Dame Judi Dench is a wonderful actress! I so enjoyed reading Dame Dench’s reflection’s on the various Shakespeare productions she performed in. I would classify the book as part memoir. If you are a fan of Dame Dench and Shakespeare, you will love this book.

Thank you #NetGalley, #St.Martin’sPress, #JudiDench, #BrendanO’Hea and #Shakespeare:TheManWhoPaystheRent for the advance copy for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Part memoir, part actor's commentary on Shakespeare's plays, but definitely interesting. Dame Judi Dench is marvelous -- intelligent, funny, insightful, and bawdy and profane at times. This one might be a bit more of interest to true theater buffs as it goes through the plays one by one and sometimes character by character to share Dench's experiences and comments on the roles she's played. It can be a bit dry in the analyses for those less familiar but her memories and anecdotes are wonderful and sometimes poignant. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I'm going to quite simply call this the "MASTER CLASS of Shakespeare". PERIOD.

If you want to know the famous, and not so famous, plays better, to UNDERSTAND them, to get to know why characters are played the way they are, THIS is the book for you. Judi explains everything so well, that you feel she truly has a past life as a confidante of Shakespeare, and knows what she speaks. But then she does speak from experience!

In this interview setting, Dench is asked questions by (Brendan, himself a Shakespeare actor and director) about the different plays she has been in. As he asks one questions, he asks others, based on Dench's comments back, and you end up with what amounts to a mini class on each play under discussion, as well as some valuable history info! Even da kid, who dreaded Shakespeare class, was blown away with audio version of this book, and sought out the online interviews with Brendan and Dench, to hear the words from Dench herself (as she doesn't do the audible version).

I do have to admit ,reading the book, you will HEAR Dench in your ear speaking her lines with ease. It can be a bit disconcerting when you get pulled back into life around you, as you get so lost in the book with her as your guide. Shakespeare becomes INTERESTING and with an actor's take, it is renewed, and you wish you had had this book in YOUR Shakespeare class! I had to laugh at the end when Brendan admitted that the text had been edited to remove Dench's swearing, as after the first play/chapter, you could hear the cadence and know where she got edited! LOL.

BUY this book. Buy it for your kids, but buy it for yourself, to look at Shakespeare from the 'other side', and see what you might have missed!

This is a review for NetGalley of Shakespeare, The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench (my favorite British actress) and Brendan O'Hea. This book will be released on 4/23/24. I love Dame Judi Dench, and I have loved watching her perform over the years on television, but never did I get to see her on stage playing Shakespeare, who she and her husband (sadly deceased) Michael Williams, referred to Shakespeare as the man who pays the rent...so this book gives us great insight to each character she played, and we get a rare and special glimpse into how she felt about, techniques she used, people she worked for and with, such as actor Ian McKellen, and director Peter Hall! I felt like I was literally sitting in Dame Judi's living room while Brendan O'Hea asked her all his amazing questions, because he had a friendship with her that was evident, and he has the gift we don't see much anymore, of drawing a great interview out of an amazing lady! Dame Judi has a photographic memory, so you really get a great picture, almost like you're there in the audience, as she paints and explains every character she played. We also get to see some of her amazing artwork which with the story, really gives us an added gift. It really made me understand Shakespeare in a way I've never been able to before, and I believe through Dame Judi's eyes and stories, we can understand what his plays were meant to portray! I laughed, and just fell more in love with this legend, Dame Judi, and even loved Brendan, and his funny cheek, and beautiful way of painting Dame Judi's vision of her parts. It's a masterpiece in my opinion, and I'm so glad someone convinced Brendan to write it! The world needs to hear these stories, and more ladies, for she is a true lady in my mind, like Dame Judi Dench! I highly recommend this book! 5 stars is not enough!!! I loved it!!!

This is an interesting book. Any Shakespeare fan would enjoy this book. It is full of interesting stories and anecdotes of Judi Dench's time performing Shakespeare's plays.

If you enjoy Shakespeare, you’ll appreciate this behind-the-scenes look at his plays through the eyes of someone who has lived them. Denche shares her unique decades long perspective on Shakespeare’s characters, dialogue, and plot points as well as a master class in stage acting.

The book is a compilation of interviews between Denche and fellow actor Brendan O’Hea. The banter between the two was charming and I loved the juxtaposition of the rather boring questions asked by O’Hea with Denche’s often frank, hilarious responses. Because this is more interview than story, I think I would have enjoyed the audiobook even more.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Discover the work of the greatest writer in the English language as you've never encountered it before by pre-ordering 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 and 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."

It's Judi Dench, it's Shakespeare. What more needs to be said? Go. Buy.

Judi Dench and her late husband, Michael Williams, used to call Shakespeare the man who pays the rent, because there were always Shakespeare plays being put on, parts to be gotten, and pay packets to be earned. For Judi Dench, it seems Shakespeare must have been a particular gold mine because of her astonishing memory. She has huge swathes of the plays and sonnets committed to memory. She doesn’t just know the words; she keenly analyzes the structure and how changes from prose to poetry and other distinctions inform meaning. Her interpretation of the part of Lady Macbeth, which begins the book, is a master class.

In addition, Dench seems to remember practically every detail of every productions she was ever in. Who else was in the play, who directed, who was in the crew, what the costumes were like. Best of all, she has a seemingly never-ending supply of stories of stage happenings, especially mishaps. The time she tugged so hard on her scene partner’s dress that the seam tore and they had to finish the scene with the partner’s underwear showing. The time she had on a coat to keep warm while waiting to go on, and realized with seconds to spare that she hadn’t put on her skirt. The misbehavior she and her castmates got up to.

Dench is highly opinionated about the plays and her parts. She hates The Merchant of Venice and says it was a misery to be in it. As noted, she loves Macbeth, and she’s been both Ophelia and Gertrude in Hamlet, alongside a bevy of standout lead actors.

The origin of this book was a series of conversations between Dench and her longtimr friend, actor/director Brendan O’Hea, apparently meant for an archive. The idea to turn their conversations into a book came later. I understand that Dench and O’Hea are doing at least one live conversation in May as a fundraiser for The Watermill Theatre in Bagnor, England.

In the audiobook, the conversations that Dench had with O’Hea are recreated with Judi’s part narrated by Barbara Flynn. When I listened to the podcast of Dench and O’Hea at the end of the audiobook, I realized why Dench doesn’t do her own part of the conversation for the audiobook. O’Hea mentions that he had to edit down over 100 hours of their conversations for the book. Once he had his edited manuscript, he could record his part, but Dench has macular degeneration and says she can’t read now. We do get to hear Dench declaim several bits of Shakespeare, though, and narrator Flynn does a good job, especially with Dench’s frequent chuckles.

It was delightful to listen to this memoir, fascinating and often laugh-out-loud funny. If you already love Judi Dench, then this book is a no-brainer. But who else is it for? Shakespeare fans, actors and would-be actors, and anybody who enjoys memoirs, especially ones with plenty of humor.

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea was a shining 5 ⭐️.
This was absolutely delightful! I took a Shakespeare class my senior year in high school and fell in love with his work then and there.
Judi and Brendon wrote a relatable nonfiction dialogue that kept me enraptured. It reads like an interview that flowed flawlessly. It was a comfortable setting that had me understanding Judi Dench’s mind and experience in a way I hadn’t seen before. I’m truly in awe of her talent. I had already started reading this when I was offered the audiobook. You guys, I thought it was even better than the book! It felt so personal and fun. It’s like I was sitting in the audience. It was narrated by Barbara Flynn, Brendan O'Hea and Judi Dench. I can’t say enough good things about this. It’s a must read/listen and hope you love it as much as I did. I highly recommend it.
Thanks St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.

Dame Judi Dench has given me a new appreciation of Shakespeare.

Her memories of the various productions she's been in, including lines from the plays -some of which she hadn't done in decades- are remarkable. Not only are we gifted with her interpretation of the characters she played and the plays she appeared in, but we also get stories about the actors and directors she worked with in the productions. It's a wonderful mix of insight and reminiscence.

The banter with Brendan O'Hea brings out the humor and gives Judi Dench an opportunity to share her wit. Their friendship and playful digs at each other adds another element to an already fantastic conversation.

If you're familiar with Judi Dench, you're going to read this in her voice and that's just going to make the book even better.

This book is interviews with Judi Dench about her role in different Shakespeare productions since the 1950s. She has an amazing memory and it’s interesting to see the production from the viewpoint of the actor. If you are a theater buff or a fan of Judi Dench you will enjoy the stories.

This was a really fun book that was part memoir, part study of some of Shakespeare's plays. Dame Judi Dench is a wonderful actor and spent much of her time on stage performing a variety of parts in many of the plays of Shakespeare, and in this book she recounts some of the stories of her time performing each part and how each character fits into the story as well as an overview of the play in general. I really enjoyed the back and forth between co writer Brendan O'hea and Dench and I can see how the conversations would have had some questions that would have been prepared for each part covered, but also would have happened in a more organic way as the discussion went on. This method was nice as it allowed Dench to dig into the characters and how she feels the parts and plays work. As she says there is no one way to interpret Shakespeare, and it was really interesting to see how this wonderful actress interprets the parts.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

What an absolute DELIGHT this was! I love Dame Judy Dench as an actress but had no idea how lovely and full of humor her writing would be. It was so cool to learn more about her and about Shakespeare through her.

Based on other reviews, I’ll have to check out the audiobook sometime to hear these fun stories in her voice.

Thank you St Martin's for inviting me to read and review Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent. This is such a treat of a book.

This audiobook is such a delight (I had that to listen to and it added to me reading of this ebook), and I recommend the audio format over the physical book so you can hear Judi Dench talk about her roles and just enjoy the interview style storysharing. This is one to listen to and enjoy, it's a great book to read and listen to with the audiobook.

Stand outs, other than this being a most welcome change from my usual audiobooks:
1. Humor, the stories are funny, joyful, and I felt a lot of respect for the stories, the opportunity that the interviews offered.
2. History and insights into Judi Dench's long career with Shakespeare, her behind the scenes stories and rich detail are captivating
3. Her recall of lines, passages from Shakespeare, what a gift to listen to her perform

Highly recommend. If I taught Shakespeare I would assign this to my students!

This was a delightful book about Dame Judy Denche’s relationship to Shakespear. It was immensely funny and well written. I loved the banter between Judy and Brendan. You can tell that they are good friends and very comfortable with each other.
I had read many of Shakespeare’s plays, and seen my fare share or them as movies. I did not know that Judy had played in so many of his plays. Her dry wit and hilarious humor truly shined in this book. This is a great book for anybody who loved Shakespear. Even if you don’t know much about his plays, you will enjoy this book.

While my knowledge of Shakespeare is limited, after reading this book, I have a more insightful understanding of many of his masterpieces. The at times playful or incredibly delving banter between the interviewer (Brendan O’Hea) and Judi Dench enriched every page of this book.
Dench's candid revelations offer a rare glimpse behind the curtains of her illustrious career, unveiling treasures of reminiscences and thought-provoking perspectives that were simply delightful.

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent is a compilation of interviews between Brendan O'Hea and Dame Judi Dench. Their humorous conversations take a look into the actress' life experiences performing Shakespeare's work. There are chapters dedicated to each of the plays that Judi has performed in from Romeo & Juliet, to Hamlet, to her least favourite of them all - The Merchant of Venice.

I was given a rare opportunity to be given the audio and digital ARC around the same time. I decided to do a read along, and it was the best decision!

The audiobook is narrated by Brendan O'Hea and the talented Barbara Flynn. Listeners also get the opportunity to hear Judi Dench recite some of Shakespeare's most famous lines at the start of some chapters. These lines are not included in the digital copy. It is also easier to pick up more of the jest and camaraderie between the Brendan and Judi that didn't come out as clearly in the digital copy.

In the digital book, having the ability to read along with the narrators as they perform their lines in Shakespeare's iambic pentameter really helps pull you into the book. Readers are also privy to some of Judi's recent illustrations which are scattered throughout the book as she sketches some of the characters she has portrayed and Shakespeare himself.

Overall, this is a fantastic book! The audio/digital book combo complimented each other immensely. Regardless of which version you choose, you're in for a treat. Judi Dench is hilarious and her expertise in portraying Shakespeare's leading ladies is unmatched.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press (digital ARC) and Macmillan Audio (audio ARC) for the opportunity to read this title in advance of its publishing date. Opinions are my own.

It's an amazing conversation/interview, though it requires that, as a prerequisite for enjoying this book, you must love Shakespeare and/or Judi Dench (obviously). The rhythm of Shakespeare’s words, coupled with Judi Dench’s remembrances and analyses, could only be made more fantastic on audio.

Long before Judi Dench played M in the James Bond series she began her career on stage playing numerous Shakespeare characters. In this marvelous book, she talks about each character she played. My first encounter with Shakespeare was reading Macbeth as a junior in high school. Lady Macbeth trying to wash away the imaginary blood on her hands remains vivid in my memory. Dench recounts playing Lady Macbeth way back in 1963, what Dench believes drove this character, and the techniques used to bring her to life on the stage. Throughout the rest of this entertaining and educational book, Dench talks about playing many other famous Shakespeare characters including, Ophelia and Gertrude from Hamlet and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. This is a charming book for all fans of Shakespeare and the art of acting.

laugh-riot, laugh-out-loud, situational-humor, verbal-humor, historic-theatres, interviews, actors, family, famous-persons, commentary, memories, stage-plays, unputdownable*****

William Shakespeare is the unseen protagonist in this fun and fascinating book of the memories of this very well-known, energetic, and talented actress. The book is chaptered by Shakespeare's plays and the characters she portrayed. Expect insights, bloopers, and general hilarity amongst the historical facts relating to the time in which the plays were written.
The goal of the writer "had been to record her talking about all the Shakespeare parts she had played and offer it to the archive department at Shakespeare's globe." "The title is derived from the name that Judi and her husband gave to Shakespeare when they were working for the Royal Shakespeare Company." "The interviews were conducted over four years."
A wonderful book to be enjoyed again and again!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
Available 23 Apr 2024