Tony Winner Vanessa Redgrave Set to Play Russian Poet Anna Akhmatova in Audio Dramas

Theater fans will be able to listen to this legend from the comfort of home! Ensemble for the Romantic Century (ERC) has announced that British actress Vanessa Redgrave will play the role of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova in two audio dramas: Akhmatova, The Heart is not made of Stone by Eve Wolf and Real Writing by Maureen Lawrence. Both are directed by ERC Director of Theatrical Production Donald T. Sanders. Post-production is under way at London's Sound Room Studios with Wilfredo Acosta as sound engineer; the audio dramas are expected for release in early December.

Akhmatova The Heart is not made of Stone spans the years 1945 to 1965 and centers on Akhmatova's meeting with British philosopher Isaiah Berlin in Leningrad in 1945; Berlin was part of the British delegation to the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Allies World War II defeat of Hitler. The play features Akhmatova's incomparable poetry and the romantic drama between her and Berlin amidst the repressive Stalinist regime. Redgrave will reunite with The Inheritance Tony nominee Paul Hilton, who will play Isaiah Berlin. The company will also include Charles Daish, Lucy Doyle, William Oxborrow and Sebastian Knapp. Historic recordings of the music of Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich chosen by playwright Wolf will accompany the audio as well as documentary sound footage compiled by Renee Silverman.

Real Writing takes place from 1938-1992 and is about the relationship between the poet and Lydia Chukovskaya, a young Russian journalist and translator. In the play, Lydia remembers her meetings with Akhmatova as they tried to free their respective loved ones from imprisonment in Stalin's gulag. Through the harrowing ordeal, the two became lifelong friends. Lydia will be played by Daisy Bevan. The production will feature music by Prokofiev and contemporary Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina.

"I always dreamed of Vanessa playing Anna on stage but the cards were never right," director Sanders said. "We did Akhmatova The Heart is not made of Stone at NYC's Thalia in 2012, at Brooklyn's BAM in 2016 and were scheduled for reviving it at the Duke on 42nd Street last spring when off-Broadway shut down."

Tony, Olivier, Oscar and Emmy winner Vanessa Redgrave appeared on the London stage in Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance and received a 2019 Olivier Award nomination for her performance. She was Oscar-nominated for her turn in the 1992 film adaptation of Howards End. She is a Tony winner for Long Day's Journey Into Night and an Olivier winner for The Aspern Papers. Redgrave won an Oscar for Julia and Emmys for If These Walls Could Talk 2 and Playing for Time.