Vanessa Redgrave

Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Drama (2011-2012)

The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Drama brings playwrights, actors, and directors to share their craft and explore the rich thought-provoking field of the theatre.

The Visiting Professorship in Drama is hosted by Brasenose College, Oxford. During the years 2010-2013 the professorship was generously supported by Eric Abraham. From 2014 onwards it has been made possible by the generous support of André Hoffmann.

Proclaimed by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams as “the greatest living actress of our times”, Vanessa Redgrave is an English actress of stage, screen and television.

Vanessa Redgrave’s Visiting Professorship series was entitled ‘Theatre and Politics Today’. She spoke with deep feeling and great thoughtfulness on human rights, poverty, law and the ownership of land, and their relevance to Shakespeare’s plays. Her 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.