Jackie Harvey wins this year's Theatre Book Prize

Jackie Harvey has won this year's Theatre Book Prize with her book Stage Managing Chaos.

Harvey's book is a diary of the rehearsals for the National Theatre's production of The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria at the Old Vic in the early '70s. Harvey was the stage manager for director Victor Garcia and the book tells of the "always challenging" rehearsals.

Harvey was presented her award by Richard Eyre at a reception at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane yesterday.

Other books that made the shortlist included Juggling Trajectories: Gandini Juggling by Thomas J M Wilson, Shakespeare in Ten Acts by Gordon McMullan & Zoe Wilcox and Theatrical Unrest: Ten Riots in the History of the Stage by Sean McEvoy.

Critic Aleks Sierz, who was on the judging panel, said the book was "really thrilling, the story of a slow car crash told with impressive clarity and enormous readability.

"It is a tale of missed deadlines, unauthorised absences, technical hitches, impractical designs, desperate, sobbing actors, controversial nudity and backstage backstabbing. An irresistible concoction of events."

The panel also included actress Nichola McAuliffe and V&A Theatre Collections curator Cathy Haill.