In My Own Footsteps

By: Michael Pennington

Narrated by: Michael Pennington

Michael Pennington has been working as a professional actor and director for the past 57 years. He has performed in every kind of play—Chekhov, Shakespeare, Pinter, Ibsen, Stoppard, and many others—as well as on television, radio, and film. He has appeared at the National Theatre in the West End of London and in theaters throughout the world. From 1986 to 1992, he ran his own company, the English Shakespeare Company. He is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company and has lectured extensively on Shakespeare.

Pennington has written 11 books, including works on individual plays and playwrights and the craft of acting. His latest book, published in June 2021, tells the full and unabridged story of his life, work, and friendships.

©2021 Michael Pennington (P)2022 Michael Pennington

Inhabiting, investigating a mind

I recently had the experience of reading the unabridged version of Les Miserables for the first time, and I came away with the curious sensation of knowing Victor Hugo. Not knowing a lot about his life or having heard and believed his every view, but grasping how that mind worked - not to the point where I could imitate it, but to the point where I could recognise it and realise that this was not just a constructed performative identity, but another person.

Michael Pennington’s memoir here has had the same effect. I have of course no way of checking, no way of making sure that Pennington actually functions in the way that appears in this book, but it has utterly convinced me of the holistic veracity of another mind at work. Pennington’s depiction of his own patterns, marked more by genuine examination than analytical recollection, gives a feeling that you are privy to someone taking a clear look at how it has been to be himself. A thoroughly enjoyable read and very expertly performed by Pennington. Warmly recommended.