Corin Redgrave, 1939-2010

Corin Redgrave, 1939-2010 | reviews, news & interviews

Corin Redgrave, 1939-2010

The Marxist theory of thespianism: how a career revived after the Cold War

by Jasper ReesSaturday, 10 April 2010

Corin Redgrave: 'Very good, but his eyes too close together' according to his father Michael Redgrave

I once witnessed Corin Redgrave, who died last week, terrify a member of the audience at the National Theatre. He was playing an old beast of a journalist in Joanna Murray-Smith’s play, Honour. It opened with Redgrave in mid-rant, so when a mobile phone trilled about five seconds after his entrance, Redgrave was already in the zone. This was a traverse staging in the Cottesloe, and the woman rummaging in her bag was in the second row, so he was practically on top of her when, without slipping out of character, he swivelled and yelled, “Turn it off!”

I didn’t put acting to one side. What determined it was the sense that to a degree I was excluded by other people from acting

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