Review of Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

 

Review Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

What do you require to for a successful theatrical reminiscence? Do you look for inside show business stories, heartfelt emotion, laughter, literary comments, wise notes on the craft, etc.? Judi Dench’s latest book with Brendan O’Hea has all of that and more. Dench is in turn earthy, eloquent, wise, revealing, funny, and sentimental. She breathes an exuberance toward life into every chapter. I have seen a good deal of Shakespeare in England as well as in Canada and across the USA. I have directed six of his plays, acted in two, and worked on a few others. My only caveat here is that in order to truly enjoy the book, you had better bring some familiarity with the Bard’s works. It is organized around the Shakespearean parts Dench has played over her long career and each chapter takes up a role she has played. Her interviewer sets up the questions and then she goes off on the director’s concept, the staging, her own approach, speaking the verse, or her interactions with fellow actors. Even if you are not familiar with the script (say Measure for Measure or Cymbeline), there is still plenty of enjoyment in her often funny and endearing commentary.   

Did you know that Peter Hall, used to stand at a lectern beating out the rhythm of Shakespeare’s verse while she and her fellow actors spoke their lines. Or did you know she loves Stratford Upon Avon, not because she has played there so often, but because so many Shakespeare references can be seen in the countryside around the town. Or do you need some line reading tips like the significance of what she calls “a pick-up line.”  It is a complete iambic pentameter line which is shared between two actors, as when in Macbeth a servant speaks to Lady Macbeth.  

“Servant:  The King comes here tonight

Lady Macbeth:                                          Thou’rt  mad to say it.”

That, according to Judi, is “Shakespeare’s way of telling you to pick up your cue.”

 And finally, she hates The Merchant of Venice with scatological fervor, but the inscription on her beloved husband, Michael Williams, gravestone comes from a line in that play. She played Portia to “Mikey’s” Bassanio and it is spoken just after Portia’s famous quality of mercy speech when Bassanio says, “You have bereft me of all words.”   Has there ever been a more moving epitaph for an actor?

I could go on for a long time, but it is better for you to look for a copy of the book and see for yourself the pleasures it contains. If you have treasured the reruns of ‘As Time Goes’, know know a little bit about the Bard, or just plain love the theatre, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent is the book for you.   

I give it a five out of five.