I have to admit I've never heard of the actor, Bruce Purchase. He's a New Zealander by birth who went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art several decades ago, and has never looked back. He's appeared in numerous plays, movies and television productions, and all in all has had a distinguished career. All the more puzzling that his name means so little on this side of the world.
There are two main approaches to autobiography: the old, established format of straightforward chronology, and, what I think is a more recent approach, that of starting at an interesting point and tacking back and forward, looking at things more thematically.
I'm sure there are writers who can bring this latter method off, but without being churlish, I don't think Purchase is one of them. He starts off with a series of anecdotes about Laurence Olivier, with whom he was fortunate to work very early in his career, moves in the next chapter to some background on his childhood and family, wanders off to some later travels, moves back to his family again and so on.
Eventually things get clearer, but for the reader a lack of knowing when things happened seems to me to be confusing.
Equally, Purchase's frequent reference in the early chapters to himself in the third person - "the young Kiwi actor", "this mother"s son', "this colonial upstart," to name just a few - and his slightly precious style, are irritations, but he seems to get over these later in the book. He has hundreds of stories to tell about his fellow actors: some of the stories are a delight, some of them a bit weak; most are worth recording for their insights into various famous names.
However, perhaps the most poignant story in the book is about his son, Reuben, who falsely accused Purchase of sexually abusing him as a small child. Purchase wasn't supported in any way by his then ex-wife, NZ writer, Elspeth Sandys, who comes across in the book in a fairly negative light.
Footnote: in 2007, Purchase became seriously ill while touring with a production of the play, The Last Confession. He died of cancer on June 5, 2008, at his home in Putney, London.
When this review was published in the Otago Daily Times (Dunedin, New Zealand) the Editorial staff published a 'Clarification' a few days later, apparently after having been contacted by Elspeth Sandys.
The Clarification read as follows:
A review of the Bruce Purchase autobiography Changing Skies, An Actor’s Life published on Saturday stated that Purchase’s son falsely accused Purchase of sexually abusing him as a small child; and that Purchase wasn’t supported in any way by his then ex-wife. These statements were made by Purchase in the book and should have been attributed as such.
