Vanessa Redgrave wins rave reviews in Eisenberg play

Vanessa Redgrave has won rave reviews for her performance in Jesse Eisenberg's new play The Revisionist.

The veteran British actress, 76, stars opposite Eisenberg in the Off-Broadway production which premiered on Thursday.

Ben Brantley, of the New York Times, said Redgrave's performance "reminds us why she's considered the greatest actress of her generation".

The Hollywood Reporter's review called the actress "mesmerising" adding, "stage acting doesn't get much better".

"Watching a magnificent stage animal like Vanessa Redgrave burrow deep into a complex new role in an intimate Off-Broadway space seating fewer than 200 is a rare luxury for theatre lovers," wrote David Rooney.

The Revisionist, Eisenberg's second play, focuses on a young American writer who visits his older Jewish cousin - a holocaust survivor - in Poland, in the hope that a change of scene will dislodge his writer's block.

He rudely rebuffs her attempts at friendship, but over time the secrets and suffering of her life force him to reflect on his own spoiled attitudes.