Actor Bill Nighy admitted to stealing the complete works of William Shakespeare from a library to prepare for his drama school audition. The Oscar-nominated actor revealed that he applied to the Guildford School of Acting to impress a girl, needing to perform two pieces for his audition—one from a modern playwright and another from Shakespeare.
Nighy, along with an older friend, took the complete works of Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw, which they considered modern. “We could have just borrowed them like everyone else, but for some reason, we were developing a criminal mentality,” the 74-year-old shared during an interview .
Nighy recounted that he unintentionally learned two female roles for his audition while hanging out at the pub with his friend. He performed as Eliza Doolittle from Shaw’s Pygmalion and as Cesario in Twelfth Night, not realizing that the character was actually Viola disguised as a man.
Although the audition panel appeared “a bit confused” by his choices, Nighy was invited back to audition with “more suitable material.” He eventually gained acceptance into the drama school.
Interestingly, the girl he aimed to impress had originally written a letter to the drama school to help him secure an audition.
“I would have tried anything she suggested, even astronaut,” Nighy admitted.
Throughout his career, which included an Oscar nomination last year for his role in Living, Nighy has performed in two Shakespeare plays professionally. His first was The Taming of the Shrew at the Gateway Theatre in Chester, followed by King Lear alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins at the National Theatre in London.
In an interview, he remarked, “I retired from Shakespeare sometime after that… nobody really noticed, but I realized I couldn’t continue because I didn’t have a strong interest in performing Shakespeare.” He acknowledged Shakespeare’s status as the greatest poet but expressed that he would leave the performances to others.
