0:00

Welcome to Ruthie's Table for a

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production of I Heart Radio and Adam

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I's Studios. Dame

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Judy Dench is not just a

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national and international treasure,

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She's an interplanetary treasure

0:18

if there is life on Mars. They're

0:20

talking about her most recent

0:23

performance. Judy

0:26

is a woman of warmth, a woman of

0:28

wit. A friend tells a story

0:30

than when he mentioned to Judy hadn't seen

0:33

the royal family. Judy replied,

0:35

tell me when you're coming, and I'll be sure

0:38

to overact for you. After

0:40

record this conversation, Judy

0:43

is having lunch in the River Cafe. We

0:45

are planning to definitely overcook

0:48

for this woman, a friend I admire,

0:51

respect and adore.

1:00

Yeah, on

1:02

the mains, while we've got these beautiful, really

1:05

sweet grapes at the moment which passed

1:07

so well with the grouse, and there's turbot

1:10

and sea bass. Oh my wormish,

1:13

you can have everything. We have had people come

1:15

in order everything on the and

1:18

did they stay for a month or for a month? Yeah?

1:21

A month? Yeah.

1:28

I always say a recipe is half

1:30

science and have poetry, And

1:32

so we're going to skip the science and

1:35

read the poetry. How about that? Yes,

1:37

well, I would love to have read a recipe,

1:40

or even given you a recipe, but will

1:43

come to that later. But you are talking to the worst

1:45

cooking in Britain, and

1:48

I think it wasn't a sonnet

1:51

about food. But I just know

1:53

this one poem. But it's Hilaire Belloc,

1:56

and it's about Henry King, Henry

1:59

King R King. Here he goes.

2:02

The chief defect of Henry King

2:04

was chewing little bits of string. At

2:07

last he swallowed some that tied itself

2:09

in ugly knots inside. Physicians

2:12

of the utmost fame were called at once, But

2:14

when they came, they answered, as

2:17

they took their fees, there is

2:19

no cure for this disease. Henry

2:21

will very soon be dead. His

2:23

parents stood about his bed, lamenting

2:26

his untimely death. When

2:28

Henry cried with latest breath, Oh,

2:30

my friends, be warned by me that

2:33

breakfast, dinner, lunch

2:35

and tea are all the human

2:38

frame requires. With

2:40

that, the wretched child expires,

2:43

the wretched child. So

2:45

as he work of this poem, he

2:48

was quite a lectural Bellock, wasn't

2:50

he. He liked to tell everyone what to do, and children

2:53

how to be polite. It's not the sad.

2:55

He was rather grim. Might think bellock,

2:59

Well, it's it's you know,

3:01

there's a message, right, don't snack, there's

3:04

the message, or you might don't snack. What

3:10

was it like growing up? He grew up in Yorkshire,

3:12

are I did? I was born in New

3:14

York. My brothers were born in

3:16

Lancashire. My mother was from

3:19

Dublin, my father from Dorset

3:21

and who went to Dublin. And recently

3:24

in the last year I found

3:26

out that my mother's side of the family is Danish

3:28

and goes back to um

3:30

somebody who worked at the

3:32

day at elsin or in fact

3:35

Well and was there

3:37

when Shakespeare's first company

3:39

went over there. I

3:42

was brought up during the war. I was

3:45

five when the war broke out, and

3:47

we were very lucky because my part was a

3:49

doctor and he used to visit

3:52

all the farms all around York as well as

3:55

York itself, and everyone used

3:57

to say, Oh, do have a chicken,

3:59

Do have goose? Do have a duck?

4:02

We were really lucky

4:04

and that way we had we always had

4:06

food and things. And that's also

4:08

where we had sixteen cats because

4:11

there was nobody else in the neighbors. Sixteen

4:14

we did sixteen, because

4:16

nobody wanted that

4:18

they all did them or take them out,

4:21

but they all came round to our place. It

4:23

was a triumph. And who would cook the food?

4:25

Would your mother? Would you sit down to family

4:27

meals? Yes? Or how many

4:30

you have siblings? Who did? Two brothers,

4:32

two brothers older than me, but

4:34

all and we always had the house full of friends.

4:37

Meals were a great thing. I'm always

4:40

trying to say. Now, you know, do

4:42

enjoy sitting down at the table and

4:45

not looking at the phone if possible?

4:47

What was it like the meal time at your house?

4:49

Was there always a discussion and always

4:52

singing, singing, a lot

4:54

of singing. My mom playing the piano. My

4:57

father could recite the whole

4:59

of and more Darthur. My

5:02

brother Jeff, who was an actor long

5:04

before me and at Stratford, used

5:06

to know realms of Shakespeare and

5:09

it was a kind of I

5:11

think that was in the family very much before

5:14

that. People used to be able to I mean

5:17

I remember sitting on the stairs and hearing

5:19

friends who were invited

5:21

around, and somebody singing

5:23

and playing the piano, and you know, you

5:26

couldn't miss the arts. So when

5:28

you think of your early meals,

5:30

you think more of the performance. I

5:33

think only of family

5:35

meals around the table, and

5:38

it was a

5:40

a family thing

5:42

that we we you wouldn't miss

5:45

because that's when you got to actually discuss

5:48

things and talk about things. Who

5:50

would cook? Your mother? Did my mother? Or

5:53

we had a wonderful person called Sissy. What

5:55

did she cook? Because Yorkshire has a

5:58

very definite regional food

6:01

when it was when it was course, it was mostly

6:03

what you could afford to get. And I

6:05

remember there was a market in New Yorker,

6:07

wonderable market, and you'd go around and people

6:09

would come in and they'd have a chicken in a basket,

6:12

you know, all prepared

6:14

for cooking and things. And I mean

6:16

I could get the rations for five people

6:19

when I was six. I could easily

6:21

go and carry the rations which

6:24

were so minimal for everybody. But I

6:27

never remember Rucie

6:29

being hungry or or

6:31

thinking, gosh, you know, I wish there was more

6:33

of this. I don't we read

6:37

really lucky. And your father didn't

6:39

go away. He was he was

6:41

away in the First World War. He was he

6:43

was a hero. He got the

6:46

military crossing bar, he got do

6:48

you know where he was? He was in Arras

6:52

And then because of a knee injury that

6:54

he'd got he

6:56

was sent home to

6:59

have and that way he

7:02

got he was not at Passiondale mhm.

7:05

It was just fantastically

7:10

well lucky is not really the word.

7:13

And so for your father to have been in the war and then

7:15

come home must have it.

7:19

It was an extraorbinary thing. And

7:21

I knew, I knew about his work

7:23

up, but I didn't know it was quite so illustrious.

7:27

Switch And do you think

7:29

that? Do you think your parents wanted to

7:32

be actors or to be singers

7:35

or part of their nature?

7:37

No, my father they there was

7:40

an amateur group in

7:42

New York called the Settlement Players. My

7:44

power and mom were part of that. Mommy

7:46

never want to do it, but she was wonderful seamstress

7:49

and could make costumes and things like that. And

7:51

then when it came to the mystery plays, the

7:54

miracle plays, when they were done for the

7:56

first time, Daddy

7:58

played and asked the High Priest and

8:00

we were a lot of us

8:03

were auditioned by Martin

8:05

Brown. We were to quake

8:07

aboard in school in New York, and we were,

8:10

we made angels, we were we

8:13

had a wonderful time, wonderful time.

8:15

You remember the first auditions that would have been at

8:17

what age was your first It wasn't really an audition.

8:20

They just came and said you, you, you,

8:23

you and you and when when

8:25

did you know that that's what

8:27

you wanted to But I wanted to do oh not

8:29

ages R not for

8:32

not until fifty

8:37

three, because I wanted to be a designer, staged

8:39

stage designer. But

8:42

I was taking to Stratford by

8:44

my parents and saw Michael Redgrave in

8:46

Leah and I can remember seeing

8:49

this set which

8:52

completely changed

8:55

my idea. During

8:57

the holidays at school, I'd assisted Void,

9:00

the designer your rep, painting

9:03

sets for him, and I

9:05

only really understood plays

9:08

by three acts.

9:10

You know, you designed one act and then the curtain

9:12

would come down. You change a few things and we'll

9:14

go up. But but for Lear, for

9:17

the Stratford it was

9:19

the most phenomenal set that

9:23

never changed. It was a huge flat

9:25

disc that revolved

9:28

with a rock in the middle of it

9:30

was the throne or the cave or nothing

9:32

had to be changed, hopefully, it was kind

9:34

of continuous. And that right

9:38

that I thought, no, good bye yourk art school,

9:40

I'm going to try for Central. When

9:42

you went on these theatrical

9:45

journeys, with your parents, you went to Stratford,

9:48

you went to the theater in New York. Would

9:50

you go to a restaurant before or after?

9:53

Was that part of the evening? Was that part of the

9:55

experience? Each was partly,

9:58

but probably we were always

10:00

in a rush, was

10:02

in a rush to get things on time. But

10:06

there was a restaurant that

10:08

we used to that used to be the most

10:11

enormous treat to go

10:13

to outside York. And we

10:16

used to cycle there. This

10:19

would be post war. This would be that

10:21

was post war. Yes, but we all

10:23

had bikes, so we that

10:26

was the greatest. Was it a treat go

10:29

to a restaurant? Simply wonderful? It

10:32

was called the by do We and

10:36

it was wonderful. It was wonderful food.

10:39

I mean not sophisticated in any way,

10:42

not in any way. And

10:45

so what are the dishes of your

10:47

childhood that you remember that? Did you have Yorkshire

10:49

putting putting hair?

10:52

I change something we used

10:54

to have at school. I

10:57

used to try and stay away on a Tuesday

11:00

because they used to do Yorkshire pudding

11:02

with treacle the trickle. Now

11:04

even now that's

11:06

that was really so it was a dessert

11:08

or they served the treacle Yorkshire pudding

11:10

with people. It's so disgusting.

11:16

But it was always on a Tuesday. And

11:18

I used to feign illness on a Tuesday

11:21

and gil on about the third or fourth Tuesday.

11:24

My mar said, this is something about

11:26

school. She said, this is not to do

11:28

with illness. And it was a Yorkshire

11:30

pudding with a treat. That's at

11:33

school. That was at my prep

11:35

school. But that's

11:37

food was important to you. Food matter. It

11:40

didn't matter because of course

11:42

during the war, of course, it was just something

11:45

to sustain you. And as I say, because

11:48

of my path visiting

11:51

right around in the country, we

11:53

were just so lucky that we had

11:56

enough to eat, but so many

11:58

people didn't. I

12:00

often think that when people are

12:02

very critical of

12:04

food in Britain in the

12:07

fifties or even the sixties, Britain

12:09

had come out of a war, they came out of rationing,

12:12

they came out of kitchen gardens where

12:14

people didn't have food. And

12:16

to go from that too,

12:19

you know, grand cuisine or two cooking.

12:21

It seems so unfair to criticize

12:24

a nation that had suffered food

12:26

wise, to being critical of

12:29

you know, the way they cooked, you know, So

12:31

I feel it must have been very

12:33

tough because it was It was just a

12:35

question of giving you something

12:38

that filled you. Yeah. Yeah,

12:40

But also I mean I love the idea of your mother cooking

12:43

a goose, or cooking duck, or cooking

12:46

the food that wasting. Were the vegetables

12:49

grew the vegetables in the garden

12:52

and next door it was the most

12:54

wonderful pear tree. And

12:56

my brother and I Jeff, the

12:59

younger of my you brothers, used to get

13:01

a rake and rake the

13:03

pears off the streets into the garden.

13:07

It was quite a lot of paris. What would you do? Illegal?

13:10

P What would you I was illegal? Was it? Because

13:12

it wasn't your tree? Wasn't your tree?

13:15

Okay? There? What would you remember?

13:17

What your mother would cook with the pears, which is still

13:19

them? What would you have? I think she would, yes,

13:21

I think she would. Student all we just did them. You

13:24

know, delicious fruit pears, aren't

13:26

they? Do you still like them? I like pears

13:28

quite that pears. Yeah, I've

13:31

got picked a few in the garden actually recently.

13:34

What's your garden like? Did you have a garden?

13:38

Yes? I go trees, mostly trees.

13:42

There are lots of different trees, but

13:45

we have some apples and

13:47

one of them is a rustic which

13:49

is very nice. And and we

13:52

have, as I say, these pear trees. We

13:54

had a wonderful green gauge tree, but it came down

13:56

in a storm Yengauge

13:59

is very very British green cages. So

14:13

doing the menus well, as

14:15

I had a blank sheet of paper which came in the

14:17

morning, it's badther Like your house, you go in the fridge,

14:20

if you see what's there, you see what's

14:22

been ordered, you've sort of also,

14:24

you know, we're always thinking about what I

14:26

always think, what would I want to for lunch today?

14:31

You're not coming to my house, and I

14:34

bet you are. I

14:37

was so excited to make this beautiful clam

14:40

Taggarini, which I know Ruthie is is one

14:42

of Ruthie's favorite pastors, where

14:44

we cook the wong lee in advance

14:47

with garlic and parsi stalks

14:49

in chili, and then we pick all the clams

14:52

out of their shells and reduced the

14:54

white wine and the olive oil and the

14:57

butter, and then we toss that through fresh

14:59

hand Taggarini, which is one of my favorite things

15:01

that I've ever hade

15:05

um. And we've also got this amazing slow

15:07

cooked pheasant and partridge sauce,

15:10

which is a ragou that we make with lots

15:12

of different wild birds at this time of

15:14

year, and we put chestnuts and mince

15:16

pan chattering and that's really wonderful.

15:19

Now we're really talking. We

15:26

do write our menu every

15:28

day. It makes it special

15:30

and exciting, which is what a restaurant

15:33

should be and isn't very much. When

15:38

you left this Mother's wonderful

15:41

family of theater

15:44

and cooking goose and sitting

15:47

around the table and singing songs

15:49

and having friends over, it

15:51

sounds so warm and so

15:54

inclusive. What was it like when

15:56

you actually then came to Lendon and food wise

15:58

where you on a budget? Did you have

16:00

to cook it out? What?

16:02

What did you never? Never?

16:08

I have to tell you a story

16:11

when I was awarded

16:13

the O B E. And my agent

16:16

at the time had been in Central with me, Julian

16:18

Belfridge. He came down to lunch

16:22

and I gave him lamb cutlets. I

16:25

made an enormous effort. He finished

16:27

them and whatever I gave him I can't remember

16:30

m hm for a dessert. And

16:33

he sat back and he said, well, I'll tell

16:35

you something, Judy. He said, you

16:37

didn't get the for cooking nothing,

16:43

nothing like having is supported. It's

16:45

good to be told, isn't it. It's good There

16:50

wasn't so what did you eat? And there

16:52

you are going to when we were old that

16:55

when we got well, when we got to central,

16:57

Oh, it was it was glorious. We used

16:59

to go two

17:02

it was somewhere in Kensington High Street.

17:06

But we used to also go to a

17:08

restaurant called a Cappanina in Soho

17:13

and that was the greatest treat.

17:15

So that was Italian food. That was

17:17

Italian field. That was absolutely and it was

17:19

affordable. You could do so there on a student

17:22

budget just about just about.

17:24

But it was nice to be taken there, I must

17:27

that was an enormous treat. Do you remember kind

17:29

of multicultural restaurants? You remember Indian

17:32

because a lot of you know, the cheapest food,

17:34

certainly when I came in the sixties was Greek,

17:37

Indian, Chinese.

17:40

I mean, that was a huge treat to be able

17:42

to eat, you know, to eat

17:45

Chinese and

17:48

as always say Italian and

17:50

it's a real luxury. And

17:52

suddenly to be able to go to go,

17:55

will be taken to somewhere and you

17:57

have the luxury really the choice

18:00

of things to have to eat. And you

18:02

know, I'll never check that for granted,

18:04

I don't think were you ever hungry

18:06

as a student? Did you were their days?

18:11

Yeah, I don't ever remember that. I probably

18:13

had a grant to do the days when they know

18:15

I didn't have a grant. I

18:18

lived in QA Queen Alexandra's

18:20

house, which is right by the Aubert or where

18:22

Central was, and so

18:26

all that was I don't know how my father they

18:29

did. They did, that's good.

18:32

Yeah, so we were lucky, yeah,

18:35

and sou Then he started getting roles

18:37

at the National Theater

18:40

by the old VIC. I went straight

18:42

to the VIC. But I

18:44

mean, I've never been I've

18:48

never been a good cook

18:51

or even any cook of any kind. So

18:54

you will have tried. I have tried. I

18:56

can do toothings, but I can make

18:58

quite sauce, and I can

19:00

make gravy. Well that's pretty

19:02

good. That's all I can do. But

19:05

I used to at the VIC.

19:08

Alec McCowan was at the VIC at the same

19:10

time as me, and he used to live in the King's Road

19:13

but three minutes from my flat.

19:16

We used to have Sunday lunch together and

19:18

he used to cook and

19:20

he used to always. I mean, it

19:23

would be a very usual thing. We were in

19:24

the importance together and you

19:27

know we knew each other, frank really, but he used to send

19:29

me little note saying, would

19:31

the gravy Queen or the white sauce

19:34

Queen come on Sunday

19:36

and have lunch? And

19:38

he did all the rest. You were

19:40

at the Old Who are the directors

19:43

that you? Oh? Michael Bentell, Michael

19:45

Bentall at the VIC duges

19:48

Seal and oh

19:51

it was house in

19:53

days. I loved it. And

19:56

I despite having had

19:59

not very good note as Ophelia, which

20:01

is my first part, I remember

20:03

Michael Bentle said, he said,

20:05

we'll just get over these notices. He said

20:07

you will get better. And he said I'll

20:10

go on employing you and you can play

20:12

small parts and walk on, but

20:14

you can stay at the You know that

20:17

that was such.

20:20

I was so lucky. And

20:22

then the National and then Nottingham Playhouse

20:25

with Johnny Neville whose Hamlet.

20:27

When I went to the VIC and we

20:30

took he was we were the

20:32

very first company to ever go to West

20:34

Africa. To remember that very well. I remember

20:36

it very well. Indeed, their set plays

20:39

were Twelfth

20:42

Night, Macbeth and

20:44

arms and the man. What was the audience

20:47

young children, young people at school? And

20:50

was that? And it was at the British Council. Was actually

20:53

was the British Council? And

20:55

do you remember the culture of food there? I

20:57

do, like I do. The food was

20:59

what was the food that a kind of stew probably

21:03

are quite meat based, might well have been

21:05

which which actually is a question I also like

21:07

to ask when when you act, when

21:09

you're in a play, do you eat before?

21:12

Do you know after? You need to tell me about you You're

21:15

in a play. You might be doing a matenee

21:17

and I'm trying to think you're lucky. Do you get to

21:19

eat in the play? I know you

21:21

have a story about that, but if

21:24

you if you might not be eating in the play.

21:26

So here's a day you're you're in a play in

21:28

the West End or with the National or at the Old

21:30

Vic, and you wake up in the morning

21:33

and you know you have a matenee and you have an

21:35

evening performance. Judy

21:37

Den't what would you what would your day

21:40

be like? In terms of probably I

21:42

probably I'd

21:44

have coffee in the morning or tea. I

21:47

wouldn't eat very much. I wouldn't

21:49

eat much before I

21:52

eat just something before matterally not

21:54

much, not lunch, um,

21:57

and mostly

22:01

eat afterwards after the evening

22:03

performance or after the matinee after

22:06

the evening before. That's a very

22:08

I like going to see a friend

22:10

of friends I have for in the theater and

22:13

then going out. They always like to go out

22:15

for dinner afterwards, and there's a so giousness.

22:18

Isn't the dinner after He's wonderful

22:20

as long as you don't have a matine the next day,

22:23

you know that's tricky. Um.

22:25

But I'm in the luxury

22:28

of doing two shows and knowing you're going after

22:30

dinner afterwards. It's just glorious.

22:33

And then other nights you would just go home and crash

22:35

or did was there a kind of Probably?

22:38

I always say that there's sort of links

22:41

between the theater of a restaurant and the theater

22:43

of the theater. You know that we have a

22:45

kind of curtain up at a certain time,

22:48

and then there's the performance,

22:50

and then there's after the performance, and I

22:53

have I do an evening. I can sometimes

22:55

do a night where the curtain goes up.

22:58

I see somebody walks in and you're

23:01

ready and you know it's going to be a great

23:03

night, or you just know sometimes

23:05

even just by the way the first table sits

23:07

down, or the way perhaps one

23:09

are the chefs is coming a bit late, or they seem

23:12

a bit tired, that maybe it's not

23:14

going to go so well. And then sometimes

23:17

the one that the ones that you think won't are

23:19

the best nights, and sometimes the ones who think won't

23:21

are not the best nights. But there's a kind of both

23:24

a kind of feeling of energy after

23:27

the performance and also exhaustion.

23:29

Do you think terribly similar? It's

23:32

very very similar. And

23:35

some nights when you wanted to go well,

23:38

I don't know whether this applies to well,

23:41

it never applies to your restaurant. Does definitely

23:44

not when I've ever been here. But

23:47

you know, it's the night that it doesn't go with. Yeah,

23:50

you don't know why do you know? Sometimes

23:52

we have the same script,

23:54

you know, the same the

23:57

same actors, the same set say

24:00

okay,

24:02

and there's no explanation for why. That's

24:07

the excitement of it. In

24:25

two thousand and eight, the living room

24:27

in our home was transformed into a

24:29

magical space, not by painting

24:31

the walls a different color or hanging

24:33

a work of art, but solely do

24:36

to Dame Judy dench walking in for

24:39

two hours. She captivated a hundred

24:41

people, telling stories, singing

24:43

songs, resigning Shakespeare, all in

24:46

her unmistakable voice and beautiful

24:48

demeanor. We were all there

24:50

to raise funds for the North Wall and

24:53

the Outreach Arts Lab project,

24:55

close to Judy's heart. I

25:00

remember that when you did that performance

25:02

at our house, and it was part of

25:04

a whole series that we did of giving performances

25:07

and then we chose a charity. I think

25:09

that night you chose the Arts Project and

25:11

I did med sant demand and we

25:13

did one with Ian McKellen

25:16

and rap. But I remember, as

25:18

I said, was the magic in the room. But I also

25:20

remember that you found it kind of intimidating.

25:24

We had to I had to walk downstairs. Remember

25:26

I had to come upstairs and say okay, and then Richard

25:28

Air had to come upstairs, and I thought, I have

25:31

Judy chepstairs. Was performed in

25:33

front of thousands of people

25:35

in the nation, and

25:38

then and then you came down

25:40

and there were you know, a hundred people who are only

25:42

there to see you, maybe even fewer, maybe

25:45

eighty or sixty, and it was quite overwhelming.

25:47

And remember that I do remember walking

25:50

down the stairs and George Fenton playing

25:52

the fis remember what I say?

25:54

Okay, Well I found the invitation and

25:57

the title of the evening was These

25:59

Foolish Things. Yes, And I was wondering

26:01

if you're saying that. I think I know that

26:03

song and

26:06

the lip Street traces. These

26:11

things remind me of you,

26:14

but something else, And

26:17

I can because I remembers seeing it a

26:19

lot of books with George. Yeah.

26:22

Yeah. And we did some

26:24

singing with Richard Air. Do you remember used to sing

26:26

And one night we got a piano and

26:29

we sang around the piano and

26:31

it was so it's something. It's

26:33

one of the great things to do in life, isn't it. Well,

26:35

singing around the piano evidence

26:38

Should we do that? We should? We really

26:40

love Let's do it. I have a piano in my

26:42

house. I love it. We could have

26:44

a night and have something

26:46

delicious, organize, really lovely.

26:49

What is the play when you said you had to cook

26:51

on your head on stage? Do you

26:53

know when the paycock? Oh,

26:57

it's wonderful play, Shawn

27:00

Case play. But one word. I

27:02

had to cook for Norman rod Away.

27:05

She cooks a sausage for him

27:07

to eat and after

27:12

people who say, you know, he's eating that sausage

27:14

and it's not cooked by its simply

27:16

there isn't time for to cook that

27:19

sausage. So

27:21

you actually put a ras sausage in a frying

27:23

pan? Yes? Oh, yes, so

27:27

then we pre cooked a sausage.

27:30

Well we're cheating a bit here, Yeah,

27:34

Is that the only player? But you've actually cooked on

27:36

stage? Probably. We've

27:38

talked about theater. What about film

27:40

sets? What about barned? What they feed?

27:43

You never

27:46

sent me anywhere, kept me in a little room at the back.

27:49

And I once said to Barbara

27:52

and Michael, I said, you know you go to such

27:54

glamorous places, and all

27:56

I am, I'm in that office at the back all

27:59

the time. So the next time, the next

28:01

film we've made, I can't remember which one it

28:03

was, we were at Stowe's School and

28:06

they gave me a trailer my

28:09

makeup everything, which had Innsbruck written

28:11

across the side. And Barbara said to me, you can never

28:13

complain again. Every day

28:15

you're going to every day to inns book.

28:18

Did you get to Panama? To Panama?

28:21

I wonder which one that was? Do you know which barn

28:23

takes place in Panama? Remember? There

28:25

was I did eight of them because

28:29

specter, Yeah, I just did

28:31

a morning which was just me giving

28:33

him the message on the television

28:36

or on his machine, So

28:40

I can't remember which one it was. What

28:43

about did you ever do you ever remember being

28:45

on a set where you were eight Well,

28:47

they gave you something that you don't kind of go in a

28:50

way feel like, you know

28:52

afterwards, it's quite a different. Directors

28:54

don't like stopping for lunch. If you talk to people

28:56

have made independent movies or small

28:59

moves, theyway say stopping for lunch

29:01

stops the kind of process.

29:03

And you know it's even

29:06

in the real of any kind of rehearsal,

29:08

it's not. The treat is to know

29:11

you're going in the evening. Sometimes

29:13

something that's the greatest treat

29:16

look forward. You know. The question that I asked

29:18

everyone is the food is what

29:21

we just sustain ourselves, and food

29:23

is what we cook when we want to impress

29:26

someone or share. It's also

29:29

something we find comfort in

29:31

food. And so named

29:33

Judy Dench, what is your comfort

29:36

food? Comfort food? Mashed

29:39

potato and it's

29:42

really good, gravy, onion,

29:45

gravy and mashed potato. I quite that

29:47

gap. Thank you. It's been

29:49

a wonderful time with you, and now we'll go have

29:51

some lunch in the River Cafe.

29:58

The River Cafe Look Book is now available

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Ruthie's Table four is a production of I Heart

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