Fiona Shaw

I used to go to the theatre in London a lot, and saw a lot of very good actors and actresses. One of those was Fiona Shaw. I first saw her at the RSC playing Celia opposite Juliet Stevenson's Rosalind in "As You Like It", then Kate to Brian Cox's Petruchio in "The Taming of the Shrew", and Mistress Carol opposite Alex Jennings' Fairfield in James Shirley's Hyde Park, a lovely production. And then I saw her again a few years later in "The Way of the World" at the National Theatre. She's an unusual and impressive actress who manages to create something new when she is up on stage. It seems a little sad that her best known work seems to be Aunt Petunia to Harry Potter.

She was in Amsterdam today to present "Readings", a performance directed by Deborah Warner, in which she read some of her favourite poetry. Some Shakespeare and Chekhov, little readings from plays in which she played all the parts. A lot of Yeats and some Dickinson. She moved easily from one piece to another, from one setting to another and created an intimate and moving performance. She ended with the story of Paolo and Francesco in the words of Jeannette Winterson, a moving story very beautifully told. There was such emotion there, that quite amazed me. It was nice to see that one woman, with very few props and staging could hold the attention of the audience with her voice and the words of great poets. I was very tired when I entered the theatre, but spellbound throughout the performance. It took me a little time afterwards to come back down to earth.