Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench has confessed she once feared for her job after a series of memorable mishaps while performing Shakespeare's greatest works.
A Festive Detective Mission
In a heartwarming new Channel 4 documentary entitled Shakespeare, My Family and Me, the 91-year-old national treasure turns detective. Airing on Boxing Day, the 27th of December at 9pm, the film follows Dame Judi as she delves into Danish archives. Her mission is to discover if her eight times great grandfather ever crossed paths with her literary hero, William Shakespeare, back in 1606.
"I love Shakespeare, but I have fallen over in nearly every play I have done," she admits with a laugh, attributing it to her balance. The documentary promises a deeply personal journey, blending family history with her lifelong passion for the Bard's work.
On-Stage Blunders and 'Exquisite Agony'
Reflecting on her illustrious stage career, which began at The Old Vic in 1957 playing Ophelia in Hamlet, Dame Judi recalls several colourful incidents with fond humour. One standout blunder occurred while she was playing Portia in The Merchant of Venice in Stratford-upon-Avon alongside her late husband, Michael Williams.
"I got one of the words wrong in the script and ended up saying ‘erection’," she reveals. "We had a wind band about to play on stage with us and they left as they were embarrassed. It was exquisite agony. I was surprised I did not get the sack afterwards."
Another night, during a performance of Twelfth Night, her entire wig, complete with an attached head-dress, decided to make a dramatic exit of its own. "It just went flying," she remembers.
The Show Must Always Go On
Embracing the old theatrical edict, Dame Judi speaks of a relentless professional dedication. "You can’t say ‘I don’t feel like it today’. You can’t do that," she states firmly. She recalls performing through the Asian flu in the 1950s, crying her way through a scene as Ophelia but determinedly finishing it.
Her career, spanning from the stage to becoming MI6 chief M in seven James Bond films, has seen its share of criticism too. She recalls one particularly stinging review of her Juliet: "‘she conveyed about as much as an apple in a Warwickshire orchard’."
Despite failing eyesight due to macular degeneration, which now prevents her from reading scripts or watching live theatre, her passion is undimmed. She learns lines through audio and looks back with immense fondness on working with legends like Sir Anthony Hopkins, who would whisper about tea after dying in her lap as Mark Antony.
At home in Surrey, she enjoys festive TV with her outspoken African grey parrot, Sweetheart, and finds solace in her garden, where she plants trees in memory of departed friends. A towering papier-mâché statue of Queen Victoria, a memento from filming Victoria and Abdul, keeps watch among them.
