Judi Dench has played in multitudes of Shakespeare performances in the past 60 years. She has portrayed a wide variety of characters both on stage and screen. Her very first Shakespeare performance was as Titana in a production of Midsummer Night’s Dream at her New York boarding school in 1953 when she was 18. She reprised that role in a 1962 theatre, in 1968 in a stage performance recorded for film, and most recently in 2010, again on the stage.
Titania isn’t the only character from Midsummer Dench has portrayed, however. She also had roles at First Fairy (1957) and Hermia (1960), both on stage.
In this interview, Judi Dench talks about learning Shakespearean. She describes how director Peter Hall (of the 1968 performance) would tap out the rhythm of speech for the actors, and how that helped her understand his language.
Below is a list of the Shakespeare performances (stage and film), Judi Dench has been involved in as an actor or director.
Note: it was actually easier to copy the entire list and take out the non-Shakespeare performances from the list since she has been in so many!
| Year | Title | Role | |
| 1957 | Hamlet | Ophelia | |
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream | First Fairy | ||
| 1958 | Twelfth Night | Maria | |
| Henry V | Katharine | ||
| 1959 | As You Like It | Phebe | |
| 1960 | Richard II | Queen | |
| Romeo and Juliet | Juliet | ||
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Hermia | ||
| 1962 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Titiana | |
| 1963 | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | |
| Twelfth Night | Viola | ||
| 1968 | The Winter’s Tale | Hermione/Perdita | |
| 1969 | |||
| Twelfth Night | Viola | ||
| 1971 | The Merchant of Venice | Portia | |
| 1976 | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | |
| Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | ||
| The Comedy of Errors | Adriana | ||
| King Lear | Regan | ||
| 1979 | Macbeth on stage (filmed) | Lady Macbeth | |
| 1987 | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | |
| 1988 | Much Ado About Nothing | As director | |
| 1989 | Macbeth | ||
| Hamlet | Gertrude | ||
| Henry V (Film) | Mistress Quickly | ||
| 1993 | Romeo and Juliet | As director | |
| 1996 | Hamlet (Film) | Hecuba | |
| 2003 | All’s Well That Ends Well | The Countess | |
| 2010 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Titania/Elizabeth I | |
| 2015 | The Winter’s Tale | Paulina |
Words, Words, Words 
That is a wonderfully useful entry Mickaela- thank you! We can all benefit from your research…..
Michael
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Hi Mikaela,
I enjoyed reading your post, as the information was easy to process and therefore really caught my attention. You didn’t overwhelm the post with an abundant amount of information (it was just the right amount, to be informative yet not boring) about the works of Judi, and thus allowed me, as reader, to enjoy reading the information. I enjoyed the aspect of you including all of her involvement in Shakespearean plays – to me your post covered all the grounds which was asked in the question. Good job!
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Hi Mikaela,
Thanks for your great entry on Judi Dench and her Shakespeare connection. The interview you posted and how Peter Hall assisted Judi in finding the rhythm of Shakespeare was very interesting. In tutorials when acting out the scenes, this is what I struggled the most with. Perhaps in rehearsal for our performance, I will use this method! I was also unaware that Judi was also a founding member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, though in hindsight, this makes perfect sense!
What I find intriguing is that Judi played the role of Titania 48 years apart! I also love that when she played the part in 2010, it was Judi Dench as Elizabeth the 1st as Titania. Just a great way to approach the part and I feel excellent way of bringing the play to stage in a brand-new way. I can also imagine the amount of experience and knowledge Judi held when approaching a character, she last played when she was 28!
Hope you’ve enjoyed exploring Shakespeare as much as I have this semester.
Brendon
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