Judi Dench Dench commented that the project launched her Hollywood career and joked that "it was thanks to Harvey, whose name I have had tattooed on my bum". Dench's other film of 1997 was Roger Spottiswoode's "Tomorrow Never Dies", her second film in the "James Bond" series. The same year, Dench reteamed with director John Madden to film "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), a romantic comedy-drama that depicts a love affair involving playwright William Shakespeare, played by Joseph Fiennes, while he was writing the play "Romeo and Juliet". On her performance as Queen Elizabeth I, "The New York Times" commented that "Dench's shrewd,
Renaissance Theatre Company Renaissance received no public funding, it partnered in 1988 with John Adams and the Birmingham Rep on a touring season of plays launched as "Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road", with three classical actors making their directing debuts: Judi Dench with "Much Ado About Nothing"; Geraldine McEwan with "As You Like It"; and Derek Jacobi with Hamlet, which featured Branagh in the title role. After a UK tour and an August stop-over at Elsinore, the three productions were seen in a London repertoire season at the Phoenix Theatre. In 1989, Judi Dench again worked as director for the Renaissance revival of