THE SECOND-BEST ACTORS IN ENGLAND: A Theatrical Satire of Egos, Understudies and One Very Bad Production

At the crumbling Royal Albion Repertory Theatre, everyone is one performance away from greatness-or unemployment.Julian Candle has spent four decades being the dependable understudy: always prepared, rarely noticed and never quite important enough to fail publicly. When celebrated actor Sir Crispin Rowe abruptly abandons a disastrous production of King Lear, Julian is finally offered the role he has waited his entire career to play.Unfortunately, the theatre is leaking, the scenery is dangerous, the money is disappearing and a corporate developer appears suspiciously eager to rescue everyone. As consultants, trustees and sponsors transform artistic catastrophe into "strategic renewal," the actors discover that the production may have been designed to fail.With opening night approaching, the Royal Albion's gloriously dysfunctional company must battle professional jealousy, bureaucratic language, viral publicity, a malfunctioning set and a storm determined to join the cast. Julian must decide whether he wants the fame he was denied-or the courage to protect the people who stood beside him while nobody was watching.The Second-Best Actors in England is a sharply comic novel about theatrical vanity, cultural institutions, ageing performers and the strange families created backstage. It is a celebration of those who remain after the stars, sponsors and audiences have gone home.