Quotes About Theatre

The real writing of a piece comes only when you are performing it. It is why I like theatre. In film and TV, the image is locked forever, but in theatre, there is constant change; each performance is part of the writing process.

The pleasure from acting comes from having great writing to work with. If it's well written and the character is interesting, then, as an actor, that's the raw material I need.

Actors always start with the voice and language. That's wrong. They should start with the body. The body is an actor's most important resource.

I only tend to think of the week ahead, to keep my eye on the ball and question whether a full stop is in the right place. It's easy to get distracted by the wrong things. If you start thinking of grand gestures, it's going to be a lot of hot air. You have to be logical. The theatre is a very logical place.

My favorite play that I did was at Yale. It's called 'The Island.'

Sometimes in a big theatre, you have about, probably, six yards sometimes between you and the first person in the audience. It's almost like you've got to jump across a little pond to get there and then keep moving.

Yeah, well I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre and that's really where my training is. As an actor, that's my training.

First, I started taking dance classes, and then I started taking singing lessons. Then my mom put me into a year-round theatre program where I did seven shows.

There is a very strong theatre-going tradition in Moscow. It has stayed strong.

In my opinion, there's nothing new in the theatre, ever. Theatre-makers are thieves, in the honourable tradition of charlatans. They fake it very, very well indeed for the entertainment of everybody else.

I suppose there's a particular kind of efficiency about coming from a theatre tradition. You don't make a fuss, and you're cheap.

If these theatres didn't exist, the tradition of British theatre would cease to exist.

My work is very popular with performers, and there are theatre people who get what I'm doing and what tradition I'm working in. I'm very grateful to them - they're my people, who understand why I work the way I do.

With my dad coming from a theatre tradition, there was a lot of preparation before auditions. Not just in terms of saying the lines correctly but a process of entering into what it was all about.

I realized that I wanted to play characters and do traditional theatre. I wanted to make believe again. I like putting on a costume and pretending to be someone else for a few hours, and I have a great respect for playwrights.

Sadly, a lot of our traditions are fading away and theatre can be a great tool to ensure that it doesn't happen.

I think when I started out, when I was very young, I wanted to be an actor and do the great epic tragedies.

We hope to do the Spanish Tragedy based on the play by Thomas Kyd.

Farce is tragedy played at a thousand revolutions per minute.

When you're playing King Lear, you have to have a little humour, or you will have no tragedy when the king dies.

Dance, theatre, etc. as art, will disappear along with the dominating 'expression' of tragedy and harmony: the movement of life itself will become harmonious.

I don't think I tell stories of tragedy. I think I tell stories of love. Even though you're full of tears, I hope that you leave the theatre with your heart feeling like it's going to explode out of your chest. And yes, you've been through the tragedy, but it's ultimately hope that I think you're left with.

Tragedy is the oldest form of theatre.

The reason why the British theatrical tradition is world-leading in Greek drama is because there is a flourishing tradition of people rethinking Greek tragedy.