministers and trips to the pub) he rediscovered his love for the bard.
   
The Dream is an actor’s odyssey, full of stories and anecdotes from throughout a theatrical career, as well as the obligatory dwarves, false phalluses, and encounters with a predatory Franco Zefferelli.
   
This book is a delight for anyone interested in what goes on behind the curtain, and what motivates anyone to tread the boards in the first place.