Corin pledges five years to save Redgrave

and Ian Mullins

broadens the debate

(skip to article)

Actor Corin Redgrave has volunteered the next five years of his life to ensuring that the Redgrave Theatre is reopened.

The son of the late Sir Michael Redgrave, after whom the theatre was named, said he is prepared to be contracted as the theatre’s artistic director for the first five years. And, if asked, he would set about raising the finances himself to see the theatre reopened.

The London-born actor, who has recently starred in Waking the Dead and King Lear, has been encouraged by the revival of other regional theatres. The Liverpool Repertory and The Bristol Old Vic, which, though once languishing, have undergone transformations, are now attracting new audiences.

One-time artistic director of the Farnham theatre, Patrick Sandford, has described the Redgrave as being “unique to the country”.

He said: “There is no other theatre with an auditorium of such real intimacy that has such a large stage.”

Corin Redgrave said that the Redgrave Theatre was symbolic to the Redgrave family and that an actor’s art had a place in society. In a statement made for a seminar in Farnham last year, he said: “It’s a para­dox. Our country is permanently good at this most impermanent art.”

However, he is not only interested in the restoration of the theatre for sentimen­tal reasons. “I am mainly interested in what its revival could accomplish,” he said.

The actor envisages the building reopening as a theatre in autumn 2006 and believes it could be accompa­nied by an inaugural season with some of the greatest artists from England and abroad.

“I want the Redgrave to be a profes­sional theatre of the highest standards. And ultimately, in the not so distant future, it could have attached to it a school of acting done in conjunction with a nearby university.”

Corin said an acting school attached to the theatre, not necessarily on the same premises, could be a base for nurturing future talent.

“Since the theatre bears a distinguished name in the history of acting, I would seek to make the new theatre a show place for the finest acting in the English lan­guage.

Nevertheless, the theatre remains seem­ingly doomed to demolition as part of the East Street development.

Waverley Council holds the view that the Maltings is providing enough live per­formances and is still developing.

In addition, a multi-screen cinema is planned within the new development, which is sure to influence Farnham peo­ple.

Waverley’s portfolio holder for the East Street development, Chris Mansell, has said: “I personally don’t find it surprising that no one is prepared to support financially a stand-alone theatre in Farnham. “You may know that the financial pres­sures on all stand-alone theatres are very heavy. The Yvonne Arnaud at Guildford is certainly feeling the strain, while Waverley lost huge sums of money on the Redgrave.

“Our policy on the Mailings is bearing fruit. There is a lot going on there and there is a real buzz about the place. There are plans to expand and improve the live theatre space.

“We have been encouraging the New Farnham Repertory Company to start working with the Maltings. We are also trying to persuade them to think more lat­erally, dealing with the Performing Arts Centre at Frensham Heights School, for example, which is doing excellent work.”

He added: “I can understand the frus­tration about the Redgrave. For the years after it first opened, my wife and I were very regular attenders and thoroughly enjoyed the performances.

“We also donated to keep it going after things started going downhill. It is disap­pointing for all of us, but the fact is that new opportunities for live theatre in Farnham are opening up. I hope that the New Farnham Repertory Company will recognise this and join in.”

Corin Redgrave disagrees with Waverley, however. He recently opened a new theatre in Lichfield, Staffordshire, where the city council built a brand new theatre for a population of 30,000.

He said that, although there were dis­putes over how much money the council was spending, it stuck to its guns by pointing to Lichfield’s extraordinary artistic and cultural heritage.

Mr Redgrave told The Herald:

“Farnham, no less than Lichfield, has a great cultural heritage. It had a repertory theatre.

The above article appeared in the Farnham Herald on 21 January 2005

Corin Redgrave's letter to the 2004 Brightwell Seminar

Ian Mullins broadens the debate

As a former artistic director of Farnham’s abandoned Redgrave Theatre, which the New Farnham Repertory Company has unsuc­cessfully fought so hard to save, Ian Mullins is sanguine about the offer by actor Corin Redgrave, son of the late Sir Michael Redgrave for whom the theatre was named, to take up the cause.

The celebrated actor has offered to raise the funds necessary to re-open the theatre and says he is prepared to be contracted as the theatre’s artistic director for the first five years, as reported in The Herald recently.

He has said that the Redgrave Theatre is symbolic to the Redgrave family and that an actor’s art has a place in society. He would seek to make it a show place for the finest acting in the English language. The theatre is down for demolition in Waverley’s East Street development plan.

lan Mullins commented: “It is just not going to happen. Waverley hasn’t budged an inch and whatever happens will not be for a very long time.”

Where does all this leave the New Farnham Repertory Company?

“Our sights are set on the Redgrave. As long as we get a bit of funding from Waverley and the town council to give Farnham good professional theatre, we shall go on giving the community what they palpably value, with the goal of re-opening the theatre.”

In view of these developments, the directors of NFRC have suggested a meeting with Corin, with a view to discussing how they can work together to change the intractable mindset in Waverley that Ian identified in his response to Corin's offer.

The company’s plans are that when Ian returns from his current trip to visit family in New Zealand, work will start on preparing two performances in the autumn, one in St Andrew’s Parish Church, where the NFRC performed Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town last September, and one in Farnham United Reformed Church, which has a reputation for excellent theatrical productions.

Based on an article that appeared in the Farnham Herald on 11 February 2005