Tour de Farce: A Tale of Touring Theatres and Strolling Players (from Thespis to Branagh)

This volume tells the story of touring theatre and strolling players from Thespis to Branaugh and recalls the author's own life spent in the theatres, dirty dressing rooms and boarding houses of many provincial towns. In the 1920s there were nearly 250 touring companies constantly weaving their way across Britain, giving their all in such diverse venues as the Alexandra, Widnes and the Alexandra, Birmingham. This frenzy lessened with the onset of cinema and telelvision, but for some thespians life carried on as it had for centuries. Brian Rix has spent eight years of his life on tour or in repertory. From the 1950s to the mid-1970s he only had to appear in touring theatre with one of the Whitehall or Garrick farces for house records to reach new heights. Brian Rix has written two volumes of autobiography, "My Farce From My Elbow" and "Farce About Face".