In 1766, a boy, Billy Marvel, is shipwrecked, rescued, and goes on to found a brilliant family of actors that flourishes in London until 1900--and nearly a century later, Joseph Jervis, runs away from home, seeking refuge with his uncle in London, and is captivated by the Marvel house, with its portraits and ghostly presences.

As drama critic for The New Yorker, John Lahr has always striven to tell the story behind the story; to use biography and history as well as his skill as a critic to illuminate the theater and all of its players. "Light Fantastic is a wide-ranging, comprehensive collection of his best critical pieces exploring the heart and soul of the theater. From his penetrating examination of Oscar Wilde's path to self-destruction, to his tragic portrait of Joe Orton's corrosive relationship with Kenneth Halliwell; from his chronicle of the rise and fall and reprisal of the American musical to his insightful commentary on such playwrights as Tennessee Williams, Tony Kushner, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller and Tom Stoppard, John Lahr brilliantly illuminates the dazzling world of contemporary theater.

2012 Reprint of 1935 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. As engaging today as when it originally appeared, this book has two parts. The first describes the colorful life of two artist-puppeteers and their travels through the famine and revolution torn land, into remote oriental provinces. The second is the practical part. It tells just how the author conceives her plays, and make and works her puppets, whether they be hand-puppets, shadow figures or the special hand and rod combination type she evolved. No other book has gone so deeply into the heart of the artist using puppets. The Efimovs invented an original design of puppets on rods, which enabled them, by way of experiment, to stage scenes from "Macbeth".