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Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent
Discover the work of the greatest writer in the English language as you've never encountered it before by ordering internationally renowned actor Dame Judi Dench's SHAKESPEARE: The Man Who Pays The Rent—a witty, insightful journey through the plays and tales of our beloved Shakespeare.
Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig...
Cavorting naked through the Warwickshire countryside painted green...
Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head...
These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.
For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra. In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O'Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare's plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans.
Interspersed with vignettes on audiences, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she serves up priceless revelations on everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes, all brightened by her mischievous sense of humour, striking level of honesty and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes, many of which have remained under lock and key until now.
Instructive and witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi's love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.
Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig...
Cavorting naked through the Warwickshire countryside painted green...
Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head...
These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.
For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra. In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O'Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare's plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans.
Interspersed with vignettes on audiences, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she serves up priceless revelations on everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes, all brightened by her mischievous sense of humour, striking level of honesty and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes, many of which have remained under lock and key until now.
Instructive and witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi's love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published October 26, 2023
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April 22, 20244.5 stars
This book started as a series of interviews between actor/director Brendan O'Hea and Dame Judi Dench, about the many Shakespeare parts Dench has played. O'Hea's plan was to donate the tapes to the archives department at Shakespeare's Globe.
Brendan O'Hea and Dame Judi Dench
O'Hea's chats with Dench were so entertaining that he decided to condense them into a book. I had access to both the written book and the audiobook (which is delightful)!
Dame Judi Dench, born in 1934, is considered one of Britain's greatest actresses. Dench's talent and versatility led to appearances on stage, in films, and on television, but she's most revered for her roles in Shakespeare's plays.
Dame Judi Dench
The plays discussed, and Judi's roles, are: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania, Hermia, First Fairy); Twelfth Night (Viola, Maria); The Merchant of Venice (Portia); Hamlet (Ophelia, Gertrude); Coriolanus (Volumnia); As You Like It (Phebe); Measure For Measure (Isabella); Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice); King Lear (Regan, Cordelia, Goneril); The Comedy of Errors (Adriana); Richard II (Queen Isabel); Antony and Cleopatra (Cleopatra); Cymbeline (Imogen); All's Well That Ends Well (Countess of Roussillon); Henry V (Katherine, Hostess); The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Quickly, Anne Page); Richard III (Duchess of York); The Winter's Tale (Hermione, Perdita, Paulina, Time); and Romeo and Juliet (Juliet). Quite a resume!!
Judi Dench (as Volumnia) and Kenneth Branagh (as Coriolanus) in Shakespeare's Coriolanus
Judi Dench (as Cleopatra) and Anthony Hopkins (as Mark Antony) in Shakespeare's Cleopatra
Judi Dench (as Mistress Quickly) in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor
Interspersed with discussions about specific plays are miscellaneous chapters, including: Stratford-Upon-Avon; Play; Company; Fireside Ramblings; Rose Theatre; Failure; Rehearsal; Critics; Shakespeare's Language; Audience; Changing Times; Future of Shakespeare; and Advice. In addition the audiobook concludes with a fun 'off the cuff' talk between O'Hea and Dench.
Dame Judi Dench chatting with Brendan O'Hea
Though I've seen some Shakespeare productions, I'll admit I looked up synopses of the plays being discussed, to familiarize myself with the plots and characters. Thus the book was a twofer for me - Judi Dench's memoir and a bit of a primer on Shakespeare.
Prompted by O'Hea, Dench discusses the plays' plots, language, staging, costumes, cast, directors, relevance, mishaps, and more, and Judi is knowledgeable, fun, introspective, philosophical, practical, honest....all kinds of good things.
Dench also gives us a glimpse of her personal life, with anecdotes about her parents; her husband Michael (Mikey) Williams, her daughter Finty, and people she's met and worked with during her long career.
I'll give examples of the chitchat, to provide a feel for the book.
Macbeth
Speaking about Lady Macbeth, Dench opines: "Macbeth needs a push, and with the help of the spirits his wife is the one to do it. She is the spur that pricks him on....She's not interested [in being the Queen]....She does it for him....towards what she believes to be his due."
Judi Dench (as Lady Macbeth) and Ian McKellan (as Macbeth) in Shakespeare's Macbeth
On a light note, thinking about doing the play in Africa, and acting outside in the heat, Judi recalls, "I remember seeing vultures sitting in the trees and I said to the actors, 'For God's sake, twitch when you're dead, they're waiting to eat us."
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Asked about Stratford-Upon-Avon, Dench observes, "In all the memories I have, that's where my heart is. It's where I feel centered. So much of what Shakespeare talks about in his plays can be referenced to the countryside around Stratford....We (Judi and her husband Michael) lived there for ten years and Fint (Judi's daughter Finty) grew up there. And Michael is buried in the grounds of the little church."
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Judi Dench, her husband Michael, and their daughter Finty
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Thinking about the play, Dench says, "Titania and Oberon are so randy. They're at it like knives. You never see that in productions, do you? All the fairies should be humping each other throughout." LOL
Judi Dench (as Titania) in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Fairies in Shakespeae's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Company
Dench loves being in a production company. Speaking about the Old Vic, Judi says, "It was thrilling being able to have a walk-on part in one production, play a character in another, understudy in something else. I loved being a cog in this great big community."
Judi Dench (as Ophelia) and John Neville (as Hamlet) in Shakespeare's Hamlet (at the Old Vic)
The Royal Shakespeare Company
Much Ado About Nothing
Talking about the Bard, Dench observes "There's something for everybody in Shakespeare. Everything you have felt or are yet to feel is all there in his plays: oppression, ambition, loneliness, remorse, [jealousy, love] everything."
For instance, in Much Ado About Nothing, the character Beatrice doesn't want to get married. Dench observes, "She's down on her knees every night praying it'll never happen. Who needs a man? Who wants to be accountable to a 'clod of wayward marl'? After the passion of the wooing and the solemnity of the wedding, it's all downhill. She has such a bleak view of matrimony."
Judi Dench (as Beatrice) and John Barton (as Benedick) in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
King Lear
Dench has been in King Lear three times, at the Old Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and on the radio. She remembers, "John Gielgud was Lear in the radio version and we were recording it to celebrate his ninetieth birthday." When asked if Gielgud was good as King Lear, Judi says, "I've no idea. With radio, you only ever tend to record your own scenes....and I never heard the full production when it was aired. But I adored him so much, he could have played Bo Peep and I would have thought it was superlative."
John Gielgud (as King Lear) in Shakespeare's King Lear
Judi Dench (as Regan) in Shakespeare's King Lear
The Comedy of Errors
A scene in this play reminds Dench of an incident in her own life. She observes, "[My husband] Mikey and I had some friends over for lunch at our house. He took a few of them down the pub for a drink, while the rest of us stayed home and cooked. I told Mikey to be back by two and when they didn't turn up on time we locked the doors and started eating. They did eventually appear....and we took absolutely no notice. They had to get a ladder and climb in through the bedroom window."
Judi Dench and her husband Michael Williams
Critics
Talking about critics, Dench notes, "Caryl Brahms never liked anything I did. She was vitriolic, and clearly allergic to me....[she] always had the knife in me - never once gave me a good notice."
Caryl Brahms
Judi goes on, "In the early days I used to read every word of my reviews, but I don't have any truck with them any more....If you read something negative, you start worrying and get self-conscious...And a positive review can bring its own problems....The audience comes with very high expectations and you're under pressure to live up to them."
Richard III
In Richard III, Dench plays Richard's mother, the Duchess of York. Asked how she got the part, Judi says, "I was at the Hay Festival being interviewed by Richard Eyre. Ben Cumberbatch was sitting in the front row and when it came to the audience asking questions, he put up his hand and said, 'Will you play my mother in Richard III?' And I said, 'Oh yeah, I expect so.'....so the way to get me to do something is to shout it out in front of a big crowd!"
Judi Dench being interviewed by Richard Eyre
Benedict Cumberbatch (as Richard III) and Judi Dench (as the Duchess of York) in Shakespeare's Richard III
In the play, Richard murders his way to the throne, and Dench (as his mother) demonstrates her horror in the following speech:
O ill-dispersing wind of misery.
O my accursed womb, the bed of death.
A cockatrice hast though hatched to the world,
Whose unavoided eye is murderous.
Dench observes, "You don't half tell a story in that speech. It's four lines of enormous information - and extreme alarm."
Judi Dench (as the Duchess of York) in Shakespeare's Richard III
Future of Shakespeare
Dench believes Shakespeare will always be relevant. She says "Shakespeare's words will continue to exist because he's part of our everyday language. How often do we unwittingly quote him?" 'As good luck would have it; what's done is done; fair play; eaten me out of house and home', and more.
Judi hopes people will still be performing Shakespeare's plays in fifty years. She says, "What we need are teachers, directors, and actors to ignite the pilot light....Shakespeare is an international language, a beacon for humanity, and a bridge across cultures."
Congolese Macbeth
Chinese production of King Lear
*****
I learned a good bit about Shakespeare's plays, as well as Judi Dench's career, from this book. You don't need to be a Shakespeare expert, or even a Shakespeare fan to enjoy the narrative because O'Hea and Dench are interesting and fun in and of themselves. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley, Brendan O'Hea, Judi Dench, and St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for copies of the book.
You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/
July 16, 2024
The basics: This book is the result of many interviews with Dame Judi Dench over a period of four years. Dench discusses her approach to portraying a wide variety of the women in Shakespeare’s plays. Dench has been winning awards since the Sixties when BAFTA named her “the most promising newcomer.” Now that she approaches 90, she still has the drive to perform and, as recently as 2022, was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Belfast.
I was not able to acquire (at what I deemed a reasonable investment) the audio version. So, I waded into the hardbound edition when my number came up on our local library’s waitlist.
This book contains discussions of about 20 plays and about 30 characters. In one play, Dench has played four of the characters at different times.
The first up is Lady Macbeth. Dench notes in the opening scene where Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband that: “What’s important is that you establish the couple’s passion for each other (at the very start)…”
And how many of us would have noticed this? “And after ‘Shall sun that morrow see’ there should be a pause because it’s not a full iambic pentameter, which means you’re allowed some kind of reaction. Peter Hall taught me that and it opened a huge door for me.”
There are plenty of great anecdotes. In one from Macbeth, Dench tells of a time when the actor playing one of the witches was unable to perform and “A woman from the British Council offered to step in, said she new the lines. But when it cam to the spell around the cauldron – ‘Eye of new and toe of frog,/Wool of bat and tongue of dog’ – she forgot the words and said, Wool of bat and two pork chops.’”
Every play (and every role) isn’t a complete delight for her. The Merchant of Venice is an interesting example. “It’s just an ugly play. But then look at the time when it was written. Maybe that’s what the audience wanted. Such a cruel society – bear-baiting, cock-fighting, public executions. And they didn’t always want people to die when they hung them. Sometimes they would bring them down from the gallows BEFORE they were dead, eviscerate them, and then take out their beating hearts. And those same audiences came to see these plays. You don’t have to dig too deep to see the bear-baiting in Shakespeare. Look at the treatment of Malvolio, Lear, Shylock. God, Merchant is such a tricky play to do. Especially post-Holocaust.
---Do you think the play should be banned?
Not at all. You stand there, say the lines and let the audience make up their own minds. They’ll be divided. Some will feel very sorry for Shylock and some will think he’s got his comeuppance. But that’s for them to decide. Our job as actors is to tell the story and fill in as much of the characters’ intentions as we possibly can. But there has to be room for the audience to ask questions….And also, our job as actors is never to judge the characters. Because then the audience are denied the chance to interpret the play themselves…”
I can imagine the many things that an actor might treasure in this book, but it also works well for just a member of the audience to fine tune oneself to the performance. I have kept my 40 volumes of The Yale Shakespeare close for over 50 years, but this would be a delightful addition to them.
I decided to add an additional quote from the book:
Q: Do you ever feel diminished by Shakespeare's words?
"Never diminished but occasionally overwhelmed. I can sometimes hear something I know very well and go completely to pieces. And that may be to do with having the echo of somebody saying it in my head. Or the memory of a part I've played, or a production I've seen. Or just the sheer music of it."
I was not able to acquire (at what I deemed a reasonable investment) the audio version. So, I waded into the hardbound edition when my number came up on our local library’s waitlist.
This book contains discussions of about 20 plays and about 30 characters. In one play, Dench has played four of the characters at different times.
The first up is Lady Macbeth. Dench notes in the opening scene where Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband that: “What’s important is that you establish the couple’s passion for each other (at the very start)…”
And how many of us would have noticed this? “And after ‘Shall sun that morrow see’ there should be a pause because it’s not a full iambic pentameter, which means you’re allowed some kind of reaction. Peter Hall taught me that and it opened a huge door for me.”
There are plenty of great anecdotes. In one from Macbeth, Dench tells of a time when the actor playing one of the witches was unable to perform and “A woman from the British Council offered to step in, said she new the lines. But when it cam to the spell around the cauldron – ‘Eye of new and toe of frog,/Wool of bat and tongue of dog’ – she forgot the words and said, Wool of bat and two pork chops.’”
Every play (and every role) isn’t a complete delight for her. The Merchant of Venice is an interesting example. “It’s just an ugly play. But then look at the time when it was written. Maybe that’s what the audience wanted. Such a cruel society – bear-baiting, cock-fighting, public executions. And they didn’t always want people to die when they hung them. Sometimes they would bring them down from the gallows BEFORE they were dead, eviscerate them, and then take out their beating hearts. And those same audiences came to see these plays. You don’t have to dig too deep to see the bear-baiting in Shakespeare. Look at the treatment of Malvolio, Lear, Shylock. God, Merchant is such a tricky play to do. Especially post-Holocaust.
---Do you think the play should be banned?
Not at all. You stand there, say the lines and let the audience make up their own minds. They’ll be divided. Some will feel very sorry for Shylock and some will think he’s got his comeuppance. But that’s for them to decide. Our job as actors is to tell the story and fill in as much of the characters’ intentions as we possibly can. But there has to be room for the audience to ask questions….And also, our job as actors is never to judge the characters. Because then the audience are denied the chance to interpret the play themselves…”
I can imagine the many things that an actor might treasure in this book, but it also works well for just a member of the audience to fine tune oneself to the performance. I have kept my 40 volumes of The Yale Shakespeare close for over 50 years, but this would be a delightful addition to them.
I decided to add an additional quote from the book:
Q: Do you ever feel diminished by Shakespeare's words?
"Never diminished but occasionally overwhelmed. I can sometimes hear something I know very well and go completely to pieces. And that may be to do with having the echo of somebody saying it in my head. Or the memory of a part I've played, or a production I've seen. Or just the sheer music of it."
January 11, 2024
When I was invited to read this by the publisher, my first thoughts were reluctant. Yes, I've enjoyed many of Judi Dench's performances on screen, but I'm by no means a lover of Shakespeare. Would it be an inaccessible read for me? Well, it turned out to be a marvelous, marvelous read, and I'm glad I took a chance on it.
The entire book is a series of back-and-forth conversations with Judi Dench. Each of her Shakespearean performances gets an in-depth analysis by her and her interviewer, interspersed with her thoughts and anecdotes about audiences, rehearsals, and other matters of theatre. Her voice and manner are so unmistakable that you can practically hear her speaking every word. Her love for the stage and her deep understanding of her characters completely brought me along for the ride as an enthusiastic reader (even though I thought I wouldn't be!).
The highest praise I can give this book is that it actually stirred in me a faint desire to read a bit more Shakespeare — something I certainly didn't expect at the outset. Judi's love for the language was contagious.
Content note: She drops in a few f-words along the way, which are always startling, but they sort of quickly fade away into the background during the reading experience. Still, this read might not be suitable for all.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this digital review copy.
The entire book is a series of back-and-forth conversations with Judi Dench. Each of her Shakespearean performances gets an in-depth analysis by her and her interviewer, interspersed with her thoughts and anecdotes about audiences, rehearsals, and other matters of theatre. Her voice and manner are so unmistakable that you can practically hear her speaking every word. Her love for the stage and her deep understanding of her characters completely brought me along for the ride as an enthusiastic reader (even though I thought I wouldn't be!).
The highest praise I can give this book is that it actually stirred in me a faint desire to read a bit more Shakespeare — something I certainly didn't expect at the outset. Judi's love for the language was contagious.
Content note: She drops in a few f-words along the way, which are always startling, but they sort of quickly fade away into the background during the reading experience. Still, this read might not be suitable for all.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this digital review copy.
April 26, 2024
CALLING ALL SHAKESPEARE LOVERS AND THOSE WHO WANT TO BE! I know. Shakespeare can certainly be intimidating. I was there. However, once one begins to understand the brilliantly nuanced writing of Shakespeare and the timeless plot lines, a need for more surfaces. Having studied at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre personally, I was completely swept up in this magnificent interview between Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea as they reminisced their countless productions of Shakespeare's plays. What a beautiful tribute to his works, productions, relevancy, and language!!!
"Shakespeare: the Man who Pays the Rent" is an interview with Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea as the interviewer. There are 39 chapters with each devoted to a particular play and Judi's experiences with it. Some chapters cover rehearsals, failures, ramblings, critics, language, advice, and the future of Shakespeare.
Incredible quotes from Judi Dench:
-"Shakespeare will always be relevant because he reflects the times we are living in."
-"Shakespeare's words will continue to exist because he is part of our everyday language. How often do we unwittingly quote him? 'As luck would have it', 'what's done is done', 'fair play', 'eaten me out of house and home' are just some of the phrases which Shakespeare coined. As are the words: 'majestic', 'assassination', 'rant', 'suspicious', obscene', 'lonely'...... oh so many - he invented over seventeen hundred of them".
-"There's something for everybody in Shakespeare. Everything you have felt or are yet to feel is all in there in his plays:oppression, ambition, loneliness, remorse, everything."
-"And his iambic pentameter - the rhythm of it is so to do with...the rhythm of life, the beating of your heart."
-"Shakespeare is an international language, a beacon for humanity, and a bridge across cultures. His writing encompasses the minutiae of everyday life".
- "Verse is there to support you, and if you go with the rhythm and trust it, it's like surfing a wave."
I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE THE AUDIO VERSION OF THIS BOOK. It is THE WAY to experience it - to truly understand HER experiences. I was smitten with it! It brought Shakespeare back to life for me. Walking through the memories of Judi Dench refreshed all of my own memories with Shakespeare and I adored the candor of both both of these iconic actors.
Many thanks to MacMillan Audio, Judi Dench, Brandon O'Hea, and NetGalley for this audio ARC in exchange for my elated review.
"Shakespeare: the Man who Pays the Rent" is an interview with Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea as the interviewer. There are 39 chapters with each devoted to a particular play and Judi's experiences with it. Some chapters cover rehearsals, failures, ramblings, critics, language, advice, and the future of Shakespeare.
Incredible quotes from Judi Dench:
-"Shakespeare will always be relevant because he reflects the times we are living in."
-"Shakespeare's words will continue to exist because he is part of our everyday language. How often do we unwittingly quote him? 'As luck would have it', 'what's done is done', 'fair play', 'eaten me out of house and home' are just some of the phrases which Shakespeare coined. As are the words: 'majestic', 'assassination', 'rant', 'suspicious', obscene', 'lonely'...... oh so many - he invented over seventeen hundred of them".
-"There's something for everybody in Shakespeare. Everything you have felt or are yet to feel is all in there in his plays:oppression, ambition, loneliness, remorse, everything."
-"And his iambic pentameter - the rhythm of it is so to do with...the rhythm of life, the beating of your heart."
-"Shakespeare is an international language, a beacon for humanity, and a bridge across cultures. His writing encompasses the minutiae of everyday life".
- "Verse is there to support you, and if you go with the rhythm and trust it, it's like surfing a wave."
I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE THE AUDIO VERSION OF THIS BOOK. It is THE WAY to experience it - to truly understand HER experiences. I was smitten with it! It brought Shakespeare back to life for me. Walking through the memories of Judi Dench refreshed all of my own memories with Shakespeare and I adored the candor of both both of these iconic actors.
Many thanks to MacMillan Audio, Judi Dench, Brandon O'Hea, and NetGalley for this audio ARC in exchange for my elated review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2024
Dame Judi Dench takes to the sofa for a few precious minutes to discuss the plays.
We are fortunate that her parts were many and her wisdom seasoned by decades on the boards, acting alongside some of the most esteemed theatrical figures of her own and subsequent generations. She has gone well beyond the need to pronounce or proselytize on The Bard or The Method. Here are merely her thoughts and feelings as they relate to the emotional realities of the characters and what was required of her to play them.
On Ophelia:
Well, you don't have to show the audience she doesn't have a mother in an overt way, because that's not what the scene is about - you just have to fill in the gaps in your head so that you understand the family history. I always got the sense that the mother died a long time ago and her absence is felt in the fact Ophelia's so close to her brother and father. The advice that you imagine her mother might give - about the birds and the bees and how to conduct and protect yourself - is left to Laertes and Polonius. There's a really strong bond between the three of them, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when you see the family fragment at the end.
You need not know the plays. She is interviewed by friend and fellow actor Brendan O'Hea who does a magnificent job of walking each tale through its twists so that you may follow the important beats. He, too, has played a few roles and his familiarity lends a lovely, steadying hand to their discussions.
On Viola:
Where does she get her disguise from? Or the money to pay the Captain? Or do you not worry about that? Is literalism unhelpful?
I think with Shakespeare it is - certainly that much literalism. Yes, if you want to justify it to yourself you can say she held on to her brother's trunk of clothes to keep herself afloat, and had some money sewn into her dress, but I don't think you have to go there. There are certain things in Shakespeare you just have to take on trust, or you disappear down a rabbit hole.
Amidst all the mounted drama, moments are reserved for backstage remembrance - the most amusing for me coming with the story of taking Macbeth to an outdoor performance in West Africa:
It was very taxing playing outside in the heat, though. I remember seeing vultures sitting in the trees and I said to the actors, 'For God's sake, twitch when you're dead, they're waiting to eat us.'
The book is a pleasure and recommended to anyone with an interest in watching Shakespeare, or reading Shakespeare, or playing Shakespeare, or simply to those of us who yearn to sit back in a comfy old sofa and pretend in the prettiest corner of our minds that, as far as Dame Judi Dench is concerned, she is in actuality, just for a second, there.
We are fortunate that her parts were many and her wisdom seasoned by decades on the boards, acting alongside some of the most esteemed theatrical figures of her own and subsequent generations. She has gone well beyond the need to pronounce or proselytize on The Bard or The Method. Here are merely her thoughts and feelings as they relate to the emotional realities of the characters and what was required of her to play them.
On Ophelia:
Well, you don't have to show the audience she doesn't have a mother in an overt way, because that's not what the scene is about - you just have to fill in the gaps in your head so that you understand the family history. I always got the sense that the mother died a long time ago and her absence is felt in the fact Ophelia's so close to her brother and father. The advice that you imagine her mother might give - about the birds and the bees and how to conduct and protect yourself - is left to Laertes and Polonius. There's a really strong bond between the three of them, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when you see the family fragment at the end.
You need not know the plays. She is interviewed by friend and fellow actor Brendan O'Hea who does a magnificent job of walking each tale through its twists so that you may follow the important beats. He, too, has played a few roles and his familiarity lends a lovely, steadying hand to their discussions.
On Viola:
Where does she get her disguise from? Or the money to pay the Captain? Or do you not worry about that? Is literalism unhelpful?
I think with Shakespeare it is - certainly that much literalism. Yes, if you want to justify it to yourself you can say she held on to her brother's trunk of clothes to keep herself afloat, and had some money sewn into her dress, but I don't think you have to go there. There are certain things in Shakespeare you just have to take on trust, or you disappear down a rabbit hole.
Amidst all the mounted drama, moments are reserved for backstage remembrance - the most amusing for me coming with the story of taking Macbeth to an outdoor performance in West Africa:
It was very taxing playing outside in the heat, though. I remember seeing vultures sitting in the trees and I said to the actors, 'For God's sake, twitch when you're dead, they're waiting to eat us.'
The book is a pleasure and recommended to anyone with an interest in watching Shakespeare, or reading Shakespeare, or playing Shakespeare, or simply to those of us who yearn to sit back in a comfy old sofa and pretend in the prettiest corner of our minds that, as far as Dame Judi Dench is concerned, she is in actuality, just for a second, there.
April 26, 2024
Everything that follows comes down to this: Reading the book is like spending an afternoon with the incredible Judi Dench!
"The Man Who Pays the Rent" -- that's how Dame Judi and her late husband, Michael Williams, referred to Shakespeare when they were in the Royal Shakespeare Company back in the 70s. The book is an insightful, hysterically funny, ribald, and at times even acerbic distillation of interviews/conversations between Dench and friend and fellow actor Brendan O'Hea, almost all centering around Shakespeare. It's organized mostly by plays and the roles she played in them, with occasional side trips to more general matters. Along the way, we are regaled with anecdotes, recollections, observations about the theater and acting and actors and audiences (including, at one performance, Dench's own dad). About getting bad reviews, and working with actors who are inebriated while on-stage or have a breakdown in the middle of a performance. Or partake of champagne and lobster between scenes. About how while WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE might be a Literary Giant in the public mind, he was every bit a flesh and blood creature of the stage, which is precisely how Dame Judi has approached his work over the decades. What's happening on the stage, she says, really doesn't have a lot to do with what scholars and critics think, as in this exchange from their discussion of "Measure for Measure":
O'Hea: I suppose I'm thinking of themes and mirroring, and if I was writing an essay --
Dench: Which you're not, you're acting, trying to bring a part to life. You can't act a theme.
The point comes through again and again in the book, that on the stage the plays are not lifeless intellectual artifacts but works to be performed and roles to be inhabited, embodied, instilled with presence and back stories the audience will never know about but which are absolutely necessary to add dimension to the characters.
Since I can't begin to capture the many, many pleasures of the book (nor would I want to deprive the reader of the joy of encountering them), I will share a few of my favorite parts. Feel completely free to stop reading here if you like.
At a 1987 performance of a play called "Entertaining Strangers," as she made her entrance through the audience, she saw Howard Davies, a director with whom she'd worked before. As she passed his seat, she gave him a hastily written note "... saying, ‘I suppose a fuck’s out of the question,’ and as I walked by, I dropped it in his lap. But when I glanced over during the scene, I saw that it wasn’t Howard at all, but a much older gentleman who looked very alarmed."
Perhaps her least favorite of Shakespeare's plays is "The Merchant of fucking Venice," as she puts it. She finds the play loathsome, and all the characters in it equally so. There's not a redeeming feature in any of them. Playing Portia, she says, is a challenge, and not only because the character is problematic but because it's so bloody familiar: And that’s when the audience crack open their scripts–[conducting] all together now: ‘The quality of mercy is not strained…’ Oh God, it’s a bummer of a speech to do because everybody knows it. I can see it’s extraordinary, but it’s like the song ‘White Christmas’–you never want to hear it again. It’s so hard when everyone’s mouthing it along with you.
Coincidentally, it was in a performance of "Merchant" that her delivery of some of Portia's less known lines -- "I speak too long... to stay you from election" -- inadvertently came out of her mouth as "To stay you from erection," drawing a rather different response from the company than the Board likely intended. (In a similar mode, she muses about why Hamlet's Queen Gertrude -- whom she played -- was so unhappy with her husband as to be untroubled by his assassination and so eager to bed his brother. Maybe he had gout, she suggests, or "couldn't get it up.")
Some of the best passages in the book come from her comments about playing Cleopatra. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, who is in everyone's mind "tall, imperious, and statuesque," while Judi Dench is all of 5 foot one. She warned the director, Peter Hall, that "he'd hired a menopausal munchkin but he just laughed."
I don't want to share too much about this part of the book. Dench's Cleopatra was played opposite by Anthony Hopkins as Mark Antony. What a show that must have been! She talks at some length about how flawed the two characters are ("enter two shits," is how director Hall put it in remarks to the company.) She riffs on Cleopatra's violent reaction upon learning that Mark Antony has remarried: She blames herself for falling in love with Antony. And then -- oh God, it's so feminine -- she wants to know everything about the other woman. What kind of bird is she? She’s got long legs, has she? And blonde? Of course. And very thin, I bet. Oh yeah? Fuck her. Cleopatra can’t compete.
I want to go on and share more. Like the thing with the snake as Dench-Cleopatra's corpse is being borne off-stage by four soldiers. Or how she broke a rib in Juliet's suicide scene but had to lie "lifeless" on the stage even though she was in horrible pain. Or how she tries to get inside the heads of her characters, as in this from her remarks about "Measure for Measure": "Angelo’s full of riddles. Isabella must be thinking: What the fuck is he on about? or however a nun would think that thought."
I'll stop even though I really don't want to. If you enjoy Shakespeare, or theater in general, or adore (as I do) Judi Dench, you will love this book. It's that simple. You'll find yourself chuckling and wanting to share passages with someone.
NOTE: As I write this, the audio version hasn't yet been released. I don't know how much Dench herself narrates. Her vision has been severely impaired in recent years, however, which would of course make it difficult, if not impossible, to read the "script".
My most sincere thanks to St. Martin's Press and Edelweis+ for providing a digital ARC in return for an honest review.
"The Man Who Pays the Rent" -- that's how Dame Judi and her late husband, Michael Williams, referred to Shakespeare when they were in the Royal Shakespeare Company back in the 70s. The book is an insightful, hysterically funny, ribald, and at times even acerbic distillation of interviews/conversations between Dench and friend and fellow actor Brendan O'Hea, almost all centering around Shakespeare. It's organized mostly by plays and the roles she played in them, with occasional side trips to more general matters. Along the way, we are regaled with anecdotes, recollections, observations about the theater and acting and actors and audiences (including, at one performance, Dench's own dad). About getting bad reviews, and working with actors who are inebriated while on-stage or have a breakdown in the middle of a performance. Or partake of champagne and lobster between scenes. About how while WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE might be a Literary Giant in the public mind, he was every bit a flesh and blood creature of the stage, which is precisely how Dame Judi has approached his work over the decades. What's happening on the stage, she says, really doesn't have a lot to do with what scholars and critics think, as in this exchange from their discussion of "Measure for Measure":
O'Hea: I suppose I'm thinking of themes and mirroring, and if I was writing an essay --
Dench: Which you're not, you're acting, trying to bring a part to life. You can't act a theme.
The point comes through again and again in the book, that on the stage the plays are not lifeless intellectual artifacts but works to be performed and roles to be inhabited, embodied, instilled with presence and back stories the audience will never know about but which are absolutely necessary to add dimension to the characters.
Since I can't begin to capture the many, many pleasures of the book (nor would I want to deprive the reader of the joy of encountering them), I will share a few of my favorite parts. Feel completely free to stop reading here if you like.
At a 1987 performance of a play called "Entertaining Strangers," as she made her entrance through the audience, she saw Howard Davies, a director with whom she'd worked before. As she passed his seat, she gave him a hastily written note "... saying, ‘I suppose a fuck’s out of the question,’ and as I walked by, I dropped it in his lap. But when I glanced over during the scene, I saw that it wasn’t Howard at all, but a much older gentleman who looked very alarmed."
Perhaps her least favorite of Shakespeare's plays is "The Merchant of fucking Venice," as she puts it. She finds the play loathsome, and all the characters in it equally so. There's not a redeeming feature in any of them. Playing Portia, she says, is a challenge, and not only because the character is problematic but because it's so bloody familiar: And that’s when the audience crack open their scripts–[conducting] all together now: ‘The quality of mercy is not strained…’ Oh God, it’s a bummer of a speech to do because everybody knows it. I can see it’s extraordinary, but it’s like the song ‘White Christmas’–you never want to hear it again. It’s so hard when everyone’s mouthing it along with you.
Coincidentally, it was in a performance of "Merchant" that her delivery of some of Portia's less known lines -- "I speak too long... to stay you from election" -- inadvertently came out of her mouth as "To stay you from erection," drawing a rather different response from the company than the Board likely intended. (In a similar mode, she muses about why Hamlet's Queen Gertrude -- whom she played -- was so unhappy with her husband as to be untroubled by his assassination and so eager to bed his brother. Maybe he had gout, she suggests, or "couldn't get it up.")
Some of the best passages in the book come from her comments about playing Cleopatra. Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, who is in everyone's mind "tall, imperious, and statuesque," while Judi Dench is all of 5 foot one. She warned the director, Peter Hall, that "he'd hired a menopausal munchkin but he just laughed."
I don't want to share too much about this part of the book. Dench's Cleopatra was played opposite by Anthony Hopkins as Mark Antony. What a show that must have been! She talks at some length about how flawed the two characters are ("enter two shits," is how director Hall put it in remarks to the company.) She riffs on Cleopatra's violent reaction upon learning that Mark Antony has remarried: She blames herself for falling in love with Antony. And then -- oh God, it's so feminine -- she wants to know everything about the other woman. What kind of bird is she? She’s got long legs, has she? And blonde? Of course. And very thin, I bet. Oh yeah? Fuck her. Cleopatra can’t compete.
I want to go on and share more. Like the thing with the snake as Dench-Cleopatra's corpse is being borne off-stage by four soldiers. Or how she broke a rib in Juliet's suicide scene but had to lie "lifeless" on the stage even though she was in horrible pain. Or how she tries to get inside the heads of her characters, as in this from her remarks about "Measure for Measure": "Angelo’s full of riddles. Isabella must be thinking: What the fuck is he on about? or however a nun would think that thought."
I'll stop even though I really don't want to. If you enjoy Shakespeare, or theater in general, or adore (as I do) Judi Dench, you will love this book. It's that simple. You'll find yourself chuckling and wanting to share passages with someone.
NOTE: As I write this, the audio version hasn't yet been released. I don't know how much Dench herself narrates. Her vision has been severely impaired in recent years, however, which would of course make it difficult, if not impossible, to read the "script".
My most sincere thanks to St. Martin's Press and Edelweis+ for providing a digital ARC in return for an honest review.
June 2, 2024
Possibly the best time I've had between the covers of a book all year? Celebrity memoirs are a bit outside my wheelhouse, but this is a legendary Shakespearean actress recording the lessons of a lifetime spent playing 28 different roles across 20 different plays by one of the world's greatest dramatists, and I inhaled the whole thing inside 48 hours. The fact that we get hilarious anecdotes about people ranging from John Gielgud and Franco Zeffirelli to Kenneth Branagh and Benedict Cumberbatch is a fun bonus. (We also get to see Dame Judi Dench respond with shock and withering disdain to being informed that the "nothing" in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING refers to ladies' privates. It's an absolute hoot).
I was intrigued by this book because I love Shakespeare and have spent a lot of time thinking about his plays in a professional capacity as an author, and I wanted to hear what Dench could teach me about the characters and their motivations. I got that in spades, of course, but I got more than that too. I learned an awful lot about how to speak his language (I've been reciting poetry wrong my entire life). I enjoyed Dench's supremely down-to-earth acting philosophy and her insistence on remaining true to the characters and the play in the face of fanciful speculations about characters' motivations or attractions. I found inspiration, not just for stories I plan to tell in the future, but for re-evaluating my relationship as a story-teller to my audience (what I wouldn't give to have the same kind of instant audience feedback that a theatre actor does! Or maybe I don't have a skin thick enough for that).
One of the most interesting things in this book is the very clear and uncompromising line Dench draws between the job of performing the play as it stands and the job of critiquing it. There are plays and characters she dislikes (especially THE MERCHANT OF VENICE) for the attitudes the characters display, but even in these plays she insists on doing the job and letting the audience make up its own mind. The audience, she says, must be allowed to interpret the play themselves, or they're just being fed the answers and sent away with nothing to do. I thought that this was extremely good sense. (Being a Shakespearean actor requires a certain amount of media literacy, after all). As an author, I'd never want to write something with the sort of unchallenged prejudices you see in MERCHANT, but I do also very much always hope that when I do have characters behaving badly the audience doesn't need a honking great neon "YIKES" sign to light up.
Absolutely delightful and seriously thought-provoking and insightful. I borrowed this from the library, but I absolutely want to buy my own copy because I can see myself returning to this book multiple times in the future.
I was intrigued by this book because I love Shakespeare and have spent a lot of time thinking about his plays in a professional capacity as an author, and I wanted to hear what Dench could teach me about the characters and their motivations. I got that in spades, of course, but I got more than that too. I learned an awful lot about how to speak his language (I've been reciting poetry wrong my entire life). I enjoyed Dench's supremely down-to-earth acting philosophy and her insistence on remaining true to the characters and the play in the face of fanciful speculations about characters' motivations or attractions. I found inspiration, not just for stories I plan to tell in the future, but for re-evaluating my relationship as a story-teller to my audience (what I wouldn't give to have the same kind of instant audience feedback that a theatre actor does! Or maybe I don't have a skin thick enough for that).
One of the most interesting things in this book is the very clear and uncompromising line Dench draws between the job of performing the play as it stands and the job of critiquing it. There are plays and characters she dislikes (especially THE MERCHANT OF VENICE) for the attitudes the characters display, but even in these plays she insists on doing the job and letting the audience make up its own mind. The audience, she says, must be allowed to interpret the play themselves, or they're just being fed the answers and sent away with nothing to do. I thought that this was extremely good sense. (Being a Shakespearean actor requires a certain amount of media literacy, after all). As an author, I'd never want to write something with the sort of unchallenged prejudices you see in MERCHANT, but I do also very much always hope that when I do have characters behaving badly the audience doesn't need a honking great neon "YIKES" sign to light up.
Absolutely delightful and seriously thought-provoking and insightful. I borrowed this from the library, but I absolutely want to buy my own copy because I can see myself returning to this book multiple times in the future.
March 27, 2024
What an absolute treat!! I adore Judi Dench and was so excited to read this memoir! I listened to the audio version and it was great.
It’s done in a very relaxed, conversational interview with Brendan O’Hea asking the questions and Judi answering. The questioning is about Judi’s lifelong love of Shakespeare and her experiences. Barbara Flynn narrates most of Judi’s part with Judi jumping in for some magnificent Shakespeare from memory.
I loved learning about Judi’s childhood, her theatre shenanigans and thrills! So much behind the scenes that I would have never known about without this gem of a book!
Judi is such a special person and I especially loved the additional audio at the end where she and Brendan reminisce, as old friends do!
5 golden ⭐️’s, all the way!!!
Many thanks to Macmillian Audio for the ARC via NetGalley.
It’s done in a very relaxed, conversational interview with Brendan O’Hea asking the questions and Judi answering. The questioning is about Judi’s lifelong love of Shakespeare and her experiences. Barbara Flynn narrates most of Judi’s part with Judi jumping in for some magnificent Shakespeare from memory.
I loved learning about Judi’s childhood, her theatre shenanigans and thrills! So much behind the scenes that I would have never known about without this gem of a book!
Judi is such a special person and I especially loved the additional audio at the end where she and Brendan reminisce, as old friends do!
5 golden ⭐️’s, all the way!!!
Many thanks to Macmillian Audio for the ARC via NetGalley.
Read
January 11, 2024Dench has an abundance of wisdom and is a master of the anecdote. If you have any slight interest in Shakespeare, or have wondered what the fuss is about, this book is a must read (dare i say, it is an even better audiobook). An absolute treat.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
Is it true that when Trevor was asked if the Macbeths were the Nixons...
He said, "No, they're the Kennedys." They're the golden couple. They adore each other. And she'll do anything for him. If he wants to be king then it'll come to pass. 'You are glamis, you are Cawdor, and we know what's been promised next. You're going to be the effing King, darling.'
May 7, 2024
Thanks to Judi Dench and Brandon O'Hea for this truly illuminating and highly original memoir of life in the theater. Dame Dench has a prodigious memory, can recall in many cases the Shakespearean roles she has embodied over the past seven decades. But more than that, her deep understanding of and reverence for Shakespeare, his poetry, his insights, his contributions to the English language, are all inspiring. She discusses the characters' motivations and inner lives, incorporating them into flesh and blood women and not just dusty facsimiles. It gave me a better understanding of Shakespeare and an appreciation of his work. Even to the rhythm of iambic pentameter and even how some works deliberately would shift between text and poetry to establish a character. Also how every emotion in human experience is delineated and timeless. Loved this even more than I thought I would.
May 10, 2024
I took my time with this one! It is too delicious not to. . . .I spent my mornings listening and re-reading (I both read and listened - to have Judi Dench's voice and that sweet giggle start my day was a joy and delight!).
The interview process between Judi and Brendan O'Hea (a director and actor also) covers a wide range of acting and Shakespeare work topics:
[Work of W Shakespeare
**Topic - Judi's Take On It]
Macbeth
**Stratford-Upon-Avon
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
**Play
Twelfth Night
The Merchant of Venice
**Company
Hamlet
Coriolanus
**Fireside Ramblings
As You Like it
Measure for Measure
**Rose Theatre
Much Ado About Nothing
King Lear
**Failure
The Comedy of Errors
**Rehearsal
Richard II
Antony and Cleopatra
Cymbeline
**Critics
All’s Well That Ends Well
**Shakespeare’s Language
Henry V
The Merry Wives of Windsor
**Audience
Richard III
**Changing Times
The Winter’s Tale
**Future of Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
**Advice
Mind you, these are not analyses or summaries of the above listed plays. They are the subjects of Dame Dench's reminiscences of her years of experience on and off stage / film working with notables and not-so-notables - all part of her life and days working within William Shakespeare's oeuvre and worldview. IF there were more than 5 stars, I'd be granting ALL The Stars for the pleasure this read gave me in both its formats. The audio also provides a rousing amusement in the form of outtakes from the interviews.
Hurray and Huzzah for Dame Judi Dench's latest book Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent !
*A sincere thank you to Judi Dench, Brendan O'Hea, St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* 52:21
The interview process between Judi and Brendan O'Hea (a director and actor also) covers a wide range of acting and Shakespeare work topics:
[Work of W Shakespeare
**Topic - Judi's Take On It]
Macbeth
**Stratford-Upon-Avon
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
**Play
Twelfth Night
The Merchant of Venice
**Company
Hamlet
Coriolanus
**Fireside Ramblings
As You Like it
Measure for Measure
**Rose Theatre
Much Ado About Nothing
King Lear
**Failure
The Comedy of Errors
**Rehearsal
Richard II
Antony and Cleopatra
Cymbeline
**Critics
All’s Well That Ends Well
**Shakespeare’s Language
Henry V
The Merry Wives of Windsor
**Audience
Richard III
**Changing Times
The Winter’s Tale
**Future of Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
**Advice
Mind you, these are not analyses or summaries of the above listed plays. They are the subjects of Dame Dench's reminiscences of her years of experience on and off stage / film working with notables and not-so-notables - all part of her life and days working within William Shakespeare's oeuvre and worldview. IF there were more than 5 stars, I'd be granting ALL The Stars for the pleasure this read gave me in both its formats. The audio also provides a rousing amusement in the form of outtakes from the interviews.
Hurray and Huzzah for Dame Judi Dench's latest book Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent !
*A sincere thank you to Judi Dench, Brendan O'Hea, St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* 52:21
September 23, 2024
"Shakespeare is an international language, a beacon for humanity, and a bridge across cultures. His writing encompasses the minutiae of everyday life."
Whether reading the plays of Shakespeare, or watching them performed on stage; you are not likely to find as compelling a view as that provided from the eyes of a lady who has performed multiple roles in over half of the Bard's plays. Over a seventy year career, she has been on stage in so many iconic roles. And, hearing her talk about the people she worked with and the roles themselves is a pleasure unmatched.
The book is a memoir of her roles. The entire format is in the shape of the interview with Brendan. Interspersed in between the different roles are brief pieces about her take on rehearsals and the world of the stage actor, the people she knew, Shakespeare's use of words, and the future of Shakespeare's plays. At times they argue back and forth about perceptions of the roles. It never fails to be entertaining. But, in the process, you see these beloved characters in ways you've never seen them before... from the inside by someone who has worn them.
I found myself looking up a few more British expressions than I was familiar with. I started with the hardback from the public library, but quickly added the Audible format because I wanted to follow along. That was probably the best plan, since the hardback has all the drawings from the Dame's notebooks, as well as two photographs from beginning and end of her stage and screen career. But, the Audible includes a special 45 minute bonus segment at the end titled "Dame Judy Dench and Brendan O'Hea in Conversation." This is well worth hearing, as is the rest of the book.
I have had almost no sleep since I ended up reading until I finished this at four in the morning. But, it was definitely too good to stop, even with leaving the review to write until now. I am glad I have the Audible for enjoying this again in future, but regrettably the hardback goes back to the library.
Whether reading the plays of Shakespeare, or watching them performed on stage; you are not likely to find as compelling a view as that provided from the eyes of a lady who has performed multiple roles in over half of the Bard's plays. Over a seventy year career, she has been on stage in so many iconic roles. And, hearing her talk about the people she worked with and the roles themselves is a pleasure unmatched.
The book is a memoir of her roles. The entire format is in the shape of the interview with Brendan. Interspersed in between the different roles are brief pieces about her take on rehearsals and the world of the stage actor, the people she knew, Shakespeare's use of words, and the future of Shakespeare's plays. At times they argue back and forth about perceptions of the roles. It never fails to be entertaining. But, in the process, you see these beloved characters in ways you've never seen them before... from the inside by someone who has worn them.
I found myself looking up a few more British expressions than I was familiar with. I started with the hardback from the public library, but quickly added the Audible format because I wanted to follow along. That was probably the best plan, since the hardback has all the drawings from the Dame's notebooks, as well as two photographs from beginning and end of her stage and screen career. But, the Audible includes a special 45 minute bonus segment at the end titled "Dame Judy Dench and Brendan O'Hea in Conversation." This is well worth hearing, as is the rest of the book.
I have had almost no sleep since I ended up reading until I finished this at four in the morning. But, it was definitely too good to stop, even with leaving the review to write until now. I am glad I have the Audible for enjoying this again in future, but regrettably the hardback goes back to the library.
November 9, 2023
Reflections and lessons learned/the content of this book made me feel…
“They make you look at things differently… there has never been a writer that has understood so much…”
It was only a few hours into this title that I realised that I needed to own the audio adventure - the joy and reflection - a passion for the stage and a love for the works… a luxurious read allowing everyone in on the multiple stories. It might not suit the studying school kids, as York notes this is not, and you have to want the interest, but it was hard not to be taken into the story told through multiple friendships
“They make you look at things differently… there has never been a writer that has understood so much…”
It was only a few hours into this title that I realised that I needed to own the audio adventure - the joy and reflection - a passion for the stage and a love for the works… a luxurious read allowing everyone in on the multiple stories. It might not suit the studying school kids, as York notes this is not, and you have to want the interest, but it was hard not to be taken into the story told through multiple friendships
August 27, 2024
enjoyed this book in parts but wasn't that I had originally thought this book would be
March 24, 2024
Three things to acknowledge up front:
1. I am beyond grateful this book even exists. I can’t believe there’s an audience for this book beyond me. Whoever else is giving this book 5 stars, call me immediately, we are now best friends.
2. Dame Judi Dench does not narrate the audiobook. In the foreword, biographer and interviewer Brendan O’Hea makes an off-handed remark about Dench’s failing eyesight. A small amount of critical thinking applied then can lead you to understand why she’s not the narrator. But Dench starts most chapters by reciting lines of Shakespeare that she has memorized, and it is breath-taking. Additionally, the narrator for Dench, Barbara Flynn, knocks it out of the park. She PLAYS Dench, which perhaps shouldn’t be surprising. She’s got a wicked laugh and I could have listened to her forever.
3. Does Macmillan Drew know he’s got a little fanclub of weirdo girls at Harper who live and die for the audiobooks he approves for us on NetGalley? I hope he does.
This is 9 hours of Judi Dench talking about Shakespeare. It is not an academic study, but a play-by-play conversation about the roles she’s played, how she played them, how she’d play them now, memories from the shows, and what they meant to her. She defends certain interpretations (“should this character be played jealous? Angry?” “Is this scene serious, or a lark?”) and offers insights.
This is, from the bottom of my heart, all I’ve ever wanted. All I’ve ever wanted was to listen to an expert on Shakespeare talk about the different ways you can stage and interpret and play different characters and plays. Does Ophelia really lose her mind? What happened between Benedick and Beatrice? Is Isabella’s fate in Measure for Measure satisfactory or tragic? Dench is insightful and razor-sharp. Occasionally O’Hea will push back on her, and more often than not she doubles down, argues him into submission! But I loved the dialogue between the two, which is imbued with love and friendship.
If you’re looking for tea, you’re not really going to get it. She name drops a few famous friends — Kenneth Branagh, obviously, but also Ian McKellen, Daniel-Day Lewis, Maggie Smith, and adorably, ‘Benny’ Cumberbatch — but she treats them like exactly that: friends. They played parts opposite her. She has a few funny stories, and a few poignant ones.
This was so good I cried when we reached the epilogue, because I could have listened to this forever. What a treasure: both this book, and Judi Dench.
“Shakespeare belongs to everybody, and we must allow who we are as individuals to color our interpretation of his words. Everybody’s upbringing and life experiences are different, and that needs celebrating, and bringing to the plays. You’ve got to find out what his words mean for you.”
Thanks be to NetGalley for existing, for Macmillan and Macmillan Drew for the gift of this audiobook, and to Billy Shakes.
Popsugar 2024: a book published in a year that ends with '24'
1. I am beyond grateful this book even exists. I can’t believe there’s an audience for this book beyond me. Whoever else is giving this book 5 stars, call me immediately, we are now best friends.
2. Dame Judi Dench does not narrate the audiobook. In the foreword, biographer and interviewer Brendan O’Hea makes an off-handed remark about Dench’s failing eyesight. A small amount of critical thinking applied then can lead you to understand why she’s not the narrator. But Dench starts most chapters by reciting lines of Shakespeare that she has memorized, and it is breath-taking. Additionally, the narrator for Dench, Barbara Flynn, knocks it out of the park. She PLAYS Dench, which perhaps shouldn’t be surprising. She’s got a wicked laugh and I could have listened to her forever.
3. Does Macmillan Drew know he’s got a little fanclub of weirdo girls at Harper who live and die for the audiobooks he approves for us on NetGalley? I hope he does.
This is 9 hours of Judi Dench talking about Shakespeare. It is not an academic study, but a play-by-play conversation about the roles she’s played, how she played them, how she’d play them now, memories from the shows, and what they meant to her. She defends certain interpretations (“should this character be played jealous? Angry?” “Is this scene serious, or a lark?”) and offers insights.
This is, from the bottom of my heart, all I’ve ever wanted. All I’ve ever wanted was to listen to an expert on Shakespeare talk about the different ways you can stage and interpret and play different characters and plays. Does Ophelia really lose her mind? What happened between Benedick and Beatrice? Is Isabella’s fate in Measure for Measure satisfactory or tragic? Dench is insightful and razor-sharp. Occasionally O’Hea will push back on her, and more often than not she doubles down, argues him into submission! But I loved the dialogue between the two, which is imbued with love and friendship.
If you’re looking for tea, you’re not really going to get it. She name drops a few famous friends — Kenneth Branagh, obviously, but also Ian McKellen, Daniel-Day Lewis, Maggie Smith, and adorably, ‘Benny’ Cumberbatch — but she treats them like exactly that: friends. They played parts opposite her. She has a few funny stories, and a few poignant ones.
This was so good I cried when we reached the epilogue, because I could have listened to this forever. What a treasure: both this book, and Judi Dench.
“Shakespeare belongs to everybody, and we must allow who we are as individuals to color our interpretation of his words. Everybody’s upbringing and life experiences are different, and that needs celebrating, and bringing to the plays. You’ve got to find out what his words mean for you.”
Thanks be to NetGalley for existing, for Macmillan and Macmillan Drew for the gift of this audiobook, and to Billy Shakes.
Popsugar 2024: a book published in a year that ends with '24'
February 3, 2024
I received a free copy of, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench; Brendan O'Hea, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a great book for fans of Shakespeare and or Judi Dench. I have not read a whole lot of Shakespeare at all, but Im a fan of Judi Dench. This is an interesting book. Judi Dench tells you all about the plays by Shakespeare.
September 9, 2024
When I made the switch from music to literature in college, and into graduate school, I seriously considered specializing in Shakespeare, but the ridiculous need to publish in academia pushed me away. What new could I possibly contribute to Shakespearean scholarship?
But in my second chapter in education, teaching in high school, I got a new chance to make Shakespeare part of my professional life and seeing high school students with no interest in literature suddenly become obsessed with a Shakespeare play taught me again the power of his plays, even 400 years later.
I'll never forget teaching Romeo and Juliet to an at-risk class of freshmen. We spent weeks picking the play apart scene by scene, not in any academic way, but simply as a story and as a study in human interactions. Then we watched the classic Franco Zeffirelli film version from the 60s. And when we approached the end, I had to stop the film and console a student who was heartbroken and outraged that the young lovers were going to die yet again. Samantha, wherever you are, I hope you're well, and I hope you remember our Shakespeare days fondly, despite the pain. I certainly do.
If you have any interest in Shakespeare, Dame Judi's virtually photographic memory of 60 years performing the plays on the stage and in films is an absolute must for you. It's an extended interview with Judi Dench, conducted by her friend, fellow actor/teacher/critic Brendan O'Hea. The hilarious banter between them is a joy, but her recall of performances, lines she knows from heart despite not having performed them in 50 years, and her stunning analysis of the plays and characters, is a delight.
If you're a fan of audiobooks, this one is a must. It's read by Brendan O'Hea and Barbara Flynn reading Judi Dench's responses. You forget you're not actually listening to Dame Judi, as Barbara's voice is very similar to the actress' voice. As a bonus, as a preface to many of the chapters, Judi Dench recites relevant passages from Shakespeare. And after the books ends, there's a 45-minute bonus discussion between Dame Judi and Brendan O'Hea.
Have I made it clear how much I loved this experience? Good. Go read it, or listen to it, or both, as I did. It's absolutely magical.
But in my second chapter in education, teaching in high school, I got a new chance to make Shakespeare part of my professional life and seeing high school students with no interest in literature suddenly become obsessed with a Shakespeare play taught me again the power of his plays, even 400 years later.
I'll never forget teaching Romeo and Juliet to an at-risk class of freshmen. We spent weeks picking the play apart scene by scene, not in any academic way, but simply as a story and as a study in human interactions. Then we watched the classic Franco Zeffirelli film version from the 60s. And when we approached the end, I had to stop the film and console a student who was heartbroken and outraged that the young lovers were going to die yet again. Samantha, wherever you are, I hope you're well, and I hope you remember our Shakespeare days fondly, despite the pain. I certainly do.
If you have any interest in Shakespeare, Dame Judi's virtually photographic memory of 60 years performing the plays on the stage and in films is an absolute must for you. It's an extended interview with Judi Dench, conducted by her friend, fellow actor/teacher/critic Brendan O'Hea. The hilarious banter between them is a joy, but her recall of performances, lines she knows from heart despite not having performed them in 50 years, and her stunning analysis of the plays and characters, is a delight.
If you're a fan of audiobooks, this one is a must. It's read by Brendan O'Hea and Barbara Flynn reading Judi Dench's responses. You forget you're not actually listening to Dame Judi, as Barbara's voice is very similar to the actress' voice. As a bonus, as a preface to many of the chapters, Judi Dench recites relevant passages from Shakespeare. And after the books ends, there's a 45-minute bonus discussion between Dame Judi and Brendan O'Hea.
Have I made it clear how much I loved this experience? Good. Go read it, or listen to it, or both, as I did. It's absolutely magical.
July 22, 2024
Loved it! This one is best as an audiobook- listening Judi Dench's voice The book is written in interview style that is so comfortable that you feel that you are sitting in the room with Judi Dench.
The book is full of antidotes, wisdom, reflections and lessons learned about the plays and life. At times I laughed out loud at her candid remarks but her relections on the plays and characters have made me want to reread some of those plays I've read and or sawin the past to see if her insights help me understand Shakepearean times and characters better.
The book is full of antidotes, wisdom, reflections and lessons learned about the plays and life. At times I laughed out loud at her candid remarks but her relections on the plays and characters have made me want to reread some of those plays I've read and or sawin the past to see if her insights help me understand Shakepearean times and characters better.
May 28, 2024
Through an interview format, Judi Dench describes the many characters she embodied for the Royal Shakespeare Company over decades of her illustrious career. Far from being dry for the non-Shakespeareans out there, it reads like a conversation between friends who share the same passion for theater. Dench imbues this book with her trademark personality while sharing her thoughts about the plays and characters she portrayed. She also shares stories about the theater, life of an actor, the people with whom she worked, and, most endearing, stories of childhood.
Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing this eARC.
Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing this eARC.
December 27, 2023
As I headed into the final days of my holiday season, I was all prepared to wind down my 2023 reading season with some lighter, more festive reading.
However, when you receive an invitation to enter the literary world of both Dame Judi Dench and William Shakespeare?
You take it. The end result is what will unquestionably be one of 2024's most unique and satisfying reading experiences for this planned April 2024 release.
"Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" finds the now 89-year-old actress remarkably open and insightful as she sits down in a series of intimate conversations with actor and director Brendan O'Hea to invite us into a journey about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her acclaimed and award-winning seven-decade career - from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra and countless others. "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" is a remarkable experience as Dench discusses with stunning clarity and insight her early days, her triumphs, her disasters, her collaborators, her backstage shenanigans, the secrets of her rehearsal process, and a wealth of thoughts and experiences on working time and again with "the man who pays the rent" whether that be on stage, on television, in film, or even on the radio.
Amidst it all, we also gain insight into the remarkable Dench from personal storytelling to vignettes on audiences, critics, rehearsal room etiquette, her interpretations of some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes, and so much more.
I was enchanted from beginning to end.
While "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" didn't offer me my planned light reading, it offered me so much more from Dench's bright and lively personality, radical candor, and incredible sense of humor and obvious comfort with O'Hea and this incredibly satisfying dialogue.
For fans of Shakespeare, there's no question this is an absolute must.
For Dench fans, there's no question this is an absolute must-read experience.
It's ultimately a love letter to Shakespeare from an actress widely considered one of Britain's true greats. It seems appropriate that Dench received an Academy Award for, yes, a Shakespearean role (Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love"). Dench has also received five Best Actress Oscar nominations, three Best Supporting Actress nominations, six British Academy Film awards, four British Academy Television awards, two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, a Tony award, and seven Laurence Olivier awards.
Mark your calendars. "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" is definitely one for the must-read list in 2024.
However, when you receive an invitation to enter the literary world of both Dame Judi Dench and William Shakespeare?
You take it. The end result is what will unquestionably be one of 2024's most unique and satisfying reading experiences for this planned April 2024 release.
"Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" finds the now 89-year-old actress remarkably open and insightful as she sits down in a series of intimate conversations with actor and director Brendan O'Hea to invite us into a journey about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her acclaimed and award-winning seven-decade career - from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra and countless others. "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" is a remarkable experience as Dench discusses with stunning clarity and insight her early days, her triumphs, her disasters, her collaborators, her backstage shenanigans, the secrets of her rehearsal process, and a wealth of thoughts and experiences on working time and again with "the man who pays the rent" whether that be on stage, on television, in film, or even on the radio.
Amidst it all, we also gain insight into the remarkable Dench from personal storytelling to vignettes on audiences, critics, rehearsal room etiquette, her interpretations of some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes, and so much more.
I was enchanted from beginning to end.
While "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" didn't offer me my planned light reading, it offered me so much more from Dench's bright and lively personality, radical candor, and incredible sense of humor and obvious comfort with O'Hea and this incredibly satisfying dialogue.
For fans of Shakespeare, there's no question this is an absolute must.
For Dench fans, there's no question this is an absolute must-read experience.
It's ultimately a love letter to Shakespeare from an actress widely considered one of Britain's true greats. It seems appropriate that Dench received an Academy Award for, yes, a Shakespearean role (Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love"). Dench has also received five Best Actress Oscar nominations, three Best Supporting Actress nominations, six British Academy Film awards, four British Academy Television awards, two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, a Tony award, and seven Laurence Olivier awards.
Mark your calendars. "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" is definitely one for the must-read list in 2024.
January 28, 2024
I can't honestly say I'm a big Shakespeare fan. I've never really understood what the big deal about him is. And, that's pretty much due to how he was taught to us in high school. However, through the Dame (and, okay, Star Trek and an old soap, but mostly the Dame), I have come to appreciate Shakespeare more. There are even a few plays I truly enjoy.
Reading this book, 'hearing' Dame Judi's words and thoughts about him, and all the plays she's acted in helps with the appreciation a little more. Her insights into his words, and the worlds he creates, are fascinating.
This is a delightful book. Not once while reading did I feel like I was being talked down to for not being super keen on the Bard. Instead, I learned some things I didn't know... and developed a little more appreciation for him.
It also had me wishing time machines were real, if only to be able to go back in time and see the Dame in each of the plays she talks about.
Reading this book, 'hearing' Dame Judi's words and thoughts about him, and all the plays she's acted in helps with the appreciation a little more. Her insights into his words, and the worlds he creates, are fascinating.
This is a delightful book. Not once while reading did I feel like I was being talked down to for not being super keen on the Bard. Instead, I learned some things I didn't know... and developed a little more appreciation for him.
It also had me wishing time machines were real, if only to be able to go back in time and see the Dame in each of the plays she talks about.
January 15, 2024
Brendan O'Hea interviews Dame Judi Dench who reflects on her connection to the Bard through her time on stage and film, undertaking roles from Shakespeare's plays. A fun read that is not an analysis of the plays, but a noted actor's reflections, documented in a series of interviews conducted over a period of four years.
For lovers of the Bard and fans of Judi!
For lovers of the Bard and fans of Judi!
April 27, 2024
Words cannot express how wonderful the audio to this book is! I greatly enjoyed it and highly recommend!
June 21, 2024
By the end of this series of interviews, I felt like I’d made a personal friend, been reminded of everything I loved about my days in community theatre, and refreshed my passion for layered, vibrant storytelling in any and every medium. I also loved how much Dench is aware of the last 100 years or more of theatre—the bit where she claimed she’d have fallen in love with Henry Irving if they’d been alive at the same time had me in stitches. I also admired how Dench was so no nonsense about being truthful about the text and presenting it dynamically and simply. There’s a simplicity but not simplisticness—or childlikeness without immaturity—about the way she approaches the plays that feels very timeless. I also appreciated that she is open about regrets. I feel like it’s a healthy thing as an artist to be able to say, “I could do that better if I had another chance, but oh well.”
If you love Shakespeare, you probably can’t do much better than to sit for hours in the company of this kind, mischievous woman who has spent years and years studying his art in the most natural and practical way.
(PSA: Apparently the audiobook version has a lot of the swears edited out, so if the very salty British theatre language is something you want to avoid, maybe go for that.)
If you love Shakespeare, you probably can’t do much better than to sit for hours in the company of this kind, mischievous woman who has spent years and years studying his art in the most natural and practical way.
(PSA: Apparently the audiobook version has a lot of the swears edited out, so if the very salty British theatre language is something you want to avoid, maybe go for that.)
August 10, 2024
Ten stars……
March 12, 2024
Shakespeare:The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea was a shining 5 ⭐️.
This was absolutely delightful! I took a Shakespeare class my senior year in high school and fell in love with his work then and there.
Judi and Brendon wrote a relatable nonfiction dialogue that kept me enraptured. It reads like an interview that flowed flawlessly. It was a comfortable setting that had me understanding Judi Dench’s mind and experience in a way I hadn’t seen before. I’m truly in awe of her talent. I had already started reading this when I was offered the audiobook. You guys, I thought it was even better than the book! It felt so personal and fun. It’s like I was sitting in the audience. It was narrated by Barbara Flynn, Brendan O'Hea and Judi Dench. I can’t say enough good things about this. It’s a must read/listen and hope you love it as much as I did. I highly recommend it.
Thanks St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.
This was absolutely delightful! I took a Shakespeare class my senior year in high school and fell in love with his work then and there.
Judi and Brendon wrote a relatable nonfiction dialogue that kept me enraptured. It reads like an interview that flowed flawlessly. It was a comfortable setting that had me understanding Judi Dench’s mind and experience in a way I hadn’t seen before. I’m truly in awe of her talent. I had already started reading this when I was offered the audiobook. You guys, I thought it was even better than the book! It felt so personal and fun. It’s like I was sitting in the audience. It was narrated by Barbara Flynn, Brendan O'Hea and Judi Dench. I can’t say enough good things about this. It’s a must read/listen and hope you love it as much as I did. I highly recommend it.
Thanks St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.
December 2, 2023
Hugely enjoyable. The plays, characters, quotes and reminiscences all held together by the the roles Judi Dench has played. Highly recommended.
August 17, 2024
Listening to the audiobook which is fascinating and vastly entertaining. The actress reading Dench's part sounds incredibly like her, right down to the speech patterns, and I am grateful. It is marvelous.
May 28, 2024
“Because you can’t be creative if you’re frightened and anxious. You have to be allowed to laugh and play and fail.”
Over the course of my college years, I managed to read Shakespeare’s entire (vast) body of work. But I would be lying if I said that I had a firm grasp and deep understanding of every single play. It was a matter of checking things off of a list, not because I had a significant appreciation for Shakespeare. When I was teaching, that appreciation began to grow. And in the past six or so years, I’ve become more and more interested in his plays, rereading and rewatching them here and there. Which brings me to Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent.
I picked this up for two reasons: it features a celebrity I greatly admire, and it looked like accessible literary criticism. I expected to enjoy it, but not for it to be anything special. How wrong I was. This book is a treasure on multiple levels. If you’re up on your Shakespeare, it’s fascinating. The minutia of his work is discussed, down to split iambic pentameter and what that means to a specific scene in Macbeth, or what subtext is conveyed by the change from rhyming lines to blank verse to prose. I feel like I learned so much while being simultaneously entertained.
And then there’s everything I learned about Judi herself. I love memoirs woven around the work and passion of a person’s life. This is one of my favorite examples of this type of memoir, because it was honestly more of a retrospective. While it was about Judi’s experiences on the Shakespearean stage, she removed herself from it as much as she could. She uses her personal interactions with the plays to expound upon the plays themselves, and to draw attention to the brilliance of Shakespeare’s work. That’s not to say we don’t learn plenty about her life. Dench’s childhood sounds delightful, like something from a story. We also learn about her marriage and career, as viewed through the lens of her Shakespearean roles.
And I had no idea how incredibly playful and mischievous she is! O’Hea said that he almost entitled this book “Herding Eels,” because Dench is so slippery in conversation. She dislikes talking about herself, which made this series of interviews interesting, I’m sure. And evidently it was quite the task to edit out the majority of Dame Judi’s swearing, which seems to have been hilariously frequent. These interviews were conducted over the course of four years, and were never intended to become a book. O’Hea expected to offer them to the archive department at Shakespeare’s Globe. But seeing outside interest, O’Hea decided instead to offer Dench’s seven decades of experience with Shakespeare — or “the man who pays the rent,” as Dench and her husband called him — to the world at large.
Both the audiobook and the physical book were fantastic in their respective mediums. Barbara Flynn did a wonderful job portraying Dench in the audiobook. She sounded remarkably like her! Dench also broke in periodically and delivered portions of soliloquies from certain plays. And there was a bonus chapter at the end of the audiobook that was just a conversation between Dench and O’Hea. Something that made the physical book special is that it included various sketches and doodles from Dame Judi herself. She struggles very much now with her vision deteriorating, and only included these to encourage other visually impaired people to pick up a brush or a pencil.
This is the kind of book that deserves to speak for itself. Because of that, I’m including a variety of brief selections from the book below. If you want to just know my opinion, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent is brilliant, and should be a treasured addition to any literary nerd’s book collection. If you want a taste test, here are some quotes!
Here are just a few of the profound statements Judi made that helped to deepen my understanding of and appreciation for Shakespeare’s work:
“You can’t play all the complexities.”
“No one ever lies in soliloquy.”
“Songs in Shakespeare are never just there for the sake of it; the have to change something.”
“That’s why I don’t think we should update the language. It always loses something in translation — the poetry and the fizz. Or it loses the rhythm… It’s meant to make it easier, but it traduces the language, reduces our imaginations. Why can’t we be made to work a bit?”
“Our job is to make the classics sound contemporary without losing the poetry. It’s a balancing act.”
Dench discussed why she doesn’t like watching herself on film:
“You just see the mistakes. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Whereas, on stage, you can always go the next night and make it better. That’s why I much prefer working in the theatre.”
And a few more general quotes that I loved:
“Good art continues to have a life of its own — in the same way that a good play will continue after the applause has stopped.”
“And it doesn’t matter what nationality you are, you may not be able to communicate with the person sitting next to you, but music allows you to meet on another plane; it transcends difference.”
Finally, I thought this portions of one of the last conversations in the book, in the chapter “Future of Shakespeare,” was a beautiful way to wrap up the book:
Does Shakespeare have a future?
“Well, he’ll always be relevant because, as I said earlier, he reflects the times we’re living in…
Shakespeare’s words will continue to exist because he’s part of our everyday language…
Shakespeare is an international language, a beacon of humanity, of everyday life…
He’s able to express what it is to be human in the most concise way…
There’s something for everybody in Shakespeare. Everything you have felt or are yet to feel is all in there in his plays: oppression, ambition, remorse, everything…
Shakespeare has examined every single emotion. His writing has the capacity to make us feel less alone.”
August 9, 2024
My husband and I listened to this book on our summer roadtrip, and we loved every minute of it. Judi Dench didn't read most of it, but the woman who did read it was delightful. The tone was conversational and so funny in places. Judi Dench started off every chapter with a sonnet or a section from the play to be discussed, so the listener does get her delivery as well. We especially loved that we didn't have to know each individual play to enjoy the book. There are a LOT of Shakespeare plays that we don't know. My husband knows many more than me, but there are some pretty obscure ones that Judi Dench has been in and/or directed. But there is enough explanation that we could understand the plot of each. Plus, the book isn't so much about each play; it's about Judi Dench's experiences in that play. She has so many funny stories and meaningful analyses, both of the plays and the acting. This book was a joy, and we were sad when it was over.
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