Character Breakdown

Character Breakdown

Summary

'Entertaining...revealing, shocking' BERNARDINE EVARISTO

'Sublime' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS

Actor and director Zawe Ashton brings us a unique look at life, work and the absurdities of today's world

Zawe Ashton has been acting since she was six. She has played many different roles, from 'cute little girl' to 'assassin with attitude', Oscar Wilde's Salome to St Trinian's schoolgirl by way of Fresh Meat's Vod.

In Character Breakdown, Zawe scrolls through a version of her life. Or is it a version of her art? Or something in between. In it, she encounters glamour, horror, absurdity and questions like: is a life spent more on performance than reality any life at all?

'Smart, funny, vivid, honest, dark, timely' The Times

'A smart, funny and well-written take-down of modern showbiz' Elizabeth Day, author of How To Fail

Selected by Bernardine Evaristo as one her 20 books by Black British Womxn Writers


Reviews

  • A very great book
    Lena Dunham

About the author

Zawe Ashton

Zawe Ashton is an actress, playwright and director who started acting at the age of six. Her portrayal of Vod in Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong’s Fresh Meat won her a cult following and the diversity of her work across television, film and stage has attracted numerous accolades. Recent credits include the BBC/Netflix TV series Wanderlust, the Netflix feature film Velvet Buzzsaw and Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Her play for all those women who thought they were Mad will be staged for the first time this year. She lives in London.
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