Vanessa Redgrave
I wonder where exactly to begin to describe, annotate and attempt a precise concise professional biography of this artist: in her own words in interview, Vanessa Redgrave is extraordinarily careful, combining one opposite with another, mulling over a minute point like a facet of crystal, employing caveats, clauses; avoiding at all cost an easy or glib answer, repudiating a shallow thought; and delopying a rare – if not unique – combination of instinct, insight and intelligence to her work.
Those qualities – amongst others – are those which set her apart as an actress; there is no other person working in any performance medium who has given more devoted and subtle attention to her work.
Although I have been to the theatre perhaps a thousand, times, I have only seen Vanessa Redgrave on stage in two plays; the first was in Ibsen’s “The Lady from the Sea” at the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre in 1978 (although I saw the production five times in that run); the second was in Michael Redgrave’s adaptation of Henry James’ short novel, “The Aspern Papers” at the the Haymarket Theatre in in 1984. After both, I came out of the theatre in a daze and as though I had lost temporarily a protective layer; everything brighter, more intense, and it took an hour to begin to come down. I have never been more keenly aware of stepping into the world of another character.
Plays authored
Past productions
- Margaret, The Inheritance, Young Vic
- Queen Margaret, Richard III, Almeida Theatre
- Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing
- Hecuba, Hecuba, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Mrs Erlynne, Lady Windermere’s Fan, John Frost, John McCallum, Stanhope Productions, and Theatre Royal Haymarket Productions
- Mme Ranevskaya, The Cherry Orchard, National Theatre
- Carlotta Gray, A Song at Twilight
- Prospero, The Tempest
- Ella Rentheim, John Gabriel Borkman, National Theatre
- Cleopatra / Director, Antony and Cleopatra, Moving Theatre
- Lence, The Liberation Of Skopje, Moving Theatre
- Brecht in Exile
- Mrs Hesione Hushabye, Heartbreak House
- Isadora Duncan, When She Danced
- Olga Prozorov, Three Sisters
- Lady Torrance, Orpheus Descending
- Orpheus Descending
- A Madhouse in Goa
- A Touch of the Poet
- A Touch of the Poet
- Her Infinite Variety
- Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra
- Chekhov’s Women
- Tribute to Sir Michael Redgrave
- Mrs Alving, Ghosts
- Irina Arkadina, The Seagull, EEE Ventures Ltd, Lyric Hammersmith Productions, Peter Baldwin Ltd, Robert Fox Ltd, and Stoll Moss Theatres Ltd
- Miss Tina, The Aspern Papers, Duncan C Weldon, Paul Gregg & Lionel Becker, and Proscenium Productions Ltd
- Ellida, The Lady from the Sea, Royal Exchange Theatre Company
- Gilda, Design for Living
- Reader, If Music and Sweet Poetry Agree…, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Polly Peachum, The Threepenny Opera
- Susan Thistlewood, Cato Street, Thistlewood Productions and Young Vic
- The Charge of the Light Brigade
- Jean Brodie, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Donald Albery for Calabash Productions Ltd
- Cymbeline
- The Taming of the Shrew
- Imogen, Cymbeline, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Katharina, The Taming of the Shrew, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Reader, The Hollow Crown, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Rosalind, As You Like It, Royal Shakespeare Company
- As You Like It
- Katharina, The Taming of the Shrew, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Rosalind, As You Like It, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Reader, The Hollow Crown, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Rose Sinclair, Look On Tempests
- Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- All’s Well That Ends Well
- Coriolanus
- Valeria, Coriolanus, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Unnamed parts, All’s Well That Ends Well, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Unnamed parts, Othello, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Caroline Lester, A Touch of the Sun, Tennent Productions Ltd
- Cleopatra / Director, Antony and Cleopatra, Moving Theatre