Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from St martins Press via #netgalley, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own.
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.
Synopsis: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.
Review:
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!
About the Author:
Dame Judi Dench, one of the foremost actors of our day, has won the Oscar, the Tony and the Olivier award. She is also the author of the book And Furthermore.
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