Lynn, Corin and Natasha
Lynn Redgrave was a prominent member of this famous acting dynasty and her
recent death has come during a difficult time for this famous acting family.
Her older
brother, Corin Redgrave, died in April this year and her niece, Natasha Richardson, died
in 2009 at age 45 from head injuries suffered in a skiing accident.
Lynn Redgrave enjoyed a long career in film and stage, including an Oscar
nomination for her 1966 star-making turn in Georgy Girl.
Farnham's Redgrave Theatre was named after the whole acting dynasty - Sir
Michael did not want the theatre named after him alone.
Corin Redgrave's support for the Redgrave Theatre
Corin Redgrave has always been an avid supporter of the Redgrave Theatre in Farnham. Corin's “Why keep the Redgrave Theatre” article echoes down the years since it was written in 2004."The neglect and semi-ruin of a theatre so generously named after my father, hardly a quarter of a century after it was built, seemed to me symbolic of the transitory and impermanence of the actor’s art and of its place in our society. It is a paradox. Our country, I think, is permanently good at this most impermanent art.
My
interest in the Redgrave is partly familial. It pains me more than I can
adequately express to see it in its present state. But I am mainly
interested in what its revival could accomplish.One is acutely aware of all the theatres within a certain radius which now compete for audiences and for funding. Hence I do not believe that a revived Redgrave could ever begin to thrive if it only offered what it did so well before.
It would thrive, I believe in the measure that Farnham and its theatre should become as synonymous with excellence as that pretty village in Sussex, Glyndebourne, has become.
I would establish a foundation for the study of acting. The Redgrave would be a school, and a theatre. A school, primarily for graduate actors who would be paid both as students and as performers. Its teachers would be directors and actors from Europe and America.
I would dedicate the next five years of my life, and a negotiable part of what remains, if any, to such a project.”
Corin Redgrave May 2004
It is a great sadness that the years of illness which followed this statement prevented him from being able to achieve this ambition.
