
Playing Under the Piano
From Downton to Darkest Peru
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Narrated by:
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Hugh Bonneville
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By:
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Hugh Bonneville
About this listen
A moving, laugh-out-loud memoir from one of today’s best-loved British actors, whose credits include Downton Abbey, Notting Hill, and Paddington.
From getting his big break as Third Shepherd in the school nativity play, to mistaking a Hollywood star for an estate agent, Hugh Bonneville creates a brilliantly vivid picture of a career on stage and screen. What is it like working with Judi Dench and Julia Roberts, or playing Robert De Niro’s right leg, or not being Gary Oldman, twice? A wickedly funny storyteller, Bonneville also writes with poignancy about his father’s dementia and of his mother, whose life in the secret service emerged only after her death. Whether telling stories of working with divas, Dames, or a bear with a penchant for marmalade, this is a richly entertaining account of his life as an actor.
©2022 Hugh Bonneville (P)2022 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Surprisingly funny!
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Excellent
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Decent read…
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Nicely done
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Witty and Warm
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A wonderful story, and a delightful performance.
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As I’d hoped the author to be
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Great fun
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A Must Buy
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I particularly enjoyed hearing about the various processes and traditions of the British theatre. As a big fan of many of the mentioned plays, I was fascinated by the business of mounting these productions.
I appreciated that this was not a dirt-dishing reminiscence; there are no bad-mouthing anecdotes recounted here. Politics, too, are kept to a minimum.
There are lots of behind-the-scenes insights into Downton Abbey as well as into the world of Paddington Bear. I had actually forgotten that Hugh Bonneville was in some of the movies he discusses his participation in so I may want to go back and check out those films.
By the end of Playing under the Piano, I was fully engaged in the book and I enjoyed it very much.
After an uneasy start, this memoir gains steam and becomes very engaging.
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