Photo Flash: Alley Theatre Remembers Associate Artist Corin Redgrave

Corin Redgrave's vivid performance in the world premiere production of Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales opposite Alley Company Member James Black during the 1997 -1998 season will not be forgotten by audiences. For his performance in Not About Nightingales, he received a Laurence Olivier Award as well as Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Nominations for Best Leading Actor. Redgrave also appeared at the Alley in the title role in Julius Caesar, a production which he also directed, in repertory with Antony & Cleopatra. In both productions he worked opposite his sister, Vanessa Redgrave. Corin Redgrave performed a limited engagement of Oscar Wilde's De Profundis in conjunction with the Alley's production of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd said of Redgrave's passing, "Corin Redgrave was one of the great theatre-artists - a superb actor and director and an inspiring figure to everyone at the Alley. Our collaborations with Corin stretched from Shakespeare to Wilde to Tennessee Williams to contemporary plays and he always found the current truth and an exciting theatricality in everything we worked on.

His performances at the Alley in Not About Nightingales, as Julius Caesar and as Benedict Arnold in The General from America by Richard Nelson were among the most brilliant I have witnessed - and his careful process in rehearsal, his insights into character and human nature and history, his contextualizing of every moment in a play was thrilling. As an Associate Artist with the Alley, he was passionately eager to share his long experience towards the questions of Ensemble, Company and the mission and purpose of the Theatre. I shall always be grateful for his comradeship and counsel. We had been talking in recent weeks of his return here in a new work based on the life and writings of Oscar Wilde. He sounded excited to be working again after his recent illnesses and very happy to be contemplating coming back to Houston. We shall all miss him very much."

Alley Theatre Artist and Associate Director James Black, who appeared with Redgrave in Not About Nightingales and Julius Caesar, describes Corin Redgrave as "A man whose exceptional talent was only surpassed by his humanity. A very dear man whom I shall miss tremendously."

Alley Theatre Artist Jeffrey Bean, who appeared with Redgrave in Julius Caesar, says "Corin was among the most gracious people I have ever worked with. We continued our friendship long past our working together on the Roman Plays. I am deeply saddened by his passing."
Redgrave had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000 and suffered a heart attack in 2005, but continued performing. In 2009 he returned to the London stage in Trumbo. The Redgrave family said he died today after falling ill at home on Sunday. His wife, Kika Markham, said "Corin Redgrave has died today. He was taken ill at home in the early hours of Sunday morning. He died very peacefully surrounded by his family. We will miss him so very much."

ABOUT THE Alley Theatre

The Alley Theatre is a professional resident theatre company under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean Gladden. It is one of the few American Theatre companies that supports a company of actors, designers, artisans and craftspeople throughout the year. Productions are built and rehearsed in a 75,000 square foot state-of-the art facility, one of the largest of its kind, adjacent to its two-theatre complex in downtown Houston.

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