Judi Dench - Speaking Shakespeare

people who do not make art think that a successful craft is something 'innate' or because of 'talent', when a SKILL IS LEARNED AND PRACTICED! IT IS WORK. Do not demean an artist by inferring that their craft comes easily, without hard work, without any thought.

Dame Judi is a phenomenon. She is a genius. And like all true genii she is humble and full of humility

I can't describe how much I admire her.

But with Dame Judi, the mastery of meter is a only a foundation. There is also something about her, something very, very special, something intensely intellective perhaps, that allows her to discern the spirit of a poem and hold us, hold us literally captive, with its magic. There is also the dove descending, and for some mysterious reason that dove is always right above her whenever she utters a line of Shakespeare. Olivier received everything Judi Dench received, but he cannot hold a candle to Dame Judi when it comes to, for example, a Shakespeare sonnet. There is a point at which the actress transcends her own technique, and that transcendence is the whole magic of the theatre, and the magic of Judi Dench herself.

She had 8 minutes in front of the camera in Shakespeare In Love...and MADE the whole movie....she became Queen Bess...wonderful character presence in anything she takes on...wonderful!

It’s so interesting to me to see a master of the craft of acting explaining the fundamentals and techniques they use,she’s marvellous

The best Shakespearean actors follow the metre as you would in a song or aria. You can express so much within those parameters, much more so than if you twist the line out of shape by making it sound “natural.”

Judi Dench is my Favourite Actress of all time. Her and Maggie Smith are just so great.

A British icon 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

She is extraordinary. She's speaks so succinctly but absolutely punches you in the solar plexus. Beautiful delivery from an exceptional actor

Judy Dench is an English treasure.

I agree absolutely with Eyre's analysis of Judi's intuitive abilities ~ She is in my mind the finest Verse or non verse speaker I've ever heard ..... simply because she is honest about what she feeling which emerges as truthful phrasing !!! ~ genius!

I just love what she says about the lines and that something happens in between. It’s true that it makes it naturalistic when you obey that. Yes.

Dame Judi was thrilling as Mother to Cumberbatch's Richard III. It was a small role, but she certainly made it count.

she is brilliant. every observation true and powerful. there is one weird aspect about actors talking about rhythm and cadence and meter of Shakespeare; and that is the pen. they know nothing about the physical reality of the time when the works were crafted. try to imagine it like this; you have this key board before you and a computer program that is performing mechanics so you don't have to; now go back just fifty years and you have a manual type writer and you have to push back the roller bar at the end of every line. if you could have both on the same desk and you turned from one to the other and you composed raw new works on both of them; the first thing you would soon notice is that the physical action of stopping to push back the roller bar at the end of every typed line has drastic physical impact on your word choice and thought in lines. now, set those off your desk and reach for a paper and ballpoint pen. start writing again in original thoughts. and again, notice how the act of the pen is SO much different than the typing and how THAT in turn now effects how you write and what you write. it actually effects your word choices and phrasing. the better and more experienced a writer you are the more you will both notice this and not notice this at first. now, set that ball point pen aside and take out an ink well and dip pen. and again start writing an original work. notice how the need to stop and physically 'dip' the pen again changes drastically the flow of your mind's thoughts and the rhythm of your word choices. the reason Shakespeare wrote in the cadence and rhythm he did (aside from his overwhelming talent+ and skill) is that with a dip pen it 'feels' right or more comfortable to do so. don't believe me? compare his works with everyone else of the time. jump across the channel and compare the works of the French of the dip pen to the ball point pen to the type writer to the free form computer word processor to now the newer spoken word into type programs. the mechanics do have subliminal effects upon the word choices and the cadence and the rhythm and the final format. if you had to carve it into stone or press it into a wet clay tablet it would be even more drastic and notable. but however invisible it may be to those that do not do a considerable amount of abstract story telling writing; it is visible to those that do. Shakespeare writes in meter for the same reason so many others did in his time; he is using a dip pen and that is the amount of words one can clip off between dips.

She is wonderful.

It is so true the importance of the right way of speaking and pronounce a line on a song like Sinatra or like an actor or actresses like Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and others. The are masters. That is what makes a song, film or play so unique.

Judi Dench is incredible. I do not know, Shakespeare, neither read an actual play. Yet, in one moment. I saw Judi Dench recite something and I understood what she was saying and she in seconds experienced the emotions of her line's and I felt it...on command if you willm she felt the line's. I do not know what she said, word for word....but I was crying at the end...I did not know why...I was just crying.

Judi is absolutely mesmerising to watch....

Man, I wish I could see this whole thing. It’s wonderful. Thank you.

Oh god!! I am seeing so many similarities between music and being an actor! I am a musician myself and since I have started to watch interviews to actors talking about their art, I am learning so much about the life and craft of an artist, no matter which kind of art it's made. Thanks to humanity and nature to make us able to make art and share it with the world💕💛

"John Gielgud and Frank Sinatra." This woman is a genius.

This was an inspiring conversation.

Shakespeare's words will never disappear; they are some of the greatest ever written, but when the actors and directors who understand how to perform his words and verse are gone... we'll have to rely on old films and sound recordings, because the art is dying, for sure.

Just love Dame Judi.

Really beautiful, engaging Shakepeare with jazz singing - the tyranny of bar lines!!! I love it! Voila c'est bientot!

Absolutely Gielgud. Love Dench. Thanks.

Judy is a National Treasure!

So interesting. Exactly the same 'recipe' that Maria Callas gave students about paying close attention to the musical or narrative line, maintaining the line and preservation of breath. Absolutely fascinating.

Judi is as much a part of the sound of Shakespeare as is the thread a part of this pillow where my head rests.

Remarkable Lady !

Sinatra and Shakespeare, what a duo! -mikenotpaula.

I just love her

Just divine.

Is this full interview available anywhere?

Every time I watch Dame Judy Dench the first thing that comes to mind is Tracey Ullman doing her Judy Dench on her show.

I love Judi Dench so much

It’s in her eyes!❤ is she speaks with that perfect alliteration her eyes speak so fluently each and every feeling it passes over her tongue!

You can not just read Shakespeare, you have to listen to Shakespeare. And that is true of the works of all great playwrights around the world

So deferential and self-deprecating without being falsely modest. A total miracle actor. We're so grateful for her body of work.

In order to learn iambic pentameter a helpful nursery rhyme is,"Aveva une palla fatta de pelle de Pollo". It's Italian and it means,"A fat chicken rolling down a hill". Perfect for striking the right tone for Shakespeare.

Extraordinary

She is extraordinary ☄️⚡️

Essentially, Richard is likening Judi Dench to Pearl Bailey. And it makes sense. Because Pearl performed her jazz exactly the same way that Judi speaks her lines.

Thank you.

"But thy eternal summer shall not fade nor lose that 'fair' thou ownest, nor shall Death say thou wanderest in his shade when to the Eternal Word in time thou goest. As long as men can read and eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee."

To quote Tracy Ullman, " She's a National Treasure!"

Brilliant

Senzationala !!!!!!!!!

Yes we would a two-character Shakespeare

She's an effing world treasure

She is extraordinary… Who is John gill and franks and archer whom she refers ? And how does one practice to speak Shakespeare.. anyone kind and knowledgeable..? thank you

I love Judi so much. What she says here about Peter Hall beating on a lectern to get his actors to obey the verse reminds me of this production of Love's Labours Lost where the Holofernes actually skipped to the beat of the verse as a gag. It was so funny. kzhead.info/sun/q8yzeKmehHuukn0/bejne.html

love her but she is wrong on the second comment regarding half lines. The annotators and editors took license with the pentameter so it should be explored in varied ways.

Didn't Judi Dench find out she was related to an actor that had indeed acted for Shakespeare or some such thing.

She's one of my favourite actresses, but I must say he reminds me of Gus the Theatre Cat.

They never pause after commas. ?

God i totally admire her. I like shakespeare.but only a few times ,have i ever ,got shakespeare.....until the dame speaks his words, i get the feeling and the meaning. She brings the words alive. She is phenomenal

"I'm a national treasure!"

Anyone know what scene the line she speaks of in Antony and Cleopatra is in? I cannot find Alas Alas the noble ladys dead. Also I dont get the point of that story. Murdered?

Thank the Phoenicians!

Please correct me if I am wrong. But what I hear is, the soul of the thing counts more than its content. And that makes me think of Janice Joplin. Or am I just in me cups?

I like the way she describes music to shakespear,because for it helps using music in learning shakespear🤔

Jazz singers don't sing across the bar. They have an amazing understanding of timing, they are very aware of what chords are being played in each bar and they respond accordingly. It might sound like they are singing "across the bar" because INSIDE each bar they can be very flexible.

The beat is useful, the sounds of the words are useful, but without an avalanche of passion, of understanding the irony in most of Shakespeare's scenes, and the subtext in all of them (so anyone who claims it does not exist in Shakespeare - please THINK AGAIN), and without the wisdom to avoid simple, OBVIOUS connections to modern life (which have sabotaged so many productions), without - in one word - deep EXPERIENCE of life, the plays cannot be done. It is triviality which is killing Shakespeare. John.

We work so hard for being unsexual and land up being sexual how do we move forward❤❤🎉🎉

Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alteration funds nor bends with the remover to remove ...

Isaiah 46:3-4 Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by Me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

M

so this never happened

Ok. Now evaluate the pathetic recent Macbeth directed by the near illiterate Coen.

The guy is so full of pooh, pooh 😅

Such bad Shakespeare out there! Mumbled, done too fast with no thought to rhythm, Meter, emotional beats or even simply volume. They don't teach classical basic acting any more and it's all "naturalism", bland and boring.

Everyone to thier own,but i must admit i know nothing about shakespear,being scottish the language used means nothing to me. I always get the feeling that thier is a lot of arty fartiness between actors with it , however i do like judy dench