Dame Judi Dench might have had to miss out on the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, at which she won Best Actress for her role as Queen Victoria in the film Mrs Brown, but she won't be missing this year's Oscars, for which she is also in the Best Actress running. Dench is currently playing to packed houses on the West End as dedicated actress Esme Allen in David Hare's Amy's View, but producer Robert Fox has granted her leave to attend the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Monday, 23 March. Sadly, the show won't go on without Dench - and, doubtless, audiences wouldn't want it to. Instead, the Monday and Tuesday performances (23 and 24 March) of Amy's View have been cancelled. To make up for the loss and to satisfy audience demand, the play's run has been extended by one week to 18 April 1998.

Dench has received critical acclaim for her role in Amy's View which had a sell-out run at the National Theatre before transferring to the Aldwych Theatre in January 1998. She won Best Actress at the Critics' Circle Awards for the role. Her Best Actress nomination at the Laurence Olivier Awards was foiled by Zoe Wanamaker who won for her performance in Electra at the Donmar Warehouse.