Stage Managing Chaos: A Diary of the Old Vic Production of Fernando Arrabal's The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria

In the early 1970s London's National Theatre, led by Sir Laurence Olivier, launched an infamous avant garde production of The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria. Concerned that his classical approach would clash with the "enfant terrible" director, Victor Garcia, Olivier enlisted stage manager Jackie Harvey to keep a diary of the often ludicrous, occasionally creative, always challenging rehearsals.

Anthony Hopkins and Jim Dale costarred in the surreal two-man piece. Led by the eccentric ...