Making It So: A Memoir

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Full disclosure: I am a HUGE Star Trek fan. I can remember watching one episode of the TOS when it first came out, and then watching reruns as a teenager after school.

Patrick Stewart on childhood ‘On stage, I could escape’: Sir Patrick Stewart on childhood

Performed with limited staging conditions and costumes, these fascinating rehearsals are only available for Stewart is a natural storyteller & his writing style is as smooth as silk. There are obviously some stories from his time in Star Trek The Next Generation & the X-Men films, but his theatre work is his first love & is therefore the main focus of the book. Stewart holds one wonderful surprise for the end of the book & it's one I won't spoil here, but I hope it comes to fruition. Now, he presents his long-awaited memoir, Making It So, a revealing portrait of a driven artist whose astonishing life - from his humble and hardscrabble beginnings in Yorkshire, to the dizzying heights of Hollywood and worldwide acclaim - proves a story as exuberant, definitive and enduring as the author himself. If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us

He also revealed that a book tour is in early development, where he expects to travel around promoting Making It So; more details are expected to become available closer to the book’s October release date. Although I primarily bought this book to find out more about Stewart's time as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek The Next Generation I absolutely loved his tales of his early theatre work. This part of the book was so good I didn't want it to end & it reminded me of meeting my wife over 30 yaers ago when we were both members of an amateur dramatic company.

Making It So | Book by Patrick Stewart, To Be Confirmed

All right,” said Mr D, “start reading.” We all bent our heads over the strange-looking columns of print and started reading. Silently. A moment passed before Mr D erupted: “Not to yourselves, you idiots, out loud! This is a play, it’s action, it’s drama, it’s life. Start again.”While I knew about much of his major stage work, I enjoyed following his journey from local groups as a young teen to some of the world's most prominent theaters and productions. He also spends a good deal of time on his early home life and family, and reveals his later struggles balancing the punishing work schedules and his marriages and children. He is open and honest about his triumphs and his failures.

Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart | Goodreads

Highly entertaining... You don’t need to be a fan of Stewart the man of stage and screen to be as beguiled by the decades of professional acting that follow’ – The Times It was Dormand who first introduced Stewart to Shakespeare. “I couldn’t understand a word,” he recalls, of being asked to read a monologue from The Merchant of Venice. “I couldn’t even pronounce some of the words.” But “I escaped. And my dream became more of a dream. Not just of having a different life. But, for the few minutes I had on stage, actually living it.” The book paints the picture of a man genuinely dedicated to the Arts, in particular to his career as a Shakespearean actor. It is clear that he finds true joy and passion in embodying complex characters and that his whole life experience is coloured by his gentle sensibilities. He is rather serious by nature and finds true meaning in works of art and performances by actors he admires, which naturally leads him to imbue meaning in everything he does. Mr Dormand was tall and handsome, with an informal manner that put us kids at ease. He wasn’t too informal with us – if he caught a pupil glazing over with an inattentive stare, he wouldn’t hesitate to nail this pupil in the head with a piece of chalk. We actually loved him for this. If you somehow managed to think fast enough to catch the piece of chalk he’d aimed your way, you received a “Bravo!” from Mr Dormand and a round of applause from the rest of the class. We did, and we were dreadful. None of us could make sense of what we were reading, what the story was, or what most of the words meant. “Adversary”? “Void”? “Dram”? “Obdurate”? Nobody in our world used words like that.If I do have a quibble, it is an odd one for a Star Trek fan. I really wanted more about the time BEFORE TNG. I really wanted to read more about the RSC, the films and all the other productions. I would have liked to have said to him, ‘Dad, there were so many aspects of you and your life that have taken me by the hand and led me on my way through adulthood and into old age. You are, in many respects, an example to me. And in other respects, you are still a bad man.’” This is a sweet story of his childhood growing up in Yorkshire, then his move to the stage acting, and finally Hollywood. Mistakes and accomplishments are written so humbly. I also wasn't as thrilled with the episodic recaps of TNG. I enjoyed his takes on the episodes on later viewing, but more on the actual production would have been nice. He glosses over the very real conflicts with Roddenberry, the mess with Gates McFadden and the clear inability to connect as an actor with Diana Muldaur.