# Dame Judi Dench can recite a Shakespearean sonnet at the drop of a hat **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** theater-stage-dance\ **Created:** [November 3, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533 "2023-11-03T14:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/1 "2023-11-03T14:54:16Z")
Love her… and having Ahnuld there is just the icing on the cake!: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6\_0VBS9AOhE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_0VBS9AOhE) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/2 "2023-11-03T15:32:18Z")
And Jay Blades on her left took me by surprise for a moment until I remembered Dame Judi has been on Blades’, “The Repair Shop.” If you haven’t seen the show, track it down, it’s fascinating, especially if you’re a DIYer. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/3 "2023-11-03T16:16:04Z")
She didn’t just recite the words, either – she clearly understands the various levels of meaning, and made them transparent to us. Her career fascinates me. For years and years she was a versatile and respected working actress. known but not famous, doing a lot of stage and TV work and not a ton of movies, then in the 90’s and in her 60’s she seemed to suddenly shoot up and explode in fireworks. Was it her role as M in the Bond movies? Was it As Time Goes By (tv sitcom)? Suddenly she was everywhere, doing everything. A good glimpse of her pre-superstar years acting is a version of Terence Rattigan’s The Browning Version, where she plays the main character’s wife, and a more hateful character you won’t want to ever meet. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/4 "2023-11-03T16:56:11Z")
Her earlier stage and TV work was memorable for its versatility, if not yet of international treasure impact. From 1964 - when “unhappy family” drama was shockingly new on TV here, and a disaffected youngster hit a nerve with adolescent me: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mhfxQLt-L5s/hqdefault.jpg "Talking To A Stranger (Judi Dench) Part 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfxQLt-L5s) To 1968 - Sally Bowles: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LaP9EDTqfyM/hqdefault.jpg "Judi Dench - Don't Tell Mama (Cabaret London Cast Album)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaP9EDTqfyM) And lots and lots of Shakespeare. She tells a tale of a patronising nurse giving her the once-over recently: "She said ‘And do we have a carer?’, and I said ‘Fuck off, I’ve just done eight weeks in _A Winter’s Tale_ at the Garrick!’. " ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/5 "2023-11-03T17:23:48Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Her career fascinates me. For years and years she was a versatile and respected working actress. known but not famous, doing a lot of stage and TV work and not a ton of movies, then in the 90’s and in her 60’s she seemed to suddenly shoot up and explode in fireworks. Dench was highly regarded by West End theatre crowd (technically Old Vic and The National where she did a lot of work aren’t West End but close enough) and The Royal Shakespeare Company for decades but virtually unknown outside of some television work (mostly miniseries and BBC productions) and low rent films. Stage work is rewarding but does little more than pay the bills (if that), and when Eon Productions brought her in to shake up the Bond franchise as the first female ‘M’, she got wide exposure to show her talent. She was arguably the best thing to come out of the Brosnan era, and the producers wisely elected to continue her in that role into the Craig films for a tiny bit of quasi-continuity. Maggie Smith had kind of a similar career trajectory with the Harry Potter films (although she did more film work previously). RADA-trained Diana Rigg got a lot of grief for doing _The Avengers_ and being a “Bond girl” instead of pursuing stage work early in her career but she made enough money in television and her film career to be able to afford to focus on stage work later without sacrificing financially. It was probably a more sensible decision, and ultimately didn’t hurt her reputation. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/6 "2023-11-03T17:50:10Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Love her… and having Ahnuld there is just the icing on the cake!: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6\_0VBS9AOhE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_0VBS9AOhE) That was breathtaking–thank you! I like to memorize sonnets and other poems as something to keep my brain occupied on long drives or solitary walks–but nobody particularly cares to hear me recite them. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/7 "2023-11-03T18:23:45Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Her career fascinates me. For years and years she was a versatile and respected working actress. known but not famous, doing a lot of stage and TV work and not a ton of movies, then in the 90’s and in her 60’s she seemed to suddenly shoot up and explode in fireworks. Was it her role as M in the Bond movies? Was it As Time Goes By (tv sitcom)? Suddenly she was everywhere, doing everything. It was M in 1995 and also being nominated for an Oscar or two, winning one. M was a big get for her even if it is kind of a generic role. She even got to carry over to Daneil Craig despite him rebooting the series. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/8 "2023-11-06T11:19:19Z")
Wandering off-topic a little bit, fans might be interested in this interview about her career on theatre and particularly Shakespeare (I believe and hope that the BBC allows overseas access to its radio output): > **[BBC Radio 4 - This Cultural Life, Judi Dench](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001s528)** > > Dame Judi Dench on her pivotal moments performing Shakespeare on stage and screen. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/9 "2023-11-06T11:24:10Z")
I have vivid memories of seeing her opposite Anthony Hopkins in Anthony and Cleopatra at the National in London on a school trip in the mid 1980s, and remember being very excited to see such mega actors on stage, so she must have been famous by then! She was in Room with a View around the same time, and it certainly wasn’t the first time I was aware of her (and I was hardly a very observant 15 year old). By the time she was M in Bond, she’d been famous for years. Maybe she was just better known in the UK. From the early 80s she was in a very popular TV sitcom called ‘A fine romance’ which might account for it ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/10 "2023-11-06T18:22:14Z")
There are a number of Shakespeare sonnets that I can recite at will, including number 29 (which she recited). Of course I’m no Dame Judy Dench. I still believe that she absolutely deserved her Oscar for Shakespeare in Love - the first time I saw the movie I predicted that she would win, despite her short screen time. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/11 "2023-11-06T19:37:03Z")
I bet you’re not even Dame _Judi_ Dench! ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/12 "2023-11-06T19:49:14Z")
Truly wonderful, on the page and to our modern brains the words can be clunky but a truly talented actor gives them life. With tone, tempo and emphasis they use those same obscure phrases but the meaning within is now clear. With due deference to Dame Judi can I link to another wonderful recitation, First officer Douglas Richardson (AKA Roger Allam) having a crack at [King Lear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn955417swY). ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/13 "2023-11-06T21:58:58Z")
As an aside… True story about a fleeting and slightly weird encounter with a national treasure. I cycle a lot for exercise. Two decades ago - maybe more - I was head down, cracking along a pan-flat, dead straight stretch of country road. A smaller road joins from the left, and at the junction I passed Dame Judi, foot down, on her mountain bike, stopped at the junction. I did a world-class double take (as you might imagine) and in return she gave me a _Yes it is me, darling_ look. And on I went. If you’re wondering, she lives about 3 km from where this brush with acting royalty took place. And BTW, there was no way for her to get home from where we “met” without taking on a pretty damn stout hill. Good on her. j ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/14 "2023-11-06T22:21:58Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > True [Dame Judi Dench is a National Treasure.](https://youtu.be/hNEfI6JnMJI?si=VqvzF5A2cx_5mvav) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/15 "2023-11-21T13:16:55Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > and having Ahnuld there is just the icing on the cake!: « Arnold, you’ve quoted Shakespeare in one of your movies, right ? » « Yes, I said ´to be or not to be, that is the question’ — then we blew up the castle." Shakespeare has a line for every thing! 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/16 "2023-11-21T16:50:53Z")
Ahnuld added, “_Not_ to be,” and _then_ they blew up the castle. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/17 "2023-11-21T16:59:04Z")
Then he said, “I’ll be _ **be** _.” ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/18 "2023-11-22T15:22:05Z")
She’s not too proud to do an advert: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZKTPKlyEKpo/maxresdefault.jpg "Saving Britain Serious Money - The MoneySuperSeven Advert with Judi Dench") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTPKlyEKpo) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dame-judi-dench-can-recite-a-shakespearean-sonnet-at-the-drop-of-a-hat/992533/19 "2023-11-22T15:23:52Z")
It’s really which advert she deems worthy of her talent. 😉