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Discover the work of the greatest writer in the English language as you've never encountered it before in internationally renowned actor Dame Judi Dench's SHAKESPEARE: The Man Who Pays The Rent - a witty, insightful journey through the plays and tales of our beloved Shakespeare

'A MAGICAL LOVE LETTER TO SHAKESPEARE' Sir Kenneth Branagh

'THIS BOOK IS PURE ENCHANTMENT' Daily Mail

GLORIOUSLY ENTERTAINING. READING IT FEELS LIKE A CHAT WITH AN OLD FRIEND' Observer
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Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig...

Cavorting naked through the Warwickshire countryside painted green...

Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head...

These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.

For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra.

In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O'Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare's plays with incisive clarity. While revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process, sharing her personal interpretations of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans. All brightened by her mischievous sense of humour, striking level of honesty and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes, many of which have remained under lock and key until now.

Illustrated throughout with original art by Dame Judi Dench.

Instructive and witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi's love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.

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Praise for The Man Who Pays the Rent

'This is a gloriously entertaining tour through the canon in the company of perhaps the most experienced living Shakespearean actor' - Observer

'An utterly delightful book. An unstoppable stream of anecdotes, recollections and asides' - Telegraph

‘Companionable and compelling, mischievous and convivial – it genuinely feels like you’re sitting at her kitchen table with Judi Dench.' - Guardian

"Wonderfully inspiring. A delightful spell in the company of one of our greatest and most thoughtful actresses" - Daily Mail, Books of the Year

"A magical love letter to Shakespeare" - Kenneth Branagh

"A wonderful mixture of appreciation and anecdote" - Financial Times, Books of the Year

"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 " - Guardian

"Gorgeous flows of recollection" - Literary Review

"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" - Telegraph

"This is a gloriously entertaining tour through the canon in the company of perhaps the most experienced living Shakespearean actor; reading it feels like a chat with an old friend." - Observer

"The book is pure enchantment. It swirls and dances with brilliance and mischief, so forget traditional Shakespearean criticism and analysis. Sack the Eng. Lit. professors. As never before, this book brings the subject to wild, authentic life." - Daily Mail

"A wonderful ode to the bard" - I

"Riveting, revealing and witty" - Gazette and Herald