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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Richard Brooks

‘The snake fell out of my wig’: why Judi Dench lost her voice when playing Cleopatra

Judi Dench Shakespeare Mark Antony Elizabeth Taylor Michael Billington Michael Williams Peter Hall Egypt
Judi Dench in Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre, London in 1987
‘I was so scared’: Judi Dench in Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre, London, in 1987. Photograph: Alastair Muir/Rex Features

Wriggly creatures have always scared Judi Dench. “I’m a person who is frightened of a worm because one jumped inside my sandal when I was a little girl, and we couldn’t get it out,” she said.

So after being cast in the 1987 National Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra, Dench was terrified when director Peter Hall said there would be live snakes on stage.

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