Shakespeare

I loved this book because it's not often you get taken 'behind the scenes' in an actor's life but this book takes you there, and so close that you can almost smell the green stage makeup that Judi Dench applied nightly ( and somewhat alarmingly, went back to her Stratford digs, still wearing) during the early stages of her distinguished career as one of the UK's great Shakespearian actors. The title is a brilliant reminder that Judi, for all her subsequent achievements and plaudits had bills to pay like any other jobbing actor and her down to earth approach and… show more.

I was a devotee of Judi Dench long before she was a Dame (There is nothing like a dame . . . ), and a devotee of Willy Wagstaff (aka Shakespeare--what a shame that he was never knighted) long before that, so this was a match made in heaven. She somehow manages to recall (albeit with the help of an interviewer) every role she played in every Shakespeare production, in very minute and often very bawdy detail. By the end of the book, you feel as if you know her, and as if you'd like to share an ale or… show more.