Vanessa Redgrave at 80: a career on stage – in pictures

Vanessa Redgrave has captivated theatre audiences since her early days at the RSC. She has starred alongside her father, siblings and children, enthralled Broadway and is still commanding the stage as she enters her ninth decade. We salute some of her finest performances


  • Vanessa Redgrave with her father, Michael Redgrave, after their successful opening in NC Hunter’s A Touch of the Sun at the Saville theatre in 1958. It was her London debut.
    Pinterest
    Vanessa Redgrave with her father, Michael Redgrave, after their successful opening in NC Hunter’s A Touch of the Sun at the Saville theatre in 1958. It was her London debut.


  • As Rosalind in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of As You Like It at the Aldwych, London, in 1961. It was her performance in this role that first brought Redgrave to prominence. Michael Billington wrote: ‘I’ve never seen … a more exciting demonstration of the ecstasy of love.’
    Pinterest
    As Rosalind in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of As You Like It at the Aldwych theatre, London, in 1961


  • As Imogen in William Gaskill’s production of Cymbeline, at Stratford in 1962
    Pinterest
    As Imogen in Cymbeline at Stratford in 1962


  • Redgrave in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, at Wyndham’s theatre, London, 1966. This was the first stage production of Muriel Spark’s novel, and three years before Maggie Smith starred in the film adaptation.
    Pinterest
    Redgrave in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, at Wyndham’s theatre, London, 1966. This was the first stage production of Muriel Spark’s novel, and three years before Maggie Smith starred in the film adaptation.


  • As Cleopatra in Tony Richardson’s modern-dress production at the Bankside Globe Playhouse in 1973.
    Pinterest
    As Cleopatra in Tony Richardson’s modern-dress production at the Bankside Globe Playhouse in 1973.


  • As Ellida Wangel in Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, in 1978. The acclaimed production transferred to the Roundhouse in London the following year.
    Pinterest
    Vanessa Redgrave as Ellida in The Lady from the Sea at the Royal Exchange 1978


  • With Christopher Reeve in The Aspern Papers at Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, in1984. Redgrave won the Olivier award for actress of the year in a revival for her performance as Miss Tina.
    Pinterest
    Vanessa Redgrave and Christopher Reeve in The Aspern Papers at Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1984


  • Vanessa Redgrave with her daughter Natasha Richardson in Charles Sturridge’s production of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Queen’s theatre, London, 1985.
    Pinterest
    Vanessa Redgrave with her daughter Natasha Richardson in Charles Sturridge’s production of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Queen’s theatre, London, 1985


  • In Tennessee Williams’s Orpheus Descending, directed by Peter Hall, at the Haymarket, London, with Jean-Marc Barr, 1989. According to Imogen Stubbs, who saw the performance: ‘At the end, she had been utterly broken. She sat on stage with one leg out – like a broken doll – diminished and defeated. That could have looked like a rehearsal idea but it was devastating. At the curtain call it felt inappropriate to clap.’
    Pinterest
    Orpheus Descending at The Haymarket with Jean-Marc Barr


  • Vanessa Redgrave, bottom right, and her sister Lynn Redgrave, left, with their niece Jemma Redgrave during previews of Three Sisters at the Queens theatre, London, 1990. The production was the first time the sisters had acted together
    Pinterest
    Vanessa Redgrave, bottom right, and Lynn Redgrave, left, with their niece Jemma Redgrave during previews of their play Three Sisters at the Queens Theatre 1990


  • As Isadora Duncan, left, with Michael Sheen, right in Martin Sherman’s play When She Danced, at the Globe (now the Gielgud), London, 1992.
    Pinterest
    Vanessa Redgrave as Isadora Duncan, left and Michael Sheen, right in Martin Sherman’s play When She Danced, at the Globe (now the Gielgud), London, 1992


  • As Cleopatra in Moving Theatre’s production – which she directed – of Antony and Cleopatra at the Riverside Studios, London, in 1995.
    Pinterest
    Vanessa Redgrave as Cleopatra in a production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Riverside Studios


  • With her brother Corin Redgrave in Trevor Nunn’s The Cherry Orchard at the Cottesloe, London, in 2000. Michael Billington wrote: ‘The most intriguing performance predictably comes from Vanessa Redgrave as Ranevskaya. Conventionally the character is played as a heedless romantic. Redgrave instead offers us a restless, tactile, highly sexed and deeply maternal woman forever guided by her instincts.’
    Pinterest
    With Corin Redgrave in The Cherry Orchard at the Cottesloe in 2000


  • With her daughter Joely Richardson in Lady Windermere’s Fan at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, in 2002. Michael Billington wrote: ‘Redgrave defies all convention by playing Mrs Erlynne not as some swaggering voluptuary but as a gracious, humane woman whose mission is to prevent her daughter repeating her mistakes’
    Pinterest
    Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson in Lady Windermere’s Fan at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2002


  • With the chorus in Hecuba at the Albery theatre, London, in 2005.
    Pinterest
    With the chorus in Hecuba at the Albery theatre, London, in 2005.


  • In The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, based on her memoir, directed by David Hare at the Booth theater, New York, in 2007. ‘It is in the quiet between the words, as she tastes and digests what she has said, that Ms Redgrave – playing a character named Joan Didion – comes closest to capturing Ms Didion’s voice and the delicate layering of harsh feelings that made the book such a stunner,’ wrote the New York Times’ critic.
    Pinterest
    The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion based on her memoir, directed by David Hare at the Boothe Theater, New York, 2007


  • In Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway with James Earl Jones, 2010. Angela Lansbury took over Redgrave’s role when the show went on tour.
    Pinterest
    Driving Miss Daisy on Broadway with James Earl Jones, 2010


  • James Earl Jones as Benedict with Redgrave as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Vic, London, directed by Mark Rylance in 2013. Redgrave had ‘odd moments of unpredictable magic’, but the production earned only one star in the Guardian’s review
    Pinterest
    James Earl Jones as Benedict and Vanessa Redgrave as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare at the Old Vic, directed by Mark Rylance in 2013


  • As Queen Margaret with Ralph Fiennes as Richard in Richard III at the Almeida, London, directed by Rupert Goold, in June 2016. ‘What a voice: low, assured, level. And utterly surprising,’ wrote Susannah Clapp in the Observer. ‘She is delivering curses that are usually roared and spat out. Redgrave drops them with deliberation as if she were merely describing the truth.’
    Pinterest
    As Queen Margaret with Ralph Fiennes as Richard in Richard III at the Almeida, London, directed by Rupert Goold, in June 2016. ‘What a voice: low, assured, level. And utterly surprising,’ wrote Susannah Clapp in the Observer. ‘She is delivering curses that are usually roared and spat out. Redgrave drops them with deliberation as if she were merely describing the truth.’