A top director, an actor, and a critic are all in competition with academics for this year’s STR Theatre Book Prize. Their books have found a place in the judges’ short list, which has just been announced. This is it:

• Balancing Acts by Nicholas Hytner (Jonathan Cape)
• Black British Drama: A Transnational Story by Michael Pearce (Routledge)
• Child Actors on the London Stage, c1600 by Julie Ackroyd (Sussex Academic Press)
• Costume in Performance by Donatella Barbieri (Bloomsbury)
• London Theatres by Michael Coveney and Peter Dazeley (Frances Lincoln)
• Shakespeare on Stage: Vol 2, Twelve Leading Actors on Twelve Key Roles by Julian Curry (Nick Hern Books)

All books eligible for the 2018 Book Prize were published in 2017. The judges this year are Paul Miller, Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, theatre critic Sam Marlowe, and Professor Jeffery Richards. They are chaired by Howard Loxton representing the Society for Theatre Research. It’s not going to be easy choosing between these very varied titles; if you were one of the judges, which would you pick?

The ceremony will be held at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, by courtesy of Really Useful Theatres Group.

For more information about the STR Theatre Book Prize, click here