Of the numerous showbiz myths that have attached themselves to Judi Dench, the most improbable is surely the account of when, as a young actor, she played the title role in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of Romeo and Juliet at the Old Vic. Legend has it when her parents came to see the play, her line “Where is my father and mother, nurse?” prompted her proud father to call out “Here we are darling, in Row H.” One of the many delights of this new book chronicling Dench’s lifelong love affair with Shakespeare is to learn that it actually occurred. “No one ever believes me when I tell that story, but I swear to God it’s true,” she says.
Dame Judi may have conquered the peaks of stage, screen and TV, but the bard has always been the bedrock of her acting passion, and during her seven-decade career she’s played nearly all the great and not so great female roles. This book represents the distillation of a lifetime spent working for “the man who pays the rent”.
