The dame who snatched the Oscar for best supporting role for playing Queen Elizabeth with only 8 minutes of screen time writes in depth about her non stop acting roles during her expansive career. And how she started on stage, then moved on to television and finally onto film. She admits to having more comfort with the discipline and routine of live theatre which is where she learnt her trade. 

When she was studying acting at Central School of Speech and Drama she had a problem with projection and that was a real challenge for her but working with amazing actors has enabled her to be cured of that vocal shortcoming. 

Today, Dench believes that a lot of young actors have no intention of going on the stage. What they want is to make a hit TV show or a film and have that kind of life. She believes those who have had a theatre training are very lucky because the biggest projection actors have got to do is in theatre, then comes TV and then comes film. 

If you want to shrug your shoulders on a film you can just think it and it would be picked up in your eyes. But actors who have only ever done TV or film can get caught out by not projecting enough if they come to do a play in the theatre. 

Dench finds that she can learn so much more from people who are much younger than her whether it’s actors or directors although she does think it’s a pity that so many of them don’t know  who Peggy Ashcroft or Ralph Richardson are. She feels it is so important that we keep the memories of our predecessors alive and know about the works of some of these great stage actors including David Garrick, Sarah Siddons, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, Alex Guinness and Sid Field. 

We owe it to them that acting still exists and should be curious about their profession and what we have come from. Keeping the flame alight.