Judi dench, welcome to this cultural life. Thank you, john. You were born in 193a and grew up in york. Set the scene for us. What was family life like . My father was a doctor. And i had two brothers, older than me. And of course, at that time, no television, nothing like that. So we all had bikes and we made our own entertainment. My second brother, jeff, only ever wanted to be an actor. My oldest brother wanted to be a doctor, like dad, and i wanted to be a designer, scenic designer. Thats what i set out to be. From a young age . From quite a young age, because we were taken to the theatre a lot, you know, we were taken to. I remember once going to see a cuckoo in the nest, and i laughed so. This couple was in bed and suddenly a chest at the end of the bed opened and a man stood up in vest and pants. And i was sick. I laughed so much, i was sick. My mother had to take me home. But the wonderful thing is that i was taken back a couple of nights later to see what happened. They laugh m
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so there could be a cave or a throne or anything else. so nobody had to come in with anything, and the action was completely continuous. and that s when something about designing shut down in me. ijust remember looking at this set and thinking, never in my wildest dreams would i be able to think of something like that. and you thought from that moment that acting, rather than designing, that s the road you wanted to take? well, i don t suppose i thought it as consciously as that. i don t suppose it was an overnight thing. i suppose it was a gradual thing. i thought, well, i ll try and get to the central school, likejeff. and i did. and so your father, medical man, interested in the theatre. were your parents involved in am dram as well? yes, they were. the settlement players, they were part of. my ma used to make costumes and things. they decided to resurrect the miracle plays, the mystery plays in york. yes. so we were cast. can t believe it! ..as angels.
long time ago, when my brother peter played duncan at st peter s school. macbeth. and i was taken. yeah. and he walked in and said, what bloody man is that? and i thought, this is for me, this is absolutely for me. and then we went to stratford, when i was still bent on being a designer, and saw michael redgrave as lear. and it was the most incredible set, which was a great, huge, flat circle. and in the middle was a pile of stones which turned, so there could be a cave or a throne or anything else. so nobody had to come in with anything, and the action was completely continuous. and that s when something about designing shut down in me. ijust remember looking at this set and thinking, never in my wildest dreams would i be able to think of something like that. and you thought from that moment that acting, rather than designing, that s the road you wanted to take? well, i don t suppose i thought it as consciously as that. i don t suppose it was