Mark Rylance On Judi Dench & Maggie Smith Influence In TWELFTH NIGHT
By: Pat Cerasaro Dec. 30, 2013
Tony Award-winning actor and noted Shakespearean Mark Rylance discusses his infatuation with another leading lady of the Bard, Judi Dench, and how she has unknowingly played a role in shaping his gender-bending performance in the current Broadway revival of Shakespeare's celebrated comedy TWELFTH NIGHT.
"I like to listen to Judi Dench speaking before I play Olivia," Rylance reveals.
Yet, the acting icon is not alone in Rylance's lexicon of legends - world-famous and familial.
"I sometimes think of Maggie Smith and her delivery. I'll notice my mother's behavior in me as Olivia," Rylance observes.
Additionally, commenting upon playing not only a female character in TWELFTH NIGHT but the title character himself in RICHARD III as well since the productions currently play concurrently in repertory, Rylance asserts, "It is hard work, but if you're lucky enough to play Hamlet 400 times, as I was, or Rooster Byron 400 times... those are a little bit more strenuous," he says of his Tony-winning work in JERUSALEM in 2010 and his previous essaying of one of Shakespeare's finest theatrical creations.
Check out the original article on the matter here.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride
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