Review of "Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent" by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea

This book started as a series of interviews between actor/director Brendan O'Hea and Dame Judi Dench, about the many Shakespeare parts Dench has played. O'Hea's plan was to donate the tapes to the archives department at Shakespeare's Globe.

Brendan O'Hea and Dame Judi Dench

O'Hea's chats with Dench were so entertaining that he decided to condense them into a book. I had access to both the written book and the audiobook (which is delightful)!

Dame Judi Dench, born in 1934, is considered one of Britain's greatest actresses. Dench's talent and versatility led to appearances on stage, in films, and on television, but she's most revered for her roles in Shakespeare's plays.


Dame Judi Dench

The plays discussed, and Judi's roles, are: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania, Hermia, First Fairy); Twelfth Night (Viola, Maria); The Merchant of Venice (Portia); Hamlet (Ophelia, Gertrude); Coriolanus (Volumnia); As You Like It (Phebe); Measure For Measure (Isabella); Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice); King Lear (Regan, Cordelia, Goneril); The Comedy of Errors (Adriana); Richard II (Queen Isabel); Antony and Cleopatra (Cleopatra); Cymbeline (Imogen); All's Well That Ends Well (Countess of Roussillon); Henry V (Katherine, Hostess); The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Quickly, Anne Page); Richard III (Duchess of York); The Winter's Tale (Hermione, Perdita, Paulina, Time); and Romeo and Juliet (Juliet). Quite a resume!!


Judi Dench (as Volumnia) and Kenneth Branagh (as Coriolanus) in Shakespeare's Coriolanus


Judi Dench (as Cleopatra) and Anthony Hopkins (as Mark Antony) in Shakespeare's Cleopatra


Judi Dench (as Mistress Quickly) in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor

Interspersed with discussions about specific plays are miscellaneous chapters, including: Stratford-Upon-Avon; Play; Company; Fireside Ramblings; Rose Theatre; Failure; Rehearsal; Critics; Shakespeare's Language; Audience; Changing Times; Future of Shakespeare; and Advice. In addition the audiobook concludes with a fun 'off the cuff' talk between O'Hea and Dench.


Dame Judi Dench chatting with Brendan O'Hea

Though I've seen some Shakespeare productions, I'll admit I looked up synopses of the plays being discussed, to familiarize myself with the plots and characters. Thus the book was a twofer for me - Judi Dench's memoir and a bit of a primer on Shakespeare.

Prompted by O'Hea, Dench discusses the plays' plots, language, staging, costumes, cast, directors, relevance, mishaps, and more, and Judi is knowledgeable, fun, introspective, philosophical, practical, honest....all kinds of good things.

Dench also gives us a glimpse of her personal life, with anecdotes about her parents; her husband Michael (Mikey) Williams, her daughter Finty, and people she's met and worked with during her long career.

I'll give examples of the chitchat, to provide a feel for the book.

Macbeth

Speaking about Lady Macbeth, Dench opines: "Macbeth needs a push, and with the help of the spirits his wife is the one to do it. She is the spur that pricks him on....She's not interested [in being the Queen]....She does it for him....towards what she believes to be his due."


Judi Dench (as Lady Macbeth) and Ian McKellan (as Macbeth) in Shakespeare's Macbeth

On a light note, thinking about doing the play in Africa, and acting outside in the heat, Judi recalls, "I remember seeing vultures sitting in the trees and I said to the actors, 'For God's sake, twitch when you're dead, they're waiting to eat us."

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Asked about Stratford-Upon-Avon, Dench observes, "In all the memories I have, that's where my heart is. It's where I feel centered. So much of what Shakespeare talks about in his plays can be referenced to the countryside around Stratford....We (Judi and her husband Michael) lived there for ten years and Fint (Judi's daughter Finty) grew up there. And Michael is buried in the grounds of the little church."


Stratford-Upon-Avon


Judi Dench, her husband Michael, and their daughter Finty

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Thinking about the play, Dench says, "Titania and Oberon are so randy. They're at it like knives. You never see that in productions, do you? All the fairies should be humping each other throughout." LOL


Judi Dench (as Titania) in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream


Fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Company

Dench loves being in a production company. Speaking about the Old Vic, Judi says, "It was thrilling being able to have a walk-on part in one production, play a character in another, understudy in something else. I loved being a cog in this great big community."


Judi Dench (as Ophelia) and John Neville (as Hamlet) in Shakespeare's Hamlet (at the Old Vic)


The Royal Shakespeare Company

Much Ado About Nothing

Talking about the Bard, Dench observes "There's something for everybody in Shakespeare. Everything you have felt or are yet to feel is all there in his plays: oppression, ambition, loneliness, remorse, [jealousy, love] everything."

For instance, in Much Ado About Nothing, the character Beatrice doesn't want to get married. Dench observes, "She's down on her knees every night praying it'll never happen. Who needs a man? Who wants to be accountable to a 'clod of wayward marl'? After the passion of the wooing and the solemnity of the wedding, it's all downhill. She has such a bleak view of matrimony."


Judi Dench (as Beatrice) and John Barton (as Benedick) in  Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

King Lear

Dench has been in King Lear three times, at the Old Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and on the radio. She remembers, "John Gielgud was Lear in the radio version and we were recording it to celebrate his ninetieth birthday." When asked if Gielgud was good as King Lear, Judi says, "I've no idea. With radio, you only ever tend to record your own scenes....and I never heard the full production when it was aired. But I adored him so much, he could have played Bo Peep and I would have thought it was superlative."


John Gielgud (as King Lear) in  Shakespeare's King Lear


Judi Dench (as Regan) in  Shakespeare's King Lear

The Comedy of Errors

A scene in this play reminds Dench of an incident in her own life. She observes, "[My husband] Mikey and I had some friends over for lunch at our house. He took a few of them down the pub for a drink, while the rest of us stayed home and cooked. I told Mikey to be back by two and when they didn't turn up on time we locked the doors and started eating. They did eventually appear....and we took absolutely no notice. They had to get a ladder and climb in through the bedroom window."


Judi Dench and her husband Michael Williams

Critics

Talking about critics, Dench notes, "Caryl Brahms never liked anything I did. She was vitriolic, and clearly allergic to me....[she] always had the knife in me - never once gave me a good notice."


Caryl Brahms

Judi goes on, "In the early days I used to read every word of my reviews, but I don't have any truck with them any more....If you read something negative, you start worrying and get self-conscious...And a positive review can bring its own problems....The audience comes with very high expectations and you're under pressure to live up to them."

Richard III

In Richard III, Dench plays Richard's mother, the Duchess of York. Asked how she got the part, Judi says, "I was at the Hay Festival being interviewed by Richard Eyre. Ben Cumberbatch was sitting in the front row and when it came to the audience asking questions, he put up his hand and said, 'Will you play my mother in Richard III?' And I said, 'Oh yeah, I expect so.'....so the way to get me to do something is to shout it out in front of a big crowd!"


Judi Dench being interviewed by Richard Eyre


Benedict Cumberbatch (as Richard III) and Judi Dench (as the Duchess of York) in Shakespeare's Richard III

In the play, Richard murders his way to the throne, and Dench (as his mother) demonstrates her horror in the following speech:

O ill-dispersing wind of misery.

O my accursed womb, the bed of death.

A cockatrice hast though hatched to the world,

Whose unavoided eye is murderous.

Dench observes, "You don't half tell a story in that speech. It's four lines of enormous information - and extreme alarm."


Judi Dench (as the Duchess of York) in  Shakespeare's Richard III

Future of Shakespeare

Dench believes Shakespeare will always be relevant. She says "Shakespeare's words will continue to exist because he's part of our everyday language. How often do we unwittingly quote him?" 'As good luck would have it; what's done is done; fair play; eaten me out of house and home', and more.

Judi hopes people will still be performing Shakespeare's plays in fifty years. She says, "What we need are teachers, directors, and actors to ignite the pilot light....Shakespeare is an international language, a beacon for humanity, and a bridge across cultures."


Congolese Macbeth


Chinese production of King Lear

Hamlet Ballet in Russia

*****

I learned a good bit about Shakespeare's plays, as well as Judi Dench's career, from this book. You don't need to be a Shakespeare expert, or even a Shakespeare fan to enjoy the narrative because O'Hea and Dench are interesting and fun in and of themselves. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Brendan O'Hea, Judi Dench, and St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for copies of the book.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review of "Once We Were Home: A Historical Novel" by Jennifer Rosner

Leading up to and during World War II, some Jewish children in Europe were hidden with Christian families, or in convents, or in monasteries, or in churches, etc., to protect the youngsters from the Nazis.

The idea was for Jewish survivors to retrieve the children after the war. Author Jennifer Rosner, who did extensive research on the subject, and interviewed many people, addresses this topic in her fiction book 'Once We Were Home.'

I heard Rosner speak about her novel, and she emphasized the difficult situations that sometimes arose from secreting Jewish children (which only saved a tiny percentage of Jewish kids, by the way). Some 'foster parents' came to love the children as their own and vice versa; some church organizations baptized the children and refused to return them; some Jewish kids came to think of themselves as Christian; etc.

For the decimated Jewish population, getting these children back after the war was of paramount importance. Jewish survivors would use bribes, payoffs, lawsuits, or even kidnapping to bring the kids home. Some children were reunited with European families, and some were taken to Israel, to live on kibbutzim.



Rosner, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy, observes there wasn't always a 'right thing to do,' as shown in this novel.

*****

There are several 'displaced' characters in 'Once We Were Home.'

Roger: During World War II, Roger is a smart, inquisitive French schoolboy living in the Convent Sainte Marie de Sion. Roger likes to write stories; enjoys sharing jokes and riddles with his best friend Henri; goes to prayer services morning and evening; attends the convent school; and has a favorite teacher, Sister Brigitte, who encourages Roger to ask questions.



Roger's sponsor, a woman named Madame Mercier, tells Roger his Jewish parents took the 'wrong road' and arranges for the boy to be baptized. Roger doesn't comprehend what the 'wrong road' is and wonders about his Jewish family.

When World War II is over, Roger's aunt wants him back. The church, determined to save Roger's soul, sends him on the run with a monk, who takes Roger over the snowy mountains (on foot) to Spain. Meanwhile, Roger's aunt petitions the church and the courts again and again and again.



*****

Mira and Daniel: Near the middle of World War II, Mira Kowalski, her little brother Daniel, and their parents live in a Jewish ghetto in Poland.



One morning the children's mother bundles them up and brings them to the farmhouse of childless Christian acquaintances, the Dąbrowskis.



The kids are told to call the lady of the house Ciocia (Aunt) Agata and the man of the house Wujek (Uncle) Jósef. The children are also informed they'll now be called Anastazja and Oskar. The youngsters are understandably bereft and bewildered, not understanding what's happening.

The Dąbrowskis spread the word that they're looking after a niece and nephew, and Oskar is told never to go swimming with the local boys or let them see him in the privy (since he's circumcised). In time Anastazja and Oskar become an integral part of the Dąbrowski household, and come to love Agata and Oskar.

The children's parents perish during the war, and when the allies win, Jewish agents come to take the kids to Israel. Neither the Dąbrowskis or the children are up for this plan.

*****

Renata: We first meet Renata in 1968, when she's a British graduate student on an archaeological dig in Israel.



Renata's mother recently died, and Renata is in deep mourning. As Renata works on the dig, she thinks back to her childhood during World War II, when she lived in Germany with her mom - a talented baker and pastry decorator. Renata's mother was loving, but secretive and anxious.



After the war, Renata and her mother moved to Britain, and Renata was told never to talk about Germany or her childhood. Renata's mom seems to be concealing some huge secret, and as the story unfolds, we find this has something to do with Hitler’s Lebensborn program, where attractive blonde Polish babies were snatched and 'aryanized' in German homes.

*****

We follow Roger, Anastazja, and Oskar over the years, until their story lines - and Renata's - converge in Israel. By now all the characters are adults and pursuing their lives and career paths. Everyone learns things about themselves over time, and for some, shocking secrets come to light.



The book is compelling and tells a revealing tale about this period of history.

I prefer the first part of the book, because the latter sections have a kind of romantic 'fairy tale vibe' I don't connect with. Regardless, this is a very good book, highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History" by Karen Valby

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Many people think Misty Copeland, who became a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre in 2015, was American's first Black ballerina. This is incorrect. In 1969, African American danseur Arthur Mitchell founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), a company that featured Black ballet dancers.

Misty Copeland


Arthur Mitchell

For many years, it was 'common knowledge' that Black dancers belonged in modern dance, not classical ballet. Mitchell explains, "I said to hell with that; I wasn't raised speaking Swahili or doing native dances. Why not classical ballet?" So Mitchell became a danseur in George Balanchine's New York City Ballet, and later founded DTH.


Arthur Mitchell


Arthur Mitchell instructing a ballerina


Dance Theatre of Harlem

DTH's five pioneer ballerinas were well known in their time, but subsequently faded from memory. Author Karen Valby, who's White, thought it was time to restore these women - whom she calls the Swans of Harlem - to their place in history. In an interview, Valby said, "Fundamentally, I consider this book a gift to my [adopted] daughters — young Black girls who are dancers themselves. They deserve to know about the Swans, and to feel surrounded by the power of example. Writing in this case felt like an act of mothering.”



DTH's first group of ballerinas were Lydia Abarca, Gayle McKinney-Griffith, Sheila Rohan, Karlya Shelton and Marcia Sells, all of whom shared a calling to the classical stage. Valby writes about the ballerinas' lives and careers, then describes how, during the Covid pandemic, the women formed the '152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy Council.' Valby writes, "They had all been knocked off balance by the anointing of Misty Copeland, by what felt like a deliberate scrubbing of their groundbreaking history." The (now golden age) dancers would gather online once a week to "throw out an anchor to one another from their scattered perches across the country." This provides a platform for discussing the women's lives after they left DTH, and their stories are inspiring and touching.





I'll say a few words about each pioneering Black ballerina, to introduce these talented women. (There's much much more in the book, of course.)

Lydia Abarca: Abarca, who grew up in a working class family in Harlem, loved to dance. Lydia dreamed of being a celebrity, with limousines, red carpets, and enough money to buy her parents a house. Lydia's passion drew her to Mitchell's studio, where her talent soon made her a star. As for Lydia's dream, Valby notes, "For a flash of time, a decade of her youth, [Abarca] had a taste of all that, as Mitchell's muse and Dance Theatre of Harlem's first prima ballerina.


Lydia Abarca and danseur Paul Russell

Gayle McKinney-Griffith: McKinney-Griffith was raised in Connecticut, and as a young girl, learned ballet from former Bolshoi dancers. Later, at Julliard, Gayle's instructors pointed her toward modern dance, even though Gayle was a ballerina. Gayle persisted, however, and became the only Black dancer in Juilliard's ballet classes. Gayle became frustrated at Julliard, and when she heard Arthur Mitchell was auditioning for an all-Black ballet company, Gayle tried out.....and the rest is history.


Gayle McKinney-Griffith

Sheila Rohan: Rohan was raised in Staten Island, had asthma, and contracted polio as a child. Sheila's doctor prescribed exercise to strengthen her polio ravaged body, and Sheila was enrolled in tap and ballet classes - where her talent shone. By the time Sheila joined DTH, she was a 28-year-old wife and mother, which made things difficult. However, Sheila was determined, and she recalls, "You know how they talk about planting seeds? Arthur Mitchell planted a seed in me, and [the other ballerinas] helped to nurture that seed and make it grow."


Sheila Rohan

Karlya Shelton: Shelton's family lived in Denver, Colorado and Karlya took ballet lessons in the local dance shop. When Karlya was seventeen, she saw a picture of Lydia Abarca on the cover of 'Dance Magazine' and was amazed to see the visage of a Black dancer and a story about DTH. Karlya's parents helped her move to New York City, where she joined DTH, and in time (after many trials and tribulations and a strict diet) Mitchell made Karlya a full company member.


Lydia Abarca on the cover of Dance Magazine


Karlya Shelton

Marcia Sells: Sells was raised in Cincinnati, where she started ballet classes at the age of four. When Marcia was ten, DTH performed in her home town, and Marcia was amazed to see a Black ballerina perform. Marcia would imagine herself dancing in productions like the 'Sugar Plum Fairy' and Balanchine's 'Serenade' and 'Concerto Barocco' and she "daydreamed about greeting her fans backstage, her arms heavy with roses." When Marcia met Mitchell - and he examined her feet - Mitchell insisted the girl move to New York City, live with a local family, and train at DTH. Young Marcia didn't move right away, but eventually joined Mitchell's company.


Marcia Sells as a young dancer and as Harvard's Law Dean

Arthur Mitchell was a perfectionist and a VERY hard taskmaster. Mitchell was relentless about practice; insisted the ballerinas be rail thin; had rules about ALWAYS looking perfect in public; and so on. Mitchell would rage and shout if he was confronted (even a drop), and the troupe had to walk on eggshells around him. Still, Mitchell was an amazing talent who gave unprecedented opportunities to people of color.



In a sad section, Valby writes about the horrible toll of AIDS on the ballet world. Take out your tissues for these chapters.

At it's height, DTH toured Europe and America; performed for presidents, royalty, and celebrities; and was feted and wined and dined. It's hard to imagine how the ground-breaking DTH dancers were forgotten by history. Valby's book should help right that wrong.

Aficionados of ballet will enjoy all the talk about pirouettes, relevés, pas de deux, pas de trois, arabesques, échappés, etc; and mentions of ballets such as 'Afternoon of a Faun', 'Swan Lake', 'Holberg Suite', and more. I'd like to emphasize, though, that one needn't be knowledgeable about ballet to enjoy the book, which is excellent. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Karen Valby, and Pantheon for a copy of the book.

Rating: 5 stars