Actors on Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra

Actors on Shakespeare

by Vanessa Redgrave

The "Actors on Shakespeare" series draws on the contemporary relevance of, and enjoyment to be found in, Shakespeare. Each book provides an introduction to a particular play from an individual actor's perspective; here Vanessa Redgrave offers her view of Cleopatra and "Antony and Cleopatra".

Paperback

Published January 1, 2002

About the author

Vanessa Redgrave, CBE, is an Academy Award-winning English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.

She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning both the Tony and Olivier Awards. On screen, she has starred in more than 80 films; including Mary, Queen of Scots, Isadora, Mission: Impossible and Mrs Dalloway. Redgrave was proclaimed by Tennessee Williams to be "the greatest living actress of our times" and she remains the only British actress to ever have won the Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Cannes, Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild awards. She was also the recipient of the 2010 Bafta Fellowship for "Outstanding Contribution to Film".

A member of the Redgrave family of actors, she is the daughter of Sir Michael Redgrave, sister of the late Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave, and the mother of Hollywood actresses Joely Richardson and the late Natasha Richardson.

Reviews

[Stevie Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanessa Redgrave has played Cleopatra and directed the play, so she is well positioned to write this analysis. A great look at the play from a different point of view to the various dry (mainly) male academic commentaries that accompany texts of the play itself.