When I asked him how he felt about dying, he said – after a pause – “calm”. Choosing material that was enlivening, amid the upset – like the exuberant video of Fred Astaire and others dancing to Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk – as well as rousing: a speech from a French revolutionary fighter from an early TV play he’d done in the 1980s. Going back to his last weeks, earlier this year, what struck me was how all his thoughts were about those left behind: finding the right song to honour Rima, his widow, at the memorial (he chose Take It With Me by Tom Waits) choosing people who he felt would be most able to speak, and sparing those for whom it might be too demanding. Rickman as fearsome Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). There is no one like him to take his place. When the tribal elder passes, the tribe suffers. In this sense he was a tribal elder who we all set our compasses by. This – for Alan – was about the level of his engagement, which was committed and principled. He could cut you down to size with a withering remark, make perceptive criticisms more useful than general praise, and be forcefully direct. His direction was typically selfless, detailed and meticulous and his care of Rachel’s family, as they processed their grief through rehearing their daughter’s words, was mighty.īefore I sound like I am sanctifying Alan I will add that his support and engagement, in the best sense, was often challenging. Alongside the journalist Kath Viner and the actor Megan Dodds, Alan made a stunning show that went from the tiny Theatre Upstairs to the West End, New York, and is still produced all over the world. He came to me at the Royal Court with an imaginative idea to make a play from the diaries of Rachel Corrie, a young activist who tragically died when run over by a bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier. One thing Alan was especially passionate about was the political situation in the West Bank, and he responded to this both as a citizen and an artist.

His roots gave him an affinity with anyone who crossed his path

Alan rickman snape