Actor says he took books after applying to acting school to impress a girl, and he now refuses to perform in Bard’s plays

Bill Nighy once stole the complete works of William Shakespeare from a library to help him get into drama school – but says he now refuses to perform the playwright’s work onstage.

The Love Actually actor said he took the books after applying to the Guildford School of Acting to impress a girl. Given an audition, he had to prepare two pieces – one from a modern playwright and the other from Shakespeare.