If it wasn’t the case before, I’m now fully convinced that if you looked up the definition of brilliant in the dictionary, there would simply be a photo of Dame Judi Dench.

The above pic is from our Summer 2010 interview with Dame Judi Dench for the PBS special, Behind the Britcom: From Script to Screen. She was absolutely the most delightful person on the planet, bar none. What struck us the most was her admitting that what terrified her the most was the time right before going onstage to record every episode of As Time Goes By.

Coming from someone that is considered one of Britain’s greatest actors, Dame Judi Dench knows a just a bit about Shakespeare also. From her first professional stage appearance in 1957 as Ophelia in Hamlet at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre to her 2024 book, “Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent” and every point in-between, it’s unfathomable to think that taping As Time Goes By would be more terrifying than, say, being onstage at the National Theatre playing Cleopatra opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins in “Anthony and Cleopatra”.

That said, with a little help from The Official William Shakespeare Facebook page and a few other sources on the internet, it’s fitting that anyone thinking of entering the world of acting, be it theatre, small or big screen, should commit to memory Dame Judi Dench’s Rules when acting Shakespeare …

• Remember, it’s a play, not reality. Well said – too many actors get lost in the moment at the expense their connection to the other actors
• Obey the meter. If you break the rhythm of the meter, you are betraying the natural speech patterns of human speech and no matter how hard you try to sound ‘natural’, it will sound “off” to the audience. Not to mention, you will often lose your character’s emotional life if you betray the psychological speech patterns of the character.
• Start scenes. Start your scene with energy and purpose! Before entering, know what you want, how to potentially get it, and what to do when you get it.
• Earn a pause. Too often, actors will pause their speech for thought/emotion, putting “air” into the words that is not necessarily needed. Speech in Shakespeare’s plays comes at the speed of thought, so there’s often no need to pause unless you earn it.
• Don’t separate. This one is subject to interpretation, but it may mean don’t get too bogged down in the stress/unstress of iambic pentameter. In other words, don’t get too ‘sing-songy’.
• Drive through the speech. The energy that is needed is in the lines. Use the words to drive you to the next thought, and then the next, to the conclusion. No need to contemplate any speech’s meaning and lost the energy when it’s as clear to the character as he or she works through it. The energy is in the words. Use the text to keep the energy of the character. This doesn’t mean go FAST – this just means that you should speak the thoughts the character has, not before or after them.
• Antithesis pauses, up at the ends of lines. An antitheses should force an actor to pause, to draw the audience’s attention to whatever contrast the line creates.Think of it as weighing out two options — you want to make sure whoever you’re explaining it to can separate one idea from another. Shakespeare uses antithesis a lot, expecially when a character is talking directly to the audience. “Up at the end of the lines” is an admonishment not to swallow that final syllable, especially since regular iambic pentameter wants you to land on the stress.
• Economy, simplicity and negotiate with humor. Economy – don’t make your acting too complex, else you will garble the thoughts. Simplicity – don’t be all over the place. Focus your emotional intention and action. Negotiate with humor – find the humor in the text, even at its darkest point, there is always humor to be found.
• You don’t have to carry the message: the play does it for you. Again, divest yourself of the notion that you have to push too hard on the “message” or “moral” that the play communicates to the audience. Audience members don’t like when you patronize them. Allow them to find their own unique meaning.
• Trust the play and your casting. There’s nothing more anxiety inducing that feeling that the play, and your role in that performance, isn’t working on the audience. Unless someone walkt out, there’s no reason that you should feel that you need to second guess the play.

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