Review: SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN WHO PAYS THE RENT

Title: Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench with Brendan O'Hea

Book Beginnings quote from the Introduction by Brendan O'Hea:

Friday56 quote discussing roles played in "A Midsummer Night's Dream":

Summary:

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. (Publisher)

Review: It began as a project for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Judi Dench, now aged 89, sat down with her friend Brendan O'Hea over several years and just talked about every single role she played in Shakespeare's plays. They recorded the conversations, thinking the RSC might like them for their archives. Over the 70+ years Dench has been acting she has performed in many, many Shakespeare plays, some more than once, often in different roles. For example, Dench played First Fairy in "Midsummer Night's Dream" her first season at the Vic. Later she was cast as Tatiana, the queen of the fairies, and for another performance she was cast as Hermia. Remarkably she remembered what she wore for her costume and many of her lines, which is astonishing considering how many years ago that may have been and all the roles she has played during her career.

My husband and I listened to the audiobook which was read by Brendan O'Hea and Barbara Flynn. O'Hea was reading out his part of the interviews, asking the questions, seeking clarification, and, at times, teasing or goading Dench. Barbara Flynn read Judi Dench's part of the interviews, but occasionally we would hear Dench herself reciting lines from the plays. Barbara Flynn did such a good job being Dench we didn't know it wasn't Dench until we were about a quarter of the way through the book. The only thing that was odd about this arrangement was it was clear O'Dea and Flynn weren't recording at the same time. So O'Hea would record his question and Flynn (Dench) would answer but there was not the usual things that happen when two people are in conversation together, like talking when the other person is still speaking, interrupting, laughing, etc. It wasn't really a problem but it was noticeable to us.

One of the great regrets of my life is that I haven't ever studied Shakespeare or even seen that many of his plays. I think I've only seen nine in total. I've read a few of his sonnets but I never figured out how to get the iambic pentameter to sound right in my mouth. As I listened to Dench speak about her roles in the various plays, she also spoke about the plot and how she felt it needed to be acted. I became determined than ever to expand my own Shakespeare catalog of seen plays. Top of the list is Hamlet. I've not seen or read it.

Judi Dench is a treasure. She is so funny and sharp. At 89 it is amazing what she still has stored in her memory and this book will live on to remind of them after she is gone. Apparently she has macular degeneration in her eyes so has to rely on the ears and her memory not her eyes. She attributes her memorization skills on her poor eyesight. She wanted her line drawings included in the book as an inspiration to anyone who thinks they have no talent. She says if she can draw with bad eyes, anyone can. 

At the end of the audiobook, O'Hea and Dench are discussing the book and the project. O'Hea used a line I thought was great -- "The book", he said, "was biography by stealth." From it we learned a lot about Shakespeare and even more about Dench. 

My rating: 5 stars.

-Anne