Our Time of Day: My Life with Corin Redgrave (Oberon Modern Plays) - Hardcover

Markham, Kika

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783191007 ISBN 13: 9781783191000

Publisher: Oberon Books, 2014

Synopsis

Our Time of Day was inspired by Corin Redgrave’s revelation that after suffering brain damage he could remember little of his marriage despite the fact that for over thirty happy, passionate and turbulent years he and wife Kika Markham had shared their love of acting, family and left-wing politics with ceaseless energy and commitment.

With great empathy and wit, Kika records their lives on and off stage two great actors from two theatrical families. She draws upon intimate records of the thoughts and feelings that they had both expressed in personal diaries, writing with often brutal honesty. Finally she charts the poignant trajectory of Corin’s illness, from the moment he suffered a near-fatal heart attack during a speech on behalf of the Dale Farm gypsies, to severe memory loss, cancer and his eventual death from an aneurysm in the brain. Throughout these troubled years both continued acting in plays and films, as well as strenuously pursuing the human rights causes they held so dear.

"Stamped by an unflinching and humane candour... an affecting evocation of love as well as of loss." - The Spectator

"Riveting stuff." - Simon Callow, Guardian

About this title

About the Author

Kika Markham's long career in the cinema, television and theatre as an actress includes many appearances; Minder, The Life and Times of David Lloyd George, Van der Valk, Cracker, and Agatha Christie's Poirot. Markham married actor Corin Redgrave. Markham and Redgrave appeared together twice on screen: first in Lynda La Plante's Trial and Retribution in 2000 as a judge and barrister respectively; and later in the BBC's Waking The Dead as lovers suspected of the murder of a government advisor. They also appeared on stage together in an acclaimed revival of Noël Coward's A Song at Twilight, along with sister in law Vanessa Redgrave. Kika was directed by François Truffaut in Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent (1971) and has appeared in other films such as Outland (1981) and Killing Me Softly (2002).

Review

'Our Time of Day captures the exhaustion, the confusion, the unpreparedness of learning to love someone you have loved already; the same man, but with parts missing, parts changed... There are also funny anecdotes about those picky traits that cause repetitive arguments, and confessions that many are not prepared to make. Kika divulges an honesty that is impressionable-she is not self-pitying, or saintly, but really just comes across as human.' The Lancet Neurology; 'Honest and moving... This engaging and thought-provoking book serves to remind practitioners of the enormous strain families come under caring for their relatives. The compassion the family shows for one another in these circumstances is heartwarming. Kika aimed to give comfort to families going through similar experiences: this she does with her accessible and direct writing style.' The Psychologist

Edition details

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1783191007
• ISBN 13: 9781783191000
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 206