Category: Theatrical

BLOG TOUR: REVIEW – THEATRICAL by Maggie Harcourt

Posted July 28, 2018 by Emma in 5 Stars, Blog Tour, Book Review, Maggie Harcourt, Theatrical, Usborne Publishing / 1 Comment

Happy YALC Day everyone and to those who aren’t there like me, I hope your enjoying a bookish day in the a cooler environment. Once again I seem to be on some amazing blog tours at the moment. This one I’ve been excited since I found out. I admit I finished the book only few days and it’s still with me at the moment. The feels from Maggie’s writing is just…unimaginable really. As part of the blog tour as well as our review, we also share our memories of theatre. Mine is a little different so don’t forget to continue reading past my review.

But before my review, here is a little bit more about the book…

Hope dreams of working backstage in a theatre, and she’s determined to make it without the help of her famous costume designer mum. So when she lands an internship on a major production, she tells no one. But with a stroppy Hollywood star and his hot young understudy upstaging Hope’s focus, she’s soon struggling to keep her cool… and her secret.

Gorgeously fresh, funny and commercial YA romance from the author of Unconventional, and The Last Summer of Us.

Amazon | Book Depository

Who is Rainbow Rowell when there is only Maggie Harcourt.

Theatrical speaks to the hearts of a lot of people and it opened mine to a whole new world. Ever since I read Unconventioal, Maggie’s writing speaks to so many readers, it was blogging conventions first, now the magic of theatre and it totally turns you into a puddle of emotions really. When I finished this book I felt like it had opened my eyes to something unimaginable really, to something truly magical. Films are second nature to us when we see them, our favourite turned to something visual and that we believe our imagination has come to life. Theatre I have come to believe is more than that, more soulful, more emotional, more realistic and it’s a family… all this I got from Maggie’s magical writing written from Hope Parker’s point of view.

Hope Parker has been overshadowed by her sisters and their accomplishments, but ever since she was little Theatre has been her life. She was introduced to Earls theatre in her childhood, and working in theatre and it’s been part of her but one thing has always undermined and stood in her way the reputation of her mother. Her name is famous through the tears of fabric of the costume world, and the one thing Hope didn’t want was to be associated with her. People think of her as getting into theatre was an easy gig because of her mum, the sniggers behind her back judging her becuase she’s the daughter of… it wasn’t about her and she’d had enough. So finally she wanted to do something for herself, she wanted to work hard as her position in stage management and work toward creating her own name and being proud of it. But she didn’t realise she’d be supporting a famous lead actor, a forbidden romance behind the scenes and keeping this rather large secret from her mum.

“Because sometimes, it’s the things that nobody notices which deserve noticing.” – Luke

So I have a lot of admiration of Hope, being seventeen is hard enough with the pressures of real life, her career and being the younger sister of three. Hope has real gumption, she had drive and she had so much passion and love to give that you can’t not but be inspired by her. Whilst this book is focused on performance and theatre – I think a lot of it can be taken in life too. It’s hard work getting to where you want to be, Hope find a lot of challenges but rises above them even if it defeats for just a minute. Maggie strips theatre apart, that actors are human too, and that maybe they really don’t know how to be themselves [Insert Luke] and I think Hope learns just as much from them as Tommy – the famous lead act learns from her.

Maggie’s writing is extraordinary, she gives life to the unimaginable. She oozes beauty and magic into the workings of theatre with how it isn’t just actors and a script, it’s so much more – it’s a work of art. What I felt was that this book truly opened my eyes to something out of this world. Theatrical maybe for the theatre nerd but I hugely encourage everyone to read this because it’s a book that will warm your heart, it will at time make it burst with such emotion for the theatre but also for love of Hope and her story.

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Everyone has a theatre story and we are encourage to share that with you as part of this tour. Mine is a little different as I don’t have much of story. It’s very simple but there was a very recent turning point in my life not so long ago and with this book, I can say with heartfelt sincerity that Theatrical by Maggie Harcourt has truly inspired and enlightened me.

Don’t worry I have been to a theatre, two theatres, 3 productions. My first was when I was in Year 6, the book we were reading was Kensukes Kingdom by Michael Morpugo. There was a showing at Richmond Theatre, and I’ll be honest I was entranced but I think a young girl at the age of 9/10 would be but honestly it wasn’t something that I continued. A few years older my mum took me to a pantomime, as a surprise at Christmas. It was Peter Pan at Windsor and I loved it. I think it also had something to do with the fact that Elisabeth Sladen was in it. Your probably thinking who is that, it was Sarah Jane Smith from Doctor Who and also her spin-off adventures. I was a little starstruck at the time as that was the most famous person I’ve come to see in real life before and it was beautiful. Then more recently I saw Shawshank Redemption with my boyfriend a couple of years ago, which was a whole new aspect of theatre to me. A film widely regarded and a story none other than Stephen King, it was inpsirating through motion picture but the quality of the acting and the set was just incredible. It truly brings a new perspective to this story. That’s the beauty of theatre, it’s more than just a story or a film or a musical, it actually touches people emotionally.

So that’s my history I guess of theatre in my twenty-something years of my life. But it was only last week when I guess my perception of theatre really changed – I went on a couple of enrichment trips to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. It’s a magnificent place, I was able to see a sneak peak of their latest production Othello with Mark Rylance who is incredible, the way he acts and made the audience be part of the play – it was like you understood what he was saying. It’s Shakespeare, you have to get you head around it. I was talking to my colleagues and they couldn’t believe the lack of theatre trips I’ve done. I enjoyed it so much that I’m going to make a promise to myself to go to more, go on school trip to Wicked or so other productions, take myself off to the Globe.

I feel I need to be culturally enlightened and not only from my recent experience but I feel with reading Theatrical it’s given me an epiphany, that there’s to more than just films and stories – there’s theatre and there’s a seat waiting for me with my name on it.

Thank you to Stevie at Usborne for letting me be part of this tour and sharing my theatrical story as well as providing this book in exchange for an honest review.