Theatrical by Magggie Harcourt

2018

This is a long book –some 439 pages in fact – excluding end matter. It use a serif font with difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s .  It is also quite a small font.  So, this presents some reading challenges. 

The novel is packed with details of the theatre. This would be a very good read for any young person who is thinking of a career in the theatre. Maggie Harcourt, a lover of theatre herself, includes  all of the technical details into the story, without detracting from it.   

Hope Parker is the daughter of well-known theatre costume designer, Miriam Parker, but secretly applies for an internship in stage management with the Earl Theatre.  It is important that she manages her life in the theatre world without relying on her mother’s influence.  To her great surprise she is successful at her interview. 

There is a gentle romance as well. 

Hope’s relationship with her parents and her two perfect sisters is strained but all of the characters remain rounded. 

There is plenty of tension and pace as Hope overcomes problem after problem.