The Stage

Nightingale

Published Tuesday 24 January 2006 at 17:00 by Jeremy Austin

Lynn Redgrave’s homage to her grandmother is a warm, funny and uplifting story that spans the life of the fictional Mildred Asher.

Born into a comfortable middle class family at the turn of the last century, this naive yet intelligent woman slips into the oppressive tedium of a marriage to a kindly but unambitious man whom she never really loves.

It is a story that not only spans some 70 years of social change but also burrows into the minutiae of a woman’s loves, dreams and hopes as she watches her life slip away from her.

It is beautifully written and directed by Redgrave and acted with sensitivity by Caroline John, who has known Redgrave since their time together in the late fifties and early sixties as students at Central School of Speech and Drama.

She physically ages throughout the piece, which begins with her in church as a very young girl and ends at the moment her life does. Her complete immersion into the role draws the audience in with her, gently taking them on the journey through her life - as ordinary yet eventful as everybody’s.

Redgrave’s greatest skill however is to make this piece entertaining and moving while still making a point about the subjugation of woman and the nature of marriage and society.