The Crimson Pantomime probes the blurred lines between reality and illusion, and the psychological challenges that the profession demands.Īs well as a being a compelling page-turner of a thriller, Rupert’s novel is a convincing study of the complex layers that make up identity. Thankfully, Rupert’s finished novel is much more than airport fare.Īnd with help once more from the PublishNation team, it was released during the summer, yet again to critical acclaim. “I made a good start on The Crimson Pantomime and the writing group told me it could go two ways – an airport novel or something a bit better.” “The good thing about the writing group I belong to is that they keep you in your place – we often go home from meetings bleeding. “I know what it’s like to be an actor and there is nothing cliched about it – I wanted to introduce the aspects of my profession that are fairly unknown, yet very much real.
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He explained: “I read a novel by someone rather famous about acting and it was terrible – just full of cliches. With the help of a writing group in South East London, and on a mission to right a literary wrong, the father-of-three has spent several years developing his characters and the narrative.
“ Relative Times was an act of gratitude.”Īlthough Rupert did finish a novel in the 1990s, which remains unpublished and securely locked away in a drawer, it was the writing and publishing of Relative Times which provided the confidence to progress on to The Crimson Pantomime. “I have done all of my things on stage or in front of a camera, yet they did a lot of the same things in real life, coming through several wars. Rupert said: “I have had the most extraordinary life, and I wanted to honour the generations before me who made it all possible and helped me become what I am. The beautifully recalled homage to seven members of his family, who had come through colonial and world wars, was seamlessly pieced together with anecdotes of how each in turn had influenced his acting career.
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Rupert had to wait until series six of Downton Abbey to make his appearance as Neville Chamberlain.ĭespite his early screenplay setback, Rupert worked with the team at PublishNation to produce his critically-acclaimed family memoir, Relative Times, in 2013. “Julian, of course, went on to do Downton Abbey after that.” “There wasn’t room for another drama from a 1930s country estate at the same time. Rupert explained: “Isabel Colegate expressed her approval of my screenplay adaptation of Statues in the Garden, and everything was looking good, but Julian Fellowes beat me to it by doing Gosford Park. Rupert’s screenplay adaptation of the country estate drama was well received, but before he could begin pitching to production companies, another pre-war period adaptation stole his thunder. Impressed with Isabel Colegate’s pre-war novel, he went on to buy the rights to another of her classics, Statues in the Garden. It was following a role beside Gielgud in the 1985 film adaptation of The Shooting Party that Rupert was first drawn towards a writing project.
Rupert has appeared in some of the country’s most memorable television programmes, including Foyle’s War, Prime Suspect, and more recently Coronation Street, as well as such epic films as Gandhi and Empire of the Sun.Īnd he can look back on a theatre career stretching back to 1970, which has seen him share the stage of the Citizens, Royal National, and Royal Court theatres with such greats as Laurence Olivier, Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench, and John Gielgud. The convincing and thoroughly gripping narrative is described as being ‘as juicy as a Christmas pudding’ by fellow actor Sir Ian McKellen. The Crimson Pantomime is a highly enjoyable and deeply engaging debut novel set within the deceptive and often unpredictable world of acting. It was Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes who ruined Rupert Frazer’s first attempt at gaining a writing credit.īut there have been no hard feelings from the celebrated 73-year-old actor as he has gone on to star in the award-winning period drama.Īnd now, after teaming up for a second time with PublishNation, he has finally released his first work of published fiction.
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