Judi Dench Doesn't Like to Dwell On the Past, but Can Still Remember What She Wore Years Ago (Exclusive)

"Of course, I'm gonna remember what I was wearing,” the Dame said of her very first acting job

Judi Dench is living for the present moment, but still enjoys an occasional trip down memory lane.

Speaking to PEOPLE in this week's issue, the Belfast actress, 89, reflected on her love for theater while discussing her new book Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent. Dench cowrote the book with Brendan O'Hea based on a series of conversations about her legendary Shakespeare performances. O'Hea, a fellow actor, can also be heard reading in the Shakespeare audiobook.

“It's not just any old day when you go for the first time to the Old Vic,” she said of the legendary London venue, which was established in 1818.

“It used to be nine pence to sit in the gallery,” Dench recollected. “We used to go and see Richard Burton and John Neville, and you know, it's before The Beatles. The people used to just go mad and I never thought for one single second I would be part of that as my first job."

Related: Why Judi Dench Included Her Drawings in New Book About Shakespeare as She Continues to Lose Her Eyesight (Exclusive)

"Of course, I'm gonna remember what I was wearing," she added, with a laugh. "I can barely remember what I did yesterday, or on the weekend, but I can remember A Midsummer Night's Dream, or Twelfth Night, or a few sonnets," she added. "That I can remember."

Dench believes the reason she can remember Shakespeare so well might have to do with the way it's written.

"It's in iambic pentameter, which I've always said is the rhythm of your heart," she explained. "You come to a word, and you think you don't know what it is. But you know how many syllables it's got."

Dench believes that Shakespeare, in particular, shouldn't be daunting for an audience and it all comes down to how well the actors, along with the director, set designers, costumers and the rest of the company, communicate what they find on the page.

"There's no right way of acting. But the only thing that matters is your communication with an audience, whether they understand what you're saying," the actor said. "And so, if you can say it in a way that they understand what's going on, then, to a certain degree, you've won. But that's not to say somebody else has got to do it the same way."

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"We're in the service of the author. And then, but more importantly, in the service to the audience," Dench continued. "And that's why it can't stop with us as actors or directors. We're there to communicate [Shakespeare's] words."

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent is on sale April 23, and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

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