"We're going to make a play out of our own lives and we're putting it on in three weeks. Now let's get started...." ** As a new memoir from acclaimed playwright and director Peter Sheridan, Break a Leg tells the story of his life in the theater, and meanwhile touches on so much more. ** "'We need a play that gets under the skin...' she said. 'Something to unsettle the British public.'" ** Break a Leg is not just about Sheridan's life, but also about the wider culture and politics of Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s. The theater, seen through Sheridan's eyes, can do much more than entertain - it can itself be a vehicle of social change. Honestly confronting his emerging problems with panic attacks and alcohol, and blending social history with memoir, Peter Sheridan's story is written in gutsy fresh prose that captures the reader's attention from the first page. ** "...it wasn't just any story but OUR story we were telling. We were giving value and meaning to our struggle - the courts, the social welfare system - and we were doing it in a way that pricked the conscience of the audience and entertained them...."