The best of the best

Best Cleopatra

‘The contact of her presence,’ said Plutarch of the historical Cleopatra, ‘was irresistible.’ When it comes to Shakespeare’s play, I can’t think of anyone who has exemplified that better than Judi Dench in Peter Hall’s 1987 production. This was no Hollywood icon, but a real woman: capricious, volatile, changeable and funny.

I remember how Dame Judi rushed for the door in affronted dignity on being told that Octavia, Antony’s Roman wife, was 30, but the crowning moment came with her description of the dead Antony (‘His legs bestrid the ocean’), which had the rapt intensity of someone reliving a dream. As Plutarch wrote of the real