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Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Drama

Vanessa Redgrave

5 - 10 February 2012
University of Oxford

Vanessa Redgrave, world-renowned actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, delivered two  public lectures as part of her tenure as Humanitas Visiting Professor in Drama 2012, at the University of Oxford. Her series  concluded with a symposium on the theme of ‘Theatre and Politics’, where she was joined by actor Ralph Fiennes, Guardian theatre critic, Michael Billington, and playwright Simon Stephens.

In her lectures and the discussions that followed, Vanessa Redgrave spoke with deep feeling and considerable thoughtfulness on the importance of the concepts of human rights, law and the ownership of land, and their relevance to Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra and King Lear.  Her extraordinary familiarity with the detail, stage dynamics and performance history of Shakespeare’s plays made her insights into how they should be performed, their potential resonance, and her own personal connection with the texts particularly compelling. As was to be expected, she spoke with great eloquence.

According to The Oxford Student: ‘Listening to these experts in the field, one was humbled by their intelligent and insightful comments and inspired; but the words of Vanessa Redgrave seemed to really strike a chord with everyone. Redgrave wisely pointed out that drama has the power to wake people up to new ideas and challenge their previous beliefs, for, “there is no such thing as preaching to the converted.” Wise words indeed from a true champion of drama.’

The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Drama has been made possible by the generous support of Eric Abraham.

To view films of Vanessa Redgrave's lectures, please click here.

To view photos, visit ISD's Flickr page

Please click here to view the series poster and here to view the series flyer.