Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench, Brendan O'Hea Narrator: Barbara Flynn, Brendan O'Hea, Judi Dench
Published by Macmillan Audio on 10/26/2023
Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Plays
Format: Audiobook
Source: the library
Purchase: Amazon | Bookshop | Barnes & Noble | Audible | Chirp
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Discover the work of the greatest writer in the English language as you've never encountered it before with 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.
"In a remarkable performance, Flynn laughs, jokes, and calls O'Hea to task when he's wrong—all sounding very much like the famous Dench...The final segment has Dench (in her own voice) and O'Hea engaged in friendly, very funny, squabbling. Informative, educational and altogether brilliant listening!"—AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner)
This audiobook includes interstitial narration from Judi Dench and a bonus conversation between the authors.
“The play’s the thing. . .”
This book grew out of interviews that actor and director Brendan O’Hea held with esteemed Shakespearean actress Dame Judi Dench. In it, the pair discuss a number of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly in terms of the great female roles Ms. Dench has played in her time: Lady Macbeth, Hermia, Titania, Cleopatra, Viola, Ophelia, Hermione, and so many others. Ms. Dench displays a profound understanding of and love for the plays and for these pivotal characters. I was constantly amazed at her insight and deep knowledge of the plays. She is able to reel off entire scenes worth of dialogue from memory—not only her own roles but those of the other characters on stage. I’ve always known she was a brilliant actress, but she could also have been a brilliant director or teacher. Her comments on how language works in the plays—poetry vs. prose, the meaning and impact of blank verse or rhyme—are worth the entire price of admission, but there is so much more. The whole book is a masterclass in how to read, understand, and play Shakespeare, and more generally, how to act.
And she’s witty and extremely funny, as well: sharing anecdotes from various productions throughout her life, fondly remembering famous directors and actors she has worked with, from Peter Hall to Trevor Nunn to Ian McKellan and Ian Holm.
I have been in love with Shakespeare’s plays since I was 10, when I was fortunate enough to see a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Romeo and Juliet in Stratford-upon-Avon. The experience had a profound effect on me. I studied Shakespeare’s plays in high school and college, performed in both Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, attended a number of amateur and professional productions throughout my life, and even taught several of the plays. I wish I had read Dench’s book much earlier in my life; it would have enriched my understanding so much. (Alas, it only came out in 2023.)
Audiobook: My sole disappointment with the audiobook is that Ms. Dench does not narrate her side of the conversation. The initial interviews were recorded without any intention of publishing a book. Thus, once the decision to produce a book was undertaken, Mr. O’Hea had to distill those unfiltered recordings down to their essence, then write out and eventually re-record the ensuing conversations. Because Ms. Dench, who is now nearly blind, would have been unable to read her part, Barbara Flynn was brought in to narrate Ms. Dench’s portion of the conversation. Ms. Flynn sounds very similar to Ms. Dench, and nails Dench’s cadence and delivery, but I missed the the distinctive, slightly rough timbre of Ms. Dench’s voice. Thankfully, some (or many) of the Shakespearean lines are in fact delivered by Ms. Dench. The audiobook also offers nearly three-quarters of an hour of conversation between Ms. Dench and Mr. O’Hea, recorded after the book was slated for publication.
Rating: For a fleeting moment, I debated deducting half a star for the substitution of Ms. Flynn for Ms. Dench, but in the end, the book was so marvelously insightful and so delightfully entertaining that it deserved the full 5 stars.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Audiobook Challenge 2025
- COYER 2025: Out to Lunch
- Library Love Challenge 2025
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