If you are an avid fan of Shakespeare, of the classic Shakespearean actors (Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Ian McKellen, Ralph Fiennes, Patrick Stewart, Maggie Smith, James Earl Jones, Kevin Kline, etc, etc, etc) - then you are in for a treat! Do not miss the audio version, which is intermittently narrated by Judi Dench. The other female narrator (Barbara Flynn) is charming and a lovely stand-in for Dench. I loved her giggle! This book is basically Judi Dench sharing her experiences performing various Shakespeare plays. She tells stories about the text, her fellow Shakespearean actors, backstage hijinx, etc. This isn't a book for everyone, but those who love Shakespeare will love this book.

"Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea
Audiobook narrated by Barbara Flynn, Brendan O'Hea, and Judi Dench
Publish day 4/23/2024

Happy Publishing Day!
In a nutshell: Director Brendan O'Hea interviews Judi Dench on various Shakespeare plays and her backgrounds. Her frank humor, charm, and expert opinions on acting with over 70 years of experience shines through.

Why read this book?
You are an actor/actress.
You like Shakespeare
You tried Shakespeare and did not like Shakespeare. You want to understand why some people do.
You are a fan of Judi Dench (and who isn't? This Dame is practically a national treasure)
You want to know what it's like to work with Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Daniel Day Lewis as Hamlet, Benedict Cumberbatch, and a number of other actors of high regards

Audiobook is excellent. I am not the biggest fan of Shakespeare, and this book makes me want to study more. It is a Shakespeare book for naughty students in the back of classroom - Judi and Brendan brings a lot of humor and familiarity to the subject. If I knew more about Shakespeare, I would have enjoyed this book more.

An advanced copy of this audiobook was provided courtesy of NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Thank you to #NetGalley for a free copy of this audio book in exchange for an honest review.

My Interest

Judi Dench! As Time Goes By is one of my all-time favorite t.v. shows. I love it. I used to just have the dvds on every night at dinner. So fun and nice. No more dvd player. No more laptop with a cd drive. No more ATGB.

The Story and My Thoughts

To call this a "book" is wrong. This is a conversation. An interview. A multi-part podcast. If you buy it in print then it is a transcript of those. Either the audio or the written version has an introduction that explains it. I highly recommend the audio. I think it would get tedious reading it whereas it is delightful, insightful, and entertaining to listen to even thought Judi Dench doesn't do the recording. You very quickly forget that.

This is not about Shakespeare the man, but about Judi playing all her different roles in just about every one of his plays (or so it seems). Most of the great British actors and actresses [I know I'm archaic in using that term but I don't want anyone to think women such as Maggie Smith are left out!] are included in the discussion. Judi does not analyze Shakespeare like an academic--thank goodness! Instead she talks about how the characters developed when she was in the role. For one (and likely only this once) saying X "informed" how y was one made perfect sense.

While we do hear about her husband, daughter, brother and friends, we hear about them for the most part in and around roles in various plays (though I don't think her daughter was in a play--she was the young "Jean" in the picture in the opening of ATGB on tv though). 

This book--transcript, would be an amazing addition to any high school class reading a Shakespeare play. It's certainly much better than the long ponderous "introductions" affixed to academic editions of the plays like I had to trudge through in high school and college, though of course English majors would need to still do that. Free high schoolers from them with this!

Rather than take my word for it, watch the clip below that gives a sample. Below that is an episode of a British tv show in which Judi talks more of her love of Shakespeare.

My Verdict
4.0




Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea

Dame Judi Dench is a national treasure and this book just enforces this over and over again. What a life this woman has lived [both on the stage and off]!!

I have not seen a live Shakespeare play, but certainly hope to now [not something that I ever thought I would say]. When I was a kid I read A Midsummer Night's Dream and loved that immensely - that was my intro to Shakespeare. I read the obligatory Romeo and Juliet [I am not a fan] and Macbeth [I am a HUGE fan] in school and then when Mel Gibson did Hamlet in movie form [and then went into schools to teach it] in the 90's, I saw that [I am also a HUGE fan of this] and again, when Kenneth Branagh [who I would L O V E to see on the stage] did a movie of Hamlet [great googly moogly that movie is L O N G. Brilliant, but L O N G], I watched that. So I guess seeing a play live would obviously be my next step. But to be honest, nothing else has ever really grabbed my attention. Until now.

Dame Judi has an exquisite memory - of all of her shows, the costumes, the people, the directors and the love she speaks of each play is awe-inspiring [with the exception of one, that I cannot remember now. She dislikes that one greatly. Which is probably why I don't remember it. If Dame Judi doesn't like it, neither will I. LOL] and inspired me to seek out more productions of these plays [I know that there are some live productions that have been filmed], even ones I never ever thought I would want to see; this is how much of an influence she has on the reader. She, along with Brendan O'Hea just breathe life into the works of Shakespeare and make even one who is indifferent about The Bard much more interested. Listening to her tell the stories was just fantastic and while I learned so much while listening, it was mostly just a really enjoyable way to pass a couple afternoons, filled with laughter and some tears and absolute genuine affection for a person I have never [and will never[ meet. This book brought me genuine joy and I am so glad that I was able to read/listen to it.

I was able to get the audiobook ARC of this book and to be honest, this is the very best way to experience this book. While Dame Judi doesn't narrate all of it [Barbara Flynn does most of the heavy lifting here - and I swear she must have been infused with Dame Judi's very essence as she sounds very much like her {down to her laugh}, that most of the time I completely forgot that it wasn't actually Dame Judi speaking {until she would quote a bit of Shakespeare in between chapters and I would snap back to reality}. As a side note, listening to Dame Judi read Sonnet 116 will bring you to tears and made me want to listen to it over and over again. I highly recommend the audiobook to everyone who is interested in this book - listening to Dame Judi and Brendan O'Hea bicker at the very end is absolutely priceless and is a great way to end the book. Just glorious!

I was invited to read and review this book by the publishers [St. Martin's Press], and I want to thank them, Dame Judi Dench, Brendan O'Hea [author/narrator], Barbara Flynn - Narrator, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for providing both the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.

It is obvious Ms. Dench loves the works of Shakespeare. Her memory of each character is astounding! Throughout the book, Ms. Dench would recite snippets from each part she played - and expand on her interpretations of each part. It helped me to understand works that have been complicated for myself in the past.

I especially enjoyed the audiobook version of this work. The book is narrated by Ms. Dench herself, and the conversational format gives you the experience of eavesdropping, or attending a panel where 2 friends discuss their passion projects.

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent is delightful! Dame Judi Dench offers unique insights into the featured plays as her quick wit, humor, and eye for detail shine through this conversation with friend and colleague, Brendan O'Hea. . I also felt I learned things I hadn't known about her life and relationships, personal and professional. The interview format is captivating-- the best kind of eavesdropping.

I was initially (and very briefly) disappointed that while she is featured in short monologues from the plays, Dench doesn't do her own narration, But the reason-- that macular degeneration has rendered her nearly blind and unable to read or to perform on set/stage-- added poignance to my listening experience. She is voiced by a marvelous actress, Barbara Flynn, who captures Dench's cadence and infectious laugh; Brendan O'Hea's narration is similarly top drawer.

I plan to own both the written and the audio versions of this marvelous book, buy it for my high school libraries, and put it on my birthday and holiday gift lists.

I’m a high school English teacher, and I have taught SO many Shakespearean plays to my students. I’m always looking for new ways to get them interested in reading Shakespeare because, let’s face it, he scares some of our kids with his fancy cometh and wither and anon. Judy Dench might be one way I can get kids interested. They’ve seen her as M in Mission Impossible, so she can’t be a bore. When I listened to the audio book, I could hear her passion for Shakespeare was much like my own. I think my students would benefit greatly from hearing at least pieces of the audio book as an introduction to some of the plays. Very well done!

I loved this audiobook so much!! I adore Judi Dench, & it was such a pleasure to hear her stories. I appreciated the interview format, which seemed like an easy going conversation. A huge thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy!

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Judi Dench reminisce about her days at the Royal Shakespeare Company. I rarely just listen to an audiobook and prefer having the audio to read along with a print copy to help me focus and so I can keep reading when I have to get up for a few miniutes, but this is one to put on and listen to all by itself.

Dench’s interviews about her various roles are intermixed with her own recitations of lines and snippets from the plays. Even if you are not 100% up on your Shakespeare it’s a delight to listen to her as she not only recalls her own lines, but everyone else’s in particular scenes she found memorable.

Each chapter is a stroll down memory lane as she talks about the production, where she was in her career, the actors she worked with m, while also walking through the important moments for her characters in the play itself. From Lady Macbeth to cleopatra, and Beatrice to Ophelia. (I can’t even imagine her being replaced mid season in Hamlet! But it’s helpful to know even the best have these moments in their lives).

Another goodie on the audio is getting to hear a more informal conversation with her and interviewer Brendan O’hae. Her personality( and colorful vocabulary ) really comes through in their friendly banter.

If you like Dench as an actress and want a quick primer on all things Shakespeare I highly recommend listening to this audio. I could only take about a chapter or two at a time each day because there is so much to take in. But it was a delight to listen to one of the greats reciting some of the most gorgeous words ever written.

I received a copy of this audiobook from netGalley for a honest review.

The book is so funny! I did not expect to laugh or find Shakespeare amusing but Judi makes him relatable and funny. I enjoyed learning about Judi's process for each of these roles and how she saw the characters both when she played them and with the hindsight of age. Part of me really wants to listen to the unedited types sine Judi apparently swears A LOT in them. Some changes have been made in editing and I believe there is someone else reading Judi's part in this book but I couldn't tell a difference. I want to reread some Shakespeare now! Or at least go to a well done show of his.

Do you need to like Shakespeare to enjoy this book? Well, yes. There’s very little in it for those who don’t like Shakespeare. The chapters are all based on each performance that Judi has done throughout her career, with smaller chapters in between on things like audience, critics, the future of Shakespeare, etc. You can listen in order or jump around to your favourite Shakespeare plays – the book is very flexible like that. As well as providing anecdotes about her performances within each plays, she also decodes each play for listeners, expands on the themes and digs deep into the messages. This book would make for a fantastic resource for those teaching Shakespeare.

Gosh, this was so incredibly charming. I am thankful to have gotten the audio, to hear so many amazing passages in Dench's incredible voice. It was slightly disconcerting to hear another narrator (Barbara Flynn) reading the written passages, but she did do a wonderful job of it.

There is so much wisdom here. About Shakespeare and the range of human emotions he delivered (all of them). About language in general and how much of it we owe to the Bard. And I love what she says (speaking about directors) about the fact that the play ought to be left to the person who wrote it.

But what I particularly loved was the intimate look at Dench herself. She has such a wonderful self-deprecating sense of humor "Not mother parts already, surely!" when she was in her mid-thirties -- in a situation where she ended up playing both mother and daughter. Her spicy language (she doesn't hesitate to drop the f-bomb) is so authentic. And in a book that is on the whole rather reserved in a very British sort of way (well, except for those f-bombs), we end up feeling like she has shared a very big part of her heart.

In passing on the baton: "The next generation will decide what's useful, and you have no control over that, and nor should you. ."

And her advice: "Be kind. Be curious. Be playful. And keep a sense of humor."

We could use a lot more Judi Dench's in this world. I will definitely be recommending Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, and recommending in particular the audio version.

What an absolute listening pleasure "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" was! I've read a fair amount of Shakespeare's plays, attended lectures by Shakespeare scholars on his works, and seen many performed over the years, including in the theaters that Judi Dench describes so vividly in this book. The perspective I hadn't really had until now, however, was that of the Shakespearean actor, trying not only to bring their various characters to life on the stage but also to render Shakespeare's gorgeous language natural and accessible to audiences. And what a treat and a privilege to be given this perspective by one of the greats! In conversations with her friend and fellow actor, Brendan O"Hea, Dench takes listeners behind the scenes of the many Shakespearean productions she's been a part of, giving us both the backstage gossip and her character analysis of the various female roles she's played over the years. Her memories of performing and her insights into the productions--witty and unabashedly salty--made me want to both re-read my favorite plays and dive into the ones I haven't yet encountered. This is highly recommended and a must for all fans of theater and Shakespeare. Note: Do not be dissuaded from listening by the fact that Barbara Flynn, rather than Judi Dench, reads Judi's words in this audiobook. She does a wonderful job and I very soon got over my initial disappointment. Judi does warn listeners in the introduction that she will be "interrupting a lot with bits of Shakespeare that I can remember." As you might imagine, these are a pleasure to hear in her voice.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audio ARC of this title in return for my honest review. Highly recommended.

Dear Beloved Children: Mother's Day is coming, and I need a lovely hardcover copy of SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN WHO PAYS THE RENT. If you're wise, you will all give me a copy, and that way, you'll each inherit one when you're old and wise enough to value holding on to a wonderful book. Because this IS a wonderful book. Want a quick refresher before you attend a Shakespeare performance of a play you don't know or have perhaps forgotten? Check out Judi's notes. I didn't do a strict audit, but she has comments on almost every Shakespeare play I've ever encountered, and her memory is unbelievably prodigious. Want to spend just a few minutes smiling with vicarious joy at memories of a life-long passion for theater, commitment, and wonder? Open the book to any page, read just a few words or paragraphs, and you'll be instantly refreshed and invigorated. I listened to an audio version of this book, read by the amazingly gifted Barbara Flynn. Brendan O'Hea interviewed Dame Judi over a number of years, (that pesky pandemic gave them longer than they anticipated), then transcribed the volumes of notes, omitting innumerable 4-letter words (something they both giggle over), and then Barbara Flynn narrated the manuscript as a dialogue together with Mr. O'Hea (and Ms. Dench occasionally speaking as well). The result was absolute perfection, but I long for the tome in print so as to keep it by my side for all eternity (or until I'm gone, when you children can fight over it). Truly wonderful.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Books for this advance reading copy n return for an honest review. As a huge fan of Dame Judy Dench, I adore her remarkable voice and career as a world famous actress whose career has spanned decades. She adores Shakespeare, and has played most of Shakespeare’s major female roles on stage. She is an expert. I couldn't wait to begin this book, only to be taken aback when I realized my error as this is a series of fours years of oral interviews that Dame Dench does with her friend, Brendan O'Hea. She is still a beautiful narrator. I am always looking for ways to interpret and explain Shakespeare, and exerts from this will do wonders.

This audiobook is a conversation between Brendan O’Hea and Judi Dench, looking at Shakespeare’s plays through the lens of the roles she has played. Brendan reads his own parts, but Barbara Flynn reads Judi Dench’s parts. There is narration between the chapters in which Judi Dench performs some relevant bits from Shakespeare.

I loved this! If you’re a fan of Shakespeare, I think you’d really enjoy it. Judi Dench is funny and has a great sense of humor- and quite mischievous! She has such insight- things that I never would have thought of on my own, and she shares fun anecdotes from acting and her time with other actors. She also talks about the craft of acting and how she approaches it. After the book is over, the audiobook ends with a discussion with Judi Dench herself about the writing of the book.

I’m glad I listened to the audiobook. It was a great experience, and I’ve always found Shakespeare a lot easier to absorb and understand when performed rather than being read. Judi Dench’s memory is astonishing, how she remembers so many lines, some of which weren’t from her characters! It comes out April 23. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the advance listening copy.

A delightful conversation between two friends discussing Shakespeare. Dame Judi is a treasure. The audio is excellent.

I have never been a fan of Shakespeare. I think it goes back to my high school years. I was not interested in listening to the language and the analysis that the teachers wanted to do when I was a teenager. Those experiences have carried over into my adulthood and have made me stray away from anything to do with his works.

I was reluctant to listen to this book, but when I saw Judi Dench was an author, I felt I would take a chance on Shakespeare. I am very pleased I took the chance because this was a fabulous book. Not only did I enjoy learning about the various characters she played in Shakespeare's plays, but also her discussions with Brendan O'Hea about the rhyme, the rhythm, and the language used. They discuss all aspects of the plays (wardrobe, scenery, characters, etc.) and how they all come together to create a piece that has been able to carry a message to so many people for over 400 years. It was incredible to learn about the words we use every day penned by Shakespeare. The banter between the two is wonderful and shows their obvious fondness for each other as well as their love of Shakespeare.

SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN WHO PAYS THE RENT was not intended to be a book. It was originally intended to be a conversation between the two authors for I'm not sure how reading this book would have felt. I listened to the audiobook of this title. Listening to Judi Dench was not like listening to an audiobook. It was more like a conversation between her and O'Shea.

This book was delightful to listen to. I listened and highly recommend the audio for this book. There is just something about hearing Judi Densch's voice telling wonderful stories about acting Shakespeare that you won't get if you try and read it.
This book is wonderful for anyone familiar with Shakespeare's works. I had read most of the plays that were discussed, but not all of them. Even the ones I hadn't read were great, because they reviewed the plots. For someone who has not read or seen much Shakespeare this book could function as a wonderful introduction.
I loved hearing what Judi had to say about acting, about Shakespeare, about the different plays. Her love of Shakespeare is contagious.
My only complaint is that I would like titles written down in the chapter headings. They all have titles, but I could only get them when listening.
Thank you to McMillian Audio books and NetGalley for my ARC. This review is my own opinion.

In Shakespeare, The Man Who Pays the Rent, you have the authors, Brendan O'Hea and Judi Dench in conversation discussing her many roles in Shakespeare productions. The title comes from what Judi and her late husband Michael used to call Shakespeare. They were both actors, and were in many Shakespeare productions so he was the man who paid the rent. This is not your typical memoir. This is very specific to the various and many (!) Shakespeare productions throughout Judi's career. Her memory for the details is fantastic. She talks about set design, costumes, specific stage directions, etc., Judi is 89 years old and her recall is brilliant. I also love how Brendan would ask her about specific bits of dialogue and she would provide her interpretation of what specifically was intended and what she thought of the character, etc. We do learn more about Judi's life, of course, but so much of it is the plays, so if you like Shakespeare, I can't imagine a better memoir to read. In my case it was to listen to, as I listened to the audio version and I loved hearing Judi tell us her stories. It's brilliant. 4.5 stars and is available April 23, 2024. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my advance copy.