Judi Dench Reveals Struggle Reading Scripts Due To Worsening Eye Condition

English actress Dame Judith Dench has shared an update on her eyesight, saying it poses a challenge to her career as an actress.

Dench revealed the development in a recent interview and claimed that her eye condition has made it challenging for her to memorize lines as an actress, thereby affecting her job.

The "Skyfall" star noted that she's had to find other ways to keep working and that her friends have been supportive in ensuring she remembers the scripts by repeatedly reciting her lines to her.

Read on for more details.

The actress recently discussed how reading and memorizing scripts have become increasingly difficult due to the macular degeneration condition affecting her eyes.

According to People, Dench spoke candidly about the condition during an appearance on "The Graham Norton Show," saying, "It has become impossible, and because I have a photographic memory, I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page."

The "Belfast " actress's health condition is believed to be age-related as she reflected on her career, noting that memorizing her lines had not always posed a challenge until more recently as she grew older.

Dench appeared on the show alongside Hugh Jackman, Michael B Jordan, Eugene Levy, and Paul Rudd as she discussed topics that bothered her health and career and also promoted her new movie, "Allelujah."

During the show, she revealed that her struggles with the age-related eye condition hadn't always been there and that she had to learn to cope with it and still be productive.

The "Casino Royale" actress revealed that she previously found it very simple to memorize lines. Actor Hugh Jackman then asked her if she could remember lines from past movies, to which she replied, "I could do the whole of 'Twelfth Night' for you now."

The Golden Globe award-winning actress, whose acting career spans over six decades, is known for her versatility in several films, including "Philomena," "Murder on the Orient Express," and "Goldeneye," to mention a few.

Fans sympathized with the star, saying they were grateful for the actress sharing her gifts while facing the challenge.

One fan wrote, "her eyesight has been deteriorating for quite some time (macular degeneration) but she's done quite a lot of theatre and movies in the meantime. She's amazing."

"Judi Dench is ever so gracious and charming. Got to love her tenacity and doggedness despite her health condition," another fan penned.

Dench pointed out that she's had to improvise and adopt other means to ensure that the eye condition and inability to memorize her script don't hamper the work that needs to be done.

During a 2021 event for the vision foundation, a London sight loss charity, Dench explained that she had to adapt to get condition by relying on her friends and constantly putting in the work.

She said, per The Guardian, "I've had to find another way of learning lines and things, which is having great friends of mine repeat them to me over and over and over again. So I have to learn through repetition, and I just hope that people won't notice too much if all the lines are completely hopeless!"

The 88-year-old actress described the condition as "Intensely irritating" and noted that it appears to be hereditary because both her mother and daughter have had to see doctors about it.

Elsewhere on the show, the "Tomorrow Never Dies" actress opened up about her soon-to-be-released film "Allelujah," explaining that it's an adaptation of Alan Bennett's play of the same name.

Dench explained that she played the Mary Moss character, a librarian with a thing for her doctor, as she went on to concur that it "is a big cheer for the NHS."

An excerpt from the film was shown, and Mary (Judi Dench) could be seen getting acquainted with using a technological device. The movie is set to be released on the 17th of March, 2023.