Wax: 'I was awful in Shakespeare'

Rex Features

Ruby Wax has revealed that her performance was terrible in her first attempt at a Shakespeare play.

The American comedienne said the audience sniggered at her English accent when she worked as a straight actress at the start of her career.

Teletext quotes her as saying: "I was in the RSC in the '70s playing wenches and when I went on stage with Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Alan Rickman I realised I was awful.

"I practised my English accent but famous people winced and the audience muttered, 'Is there someone from Chicago in Love's Labour's Lost?'."