Dench to Donate Shakeseare in Love's Rose?

Whatsonstage.com is reporting that Dame Judi Dench will be donating the replica of the Rose Theatre used in the 1998 Oscar-winning film Shakespeare In Love (for which the Dame herself received a trophy), gifted to her by the film's producers to the British Shakespeare Company.

The lucky recipient, a touring troupe, is currently in the process of appealing to councils in York, Manchester and Sheffield with the hope of refurbishing the theatre and establishing a permanent home in northern England (possibly near Dench's birthplace of York) and establishing a charitable trust to raise funds and manage the project.

As BSC founder RoBert Williamson told the Observer newspaper: "The north is the place to have the Rose. London has got the Globe, it's got Regent's Park, it's got the wonderful season by the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the Midlands, they have got a fantastic series of theatres with the RSC doing some incredible work. But in the north of England, there isn't anything serving as a centre for Shakespeare, or even a constant series of his plays taking place."

Dame Judi Dench is once of the most internationally celebrated stage and screen actresses in history. Originally trained as a set designer, Dench made her professional stage debut in 1957 with The Old Vic Company and has since performed leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, on the West End and on Broadway. Most notable was her starring performance in Cabaret in 1968. In television, she achieved success early on in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By. Her film notoriety began as Agent M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she has played in each James Bond film since. She received several notable film awards for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown (1997), and has since been acclaimed for her work in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells" (2001). Her awards include ten BAFTAs, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. Dench was awarded the OBE in 1970, became a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1988, and a Companion of Honour in 2005.