About the Author

Dame Judi Dench is one of the world's most celebrated actresses. She has won numerous major awards for work on both stage and screen - including an Academy Award, ten BAFTAs and a record eight Laurence Olivier Awards. In recognition of her many achievements she received an OBE in 1970, became a DBE in 1988, and in 2005 was awarded a Companion of Honour.

Brendan O'Hea is a theatre director and an Associate Artist at Shakespeare's Globe. His work as an actor includes major roles at the National Theatre, RSC and fourteen productions for Shakespeare's Globe. As a director his work has been seen on stages across the UK and abroad, including nine productions for Shakespeare's Globe.

Reviews

"A magical love letter to Shakespeare" - Kenneth Branagh "A literary demonstration of how the iconic actor has lost none of her energy, flair, and fiery intelligence... Dench's memoir of the roles she has loved is a witty, thoroughly entertaining romp through the Shakespearean world." - Kirkus (starred review) "...it's a mark of Dench's impish genius and O'Hea's deftness that it genuinely feels like you're sitting at her kitchen table with her. It's companionable and compelling - if you love Judi Dench or Shakespeare (and most of us do), look no further." - The Guardian "...swirls and dances with brilliance and mischief...Judi knows Shakespeare from the inside - she's who Shakespeare had in mind when he took up his quill. The wisdom here is breath-taking...The book is pure enchantment." - The Daily Mail (Book of the Week) "An utterly delightful book...there can be few higher pleasures in civilised life than hearing Judi Dench recite the poetry of Shakespeare...What emerges is a wealth of unpretentious horse sense - Shakespeare from a great actor's perspective - that repeatedly strikes to the heart of the matter with a sharp instinctive intelligence that puts fancy-pants literary critics to shame." - The Telegraph "This is a perceptive read, suffused with Dench's trademark twinkly-eyed humour...Her lifelong love of these plays, their humanity and universality, is unmistakable, but this is a refreshingly honest, unacademic take...Dench's scene-by-scene analysis of many works is sharp and her memory for seemingly inconsequential fragments of line-reading or costume, laser-like.." - iNews