Making It So: A Memoir

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Even now, Stewart’s age hasn’t quite caught up with some of the walk-on parts he played as a novice – an 85-year-old butler, or someone’s ancient American father in an obscure Shaw play. “I was dreadful and everyone knew it,” he recalls of the latter. He describes some of these early humiliations with the self-deprecating wisdom only 60 years’ hindsight can bestow. It’s not a get-out,” he says. “But an understanding, yes.” Then he goes on, “I always used to feel that my father and his violence is what had the biggest impact on my life. There have been times when I have been violent. Rarely to other people, and never to my children. But I can get angry. And it comes from my father.” Stewart spoke with Entertainment Weekly about his forthcoming book in a new interview, where he spoke about his experience writing the memoir. 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.” 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.

Patrick Stewart: dark confessions - The Telegraph Making It So by Patrick Stewart: dark confessions - The Telegraph

Now, he presents his long-awaited memoir, Making It So, a revealing portrait of an artist whose astonishing life—from his humble beginnings in Yorkshire, England, to the heights of Hollywood and worldwide acclaim—proves a story as exuberant, definitive, and enduring as the author himself. 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. 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.

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.’” 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. 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

Making It So: A Memoir – Special Edition with Postcard

I have followed his career since from a respectful distance, and when I learned he was writing his memoir, I was over the moon with excitement. The subject that most captivated me was English literature. In my second year at the Mirfield Secondary Modern School, I was assigned to the Eng-lit class of Cecil Dormand, who was also my form master. He was to have a transformational impact on my life. He comes off as extremely unlikeable. Talking about how as a teen, he used to make a disabled boy beat his stump of a hand into a wall until it bled, and then bragging just a few lines later about how his empathy for a dying squirrel must have been an early sign he'd be a great actor because he had so much empathy? Oof. I’ve got ideas. I’d like to do more comedy. Laughter is glorious’: with his wife Sunny Ozell. Photograph: Jeff Spicer/Getty ImagesMr 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.

Making It So: A Memoir (Audio Download): Patrick Stewart

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. 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. 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

So if you are on the fence about reading or, better yet, making the 18+ hour commitment to listening to this memoir I can only hope this silly review helps you decide which side to come down on.