William Hutt: Masks and Faces

Ian C. Nelson is assistant director of libraries at the University of
Saskatchewan, and président de la Troupe du Jour, Regina Summer Stage.

William Hutt is a celebrated Canadian actor who is perhaps most famous
for his interpretations of Wilde’s Lady Bracknell and O’Neill’s
James Tyrone. This “album of [26] reminiscences and appraisals” is
accompanied by a chronology that owes its sketchiness to “huge gaps in
our national archives.” The largely anecdotal contributions look at
Hutt as actor, director, and man. Included in the book are thumbnail
biographies of the contributors and a transcribed interview with Hutt
himself. Never at a loss for words, Hutt offers some of the book’s
clearest insights into his craft. “I don’t believe in moving on
stage unless it improves on stillness” is one such insight.