Quotes and Sayings about Theatre
"The theatre is a spiritual and social X-ray of its time."
- Stella Adler
(Related: Time, Spiritual, Theatre)
"The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation."
- Stella Adler
(Related: Life, Truth, People, Theatre, Word)
"Theatre director: a person engaged by the management to conceal the fact that the players cannot act."
- James Agate
(Related: Management, Act, Fact, Theatre)
"I've done both theatre and film and the fact is if you start believing, if you start reading things and they're good reviews - you believe that and you're lost, and then you read bad reviews and you think that's true and you read that and you're lost."
- Jenny Agutter
(Related: Fact, Film, Reading, Theatre)
"My father's parents were carpenters. They were also builders partly. They were painters. And several of them were very, active in the theatre and all such nonsense, you know."
- Josef Albers
(Related: Father, Nonsense, Parents, Theatre)
"I loved living and breathing theatre so much that I decided I had to find a way to bring my desire to act and my ability to support myself together. I'd run through the possibilities in Washington, so that meant moving to New York."
- Karen Allen
(Related: Ability, Act, Desire, Living, Possibilities, Support, Theatre, Washington)
"A few years later, my Uncle David took me to the Earle Theatre to hear Duke Ellington."
- David Amram
(Related: Theatre, Years)
"Judi Dench and Ian McKellen taught me how to work hard and respect the theatre."
- Francesca Annis
(Related: Work, Respect, Theatre)
"The first horror film I remember seeing in the theatre was Halloween and from the first scene when the kid puts on the mask and it is his POV, I was hooked."
- David Arquette
(Related: Film, First, Horror, Theatre)
"I was prepared for the theatre, but not for the nuts and bolts."
- Matthew Ashford
(Related: Theatre)
"I was interested in opera and it seemed to me that the only possible theatre for contemporary opera would be television. So I started working towards a kind of television kind of opera."
- Robert Ashley
(Related: Opera, Television, Theatre)
"The interest of my mother was more in the entertainment field. She loved to go to concerts and to the theatre."
- Leon Askin
(Related: Mother, Entertainment, Interest, Theatre)
"Inside I never said I wanted to do theatre or be an actor."
- Sebastian Bach
(Related: Actor, Theatre)
"But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on."
- Francis Bacon
(Related: Life, Men, God, Angels, Man, Theatre)
"The theatre is a gross art, built in sweeps and over-emphasis. Compromise is its second name."
- Enid Bagnold
(Related: Art, Compromise, Name, Theatre)
"There is a lot of interest in the arts, music, theatre, filmmaking, engineering, architecture and software design. I think we have now transitioned the modern-day version of the entrepreneur into the creative economy."
- John Baldacci
(Related: Architecture, Design, Music, Economy, Engineering, Interest, Now, Software, Theatre)
"It's one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work - the night watchman."
- Tallulah Bankhead
(Related: Work, Man, Night, Theatre)
"I am so far as I am aware not at all influenced by dramatists, expect for Shakespeare, who I have to say, it is impossible not to be influenced by if you hold language to be the major element of theatre."
- Howard Barker
(Related: Language, Shakespeare, Theatre)
"I submit all my plays to the National Theatre for rejection. To assure myself I am seeing clearly."
- Howard Barker
(Related: Rejection, Theatre)
"We are suffocated by writers who want to enlighten us with their truths. For me, the theatre is beautiful because it is a secret, and secrets seduce us, we all want to share secrets."
- Howard Barker
(Related: Secrets, Theatre, Want, Writers)
"When I write, I am not giving a lecture, I am speculating on behavior. Sometimes this is dangerous, but it should be. As I say often, theatre is a dark place and we should keep the light out of it."
- Howard Barker
(Related: Behavior, Giving, Light, Theatre)
"For the theatre one needs long arms; it is better to have them too long than too short. An artiste with short arms can never, never make a fine gesture."
- Roland Barthes
(Related: Needs, Theatre)
"I love the stage, I love the process of acting in theatre, but unfortunately, it doesn't pay the bills."
- Kabir Bedi
(Related: Love, Acting, Theatre)
"When I first saw a Fellini movie, I came out of the movie theatre and decided to become a lawyer! I thought to myself, it's impossible to make something so beautiful!"
- Roberto Benigni
(Related: Thought, First, Theatre)
"Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theatre. It is the medium of past experience, as the ground is the medium in which dead cities lie interred."
- Walter Benjamin
(Related: Experience, Lie, Cities, Memory, Past, Theatre)
"I don't rehearse films as much as opera or theatre. When I began directing films I thought a long rehearsal was a good idea. Experience showed me that the best performance was often left in a rehearsal room."
- Bruce Beresford
(Related: Experience, Thought, Idea, Performance, Opera, Theatre)
"In the theatre the audience wants to be surprised - but by things that they expect."
- Tristan Bernard
(Related: Theatre)
"For the theatre one needs long arms... an artiste with short arms can never make a fine gesture."
- Sarah Bernhardt
(Related: Needs, Theatre)
"The truth, the absolute truth, is that the chief beauty for the theatre consists in fine bodily proportions."
- Sarah Bernhardt
(Related: Beauty, Truth, Theatre)
"The theatre is the involuntary reflex of the ideas of the crowd."
- Sarah Bernhardt
(Related: Ideas, Theatre)
"Most Americans would agree that Plowshares is a Theatre of the Absurd."
- Daniel Berrigan
(Related: Americans, Theatre)
"Despite a large body of work in films, TV, theatre and concerts, I am viewed by many as a Jewish artist. I do not resent the label, except for the fact that I disapprove of labels in general."
- Theodore Bikel
(Related: Work, Artist, Body, Fact, Theatre)
"Choosing to be in the theatre was a way to put my roots down somewhere with other people. It was a way to choose a new family."
- Juliette Binoche
(Related: Family, People, Theatre)
"My operas and my theatre works are very formal pieces."
- Harrison Birtwistle
(Related: Theatre)
"The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: What are we going to do in five years' time? A completely different attitude."
- Harrison Birtwistle
(Related: Time, Attitude, Opera, Theatre, Years)
"This film business, perhaps more so in America than in Europe, has always been about young sexuality. It's not true of theatre, but in America, film audiences are young. It's not an intellectual cinema in America."
- Jacqueline Bisset
(Related: Business, America, Audiences, Cinema, Europe, Film, Sexuality, Theatre)
"What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what is a theatre? are they two and not one? Can they exist separate? Are not religion and politics the same thing? Brotherhood is religion. O demonstrations of reason dividing families in cruelty and pride!"
- William Blake
(Related: Politics, Religion, Wife, Church, Brotherhood, Cruelty, Reason, Theatre)
"I feel like I've been marinated in Australian theatre."
- Cate Blanchett
(Related: Theatre)
"It's a real leveller, you know, to do theatre at least once every two years."
- Brenda Blethyn
(Related: Theatre, Years)
"When I left drama school, there were dozens of rep theatres you could apply to where you got a good training."
- Brenda Blethyn
(Related: Drama, School, Training)
"I've done a lot of costume drama and theatre - the National Theatre and In fact, most of my work at the theatre, at the National Theatre anyway, was period."
- Brenda Blethyn
(Related: Work, Drama, Fact, Theatre)
"Everyone the world over talks about British actors and British talent and I think that's because we were trained - until now - in theatre."
- Brenda Blethyn
(Related: Talent, Actors, Now, Theatre, World)
"I hate that people think going to the theatre is a special occasion. I wish people would treat it as normally as going to the cinema."
- Brenda Blethyn
(Related: People, Cinema, Hate, Theatre)
"I have never seen a game's graphics look so sharp and clean. The sound design for the game is also unique on the Xbox. The memory on this system allowed us to provide the user with 5.1 Dolby surround sound for home theatre owners."
- Don Bluth
(Related: Design, Home, Memory, Sound, Theatre)
"The theatre, our theatre, comes from the Greeks."
- Edward Bond
(Related: Theatre)
"In the end I think theatre has only one subject: justice."
- Edward Bond
(Related: End, Justice, Theatre)
"Now, drama is quite useful at helping us to understand what our position is and, conversely, we might then understand why our theatre is being destroyed."
- Edward Bond
(Related: Being, Drama, Now, Theatre)
"I think there is no world without theatre."
- Edward Bond
(Related: Theatre, World)
"I don't think it's the job of theatre at the moment to provide political propaganda; that would be simplistic. We have to explore our situation further before we will understand it."
- Edward Bond
(Related: Job, Propaganda, Theatre, Will)
"First there was the theatre of people and animals, then of people and the devil. Now we need the theatre of people and people."
- Edward Bond
(Related: People, Animals, Devil, First, Now, Theatre)
"At the turn of the century theatre does not have to be prescriptive."
- Edward Bond
(Related: Theatre)
"People know that they're going to see something which is entertaining but challenging as well because of the form it's in. It's dance theatre and it requires you to use your imagination - it's not straight forward."
- Matthew Bourne
(Related: Imagination, People, Dance, Theatre)
"I feel that I communicate best when I am not deliberately being linear. Along this same line, I feel some of the best sermons I've ever heard were in the theatre rather than the pulpit - as, for example, in the Theatre of the Absurd."
- Malcolm Boyd
(Related: Being, Example, Sermons, Theatre)
"Theatre sports is the best improv training period."
- Wayne Brady
(Related: Sports, Theatre, Training)
"I prefer theatre but TV keeps you well known."
- Richard Briers
(Related: Theatre)
"We need more theatres, more art and more culture in this country."
- Richard Briers
(Related: Art, Country, Culture)
"Serial killers are everywhere! Well, perhaps not in our neighborhood, but on our television screens, at the movie theatres, and in rows and rows of books at our local Borders or Barnes and Noble Booksellers."
- Pat Brown
(Related: Books, Television)
"As I had collaborated with visual artists before whether on installations, on performance pieces, in the context of theatre works and as I had taught for a time in art colleges the idea of writing music in response to painting was not alien."
- Gavin Bryars
(Related: Art, Music, Time, Idea, Performance, Artists, Painting, Theatre, Writing)
"I get to the theatre in plenty of time; I prepare my shoes in advance; I eat and drink the right things at the right time. The rest you have to leave to luck!"
- Deborah Bull
(Related: Time, Rest, Right, Theatre)
"I hope to continue working in film, television and theatre."
- Jeremy Bulloch
(Related: Hope, Film, Television, Theatre)
"If you're interested or like it, but could be just as happy living in a regular town, having a regular job, maybe doing little theatre, you're better off and you'll be a happier person. This is too gut-wrenching and heartbreaking."
- Delta Burke
(Related: Job, Living, Theatre)
"I was supposed to go to drama school and then go to New York and do theatre. But I grew up on all those fabulous movies and had read all the bold Hollywood books, and I thought I just had to take a look."
- Delta Burke
(Related: Movies, Thought, Books, Drama, Hollywood, School, Theatre)
"Once you get into your stride, the camera becomes like another person in the room. It's like being in a very small theatre where there is no getting away with anything because the audience is centimetres away from you."
- Saffron Burrows
(Related: Being, Theatre)
"They pulled Resurrection out of the theatres, so it was running in New York and I was nominated for the Oscar and there was no ad in the newspapers to say it was running. So it was literally killed."
- Ellen Burstyn
(Related: Newspapers, Running)
"My real training as an actor was when I started doing theatre."
- Steve Buscemi
(Related: Actor, Theatre, Training)
"I love old movies. The '40s theatre pace is fantastic."
- Yancy Butler
(Related: Love, Movies, Old, Theatre)
"My mother's side of the family was in the production side of theatre. My grandfather, Jose Vega, was a general manager for Neil Simon shows on Broadway."
- Yancy Butler
(Related: Family, Manager, Mother, Production, Theatre)
"At times as a performer they segregated us in some of theatres."
- Cab Calloway
"My college training was primarily in theatre, with an eye to becoming a director, actor, or producer."
- Orson Scott Card
(Related: Actor, College, Eye, Theatre, Training)
"I am extraordinarily lucky, I was born in a family of strong moral values, and in my life I was able to do what I liked best: debuts, great theatres, but above all, inner and deep satisfaction."
- Jose Carreras
(Related: Family, Life, Values, Deep, Satisfaction)
"No, my step-daughter just opened a theatre school for children, I have another daughter who works in the record industry and another who is going back to collage and I have two little ones at home."
- Rosanne Cash
(Related: Home, Daughter, Children, School, Theatre)
"My experiences in film and theatre in the States have been much more rigorous-in England there's an environment of, Let's try this."
- Kim Cattrall
(Related: EnglEnvironment, Film, states, Theatre)
"The roles for women in theatre are much better than they are in film."
- Kim Cattrall
(Related: Women, Film, Theatre)
"Theatre can't be done again and again and again and again - it's organic."
- Kim Cattrall
(Related: Theatre)
"It's great to be in a film that's able to have people really want to become socially conscious, to walk out of the theatre and want to do something."
- Don Cheadle
(Related: People, Film, Theatre, Want)
"I've been doing theatre since I was 5 years old."
- Claudia Christian
(Related: Old, Theatre, Years)
"I never thought of myself in comedy at all... I loved going to the theatre and seeing people wearing beautiful clothes come down the staircase and start to dance."
- Imogene Coca
(Related: Thought, People, Dance, Clothes, Comedy, Theatre)
"Where every moment is about truth and I think it's a great challenge every night. That's what really drove me to wanting to do theatre, and it's great."
- Deborah Cox
(Related: Truth, Challenge, Night, Theatre)
"It's really a grand old, legendary theatre where the spirits of like Judy Garland and all these great performers have been. The clubs are way more underground."
- Deborah Cox
(Related: Old, Spirits, Theatre)
"The club shows are really intense and powerful, but for a shorter time, and the audiences are in close proximity than when I'm performing at The Palace Theatre."
- Deborah Cox
(Related: Time, Audiences, Theatre)
"I always thought that it was every performer's dream. That's the epitome of being an artist, being able to express song, dance and acting in a live theatre setting and really connecting with an audience on that level."
- Deborah Cox
(Related: Thought, Dance, Dream, Acting, Artist, Being, Song, Theatre)
"Fundamentally, whether directing in the theatre or a film, you have to be a good storyteller, regardless of the form. The thing I had to work hardest at was thinking in shots."
- John Crowley
(Related: Work, Film, Theatre, Thinking)
"The people on the business side in the music business are kind of different from the theatre business. I think it's partly because there are different pressures on the industries."
- Tim Curry
(Related: Business, Music, People, Theatre)
"Theatre has no national identity. It is something for the world, whether it is Irish, English, or French."
- Cyril Cusack
(Related: English, Identity, Irish, Theatre, World)
"To maintain one's individuality, integrity, and true personality in the theatre is a big task."
- Cyril Cusack
(Related: Individuality, Integrity, Personality, Theatre)
"I love the theatre and theatre people."
- Cyril Cusack
(Related: Love, People, Theatre)
"I am a nationalist... my native soil is the theatre."
- Cyril Cusack
(Related: Theatre)
"There are all sorts of reasons why I don't do much work in the theatre, the main one being that after two performances I feel I've given all I can. I hate repetition, I really do. It's like asking a painter to paint he same picture every day of his life."
- Peter Cushing
(Related: Life, Work, Being, Day, Hate, Repetition, Theatre)
"Film is fragmented and gets into lots of other people's hands. There are a lot of pleasures that theatre gives me. You get to perform uninterrupted."
- Willem Dafoe
(Related: People, Film, Theatre)
"A career in the theatre demands so much commitment."
- Jim Dale
(Related: Career, Commitment, Theatre)
"We talk about theatre museums filled with old costumes and things. What we also need is a theatre museum of the old routines on videotape. We are only the custodians of those techniques, and they should be preserved."
- Jim Dale
(Related: Museums, Old, Talk, Theatre)
"You learn more discipline in the theatre than you do in movies or TV. You're on stage every night and you have to sustain your energy level tor several hours."
- Blythe Danner
(Related: Movies, Discipline, Energy, Night, Theatre)
"I just loved being in the theatre with all those crazy, creative people."
- Kristin Davis
(Related: People, Being, Theatre)
"Yes, it is a rehearsed show, yes, it was analogy of going to see a play at the theatre, where everything has to be in place and whole things, everything being works, all works together to get the best effect you know it's more like an actor learning a part."
- John Deacon
(Related: Actor, Being, Effect, Learning, Play, Theatre)
"In contrast, the control you have in a theatre is very attractive to me."
- Judi Dench
(Related: Control, Contrast, Theatre)
"Being a film actor is very different from a theatre actor."
- Catherine Deneuve
(Related: Actor, Being, Film, Theatre)
"I never had any classes or went to theatre school like a lot of actors, so all of my training has been on stage with different directors. That was a pretty good school room."
- James Denton
(Related: Actors, Pretty, School, Theatre, Training)
"I think theatre helped, only because it was acting experience. I got to work with a lot of directors."
- James Denton
(Related: Work, Experience, Acting, Theatre)
"The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled."
- Denis Diderot
(Related: Men, Tears, Theatre)
"My parents used to take me to a lot of theatre when I was young."
- Lexa Doig
(Related: Parents, Theatre)
"Edinburgh is my favourite city. We'll be doing a lot of children's theatre and galleries."
- Carol Ann Duffy
(Related: Children, Theatre)
"You know, this isn't theatre like it used to be."
- Katherine Dunham
(Related: Theatre)
"I grew up wanting to be a writer for theatre."
- Christopher Durang
(Related: Theatre, Writer)
"Rather than disliking theatre, I've expressed a preference for television because it tends to deal in its small way much more with issues and is able to reach a broader church of people than theatre."
- Christopher Eccleston
(Related: People, Church, Television, Theatre)
"The money is better in films and television. But in terms of acting, theatre is more rewarding."
- Christopher Eccleston
(Related: Money, Acting, Television, Theatre)
"Theatre is expensive to go to. I certainly felt when I was growing up that theatre wasn't for us. Theatre still has that stigma to it. A lot of people feel intimidated and underrepresented in theatre."
- Christopher Eccleston
(Related: People, Growing up, Theatre)
"I think film and television are really a director's medium, whereas theatre is the actor's medium."
- Christopher Eccleston
(Related: Actor, Film, Television, Theatre)
"I think theatre is by far the most rewarding experience for an actor. You get 4 weeks to rehearse your character and then at 7:30 pm you start acting and nobody stops you, acting with your entire soul."
- Christopher Eccleston
(Related: Experience, Soul, Character, Acting, Actor, Theatre)
"When playing a role, I would feel more comfortable, as you're given a prescribed way of behaving. So, both Facebook and theatre provide contrived settings that provide the illusion of social interaction."
- Jesse Eisenberg
(Related: Illusion, Theatre)
"I became an actor by doing school plays and youth theaters, and then National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. And then I did study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. For me that was a good way to enter the field, to work in the theater."
- Chiwetel Ejiofor
(Related: Music, Work, Actor, London, School, Study, Theater, Theatre, Youth)
"She would sit by herself in the middle of the old stoe amphitheatre, with the sky's starry vault overhead, and simply listen to the great silence around her."
- Michael Ende
(Related: Old, Silence, Sky)
"I'm definitely nervous and excited. I feel like I've been playing off-Broadway, not to say that Boston doesn't have a great theatre district or great theatre, but it's not going to Broadway; it's just a different city."
- Todd English
(Related: Boston, Theatre)
"What I want to give in the theatre is beauty, that's what I want to give."
- Dame Edith Evans
(Related: Beauty, Theatre, Want)
"I'd like to be for cinema what Shakespeare was for theatre, Marx for politics and Freud for psychology: someone after whom nothing is as it used to be."
- Rainer W. Fassbinder
(Related: Politics, Cinema, Nothing, Shakespeare, Theatre)
"You say a line and you wait for them to laugh, then you say another line and you wait... It felt weird to me. But it's interesting and the energy is almost like theatre, I suppose, with all the people there."
- Sherilyn Fenn
(Related: People, Energy, Theatre)
"I really loved Twin Peaks. When I saw the two-hour pilot, they screened it in the big theatre. I said, I don't know what is going to happen. I'm in this and I don't understand it. This is never going to sell. Who's going to watch this thing?"
- Sherilyn Fenn
(Related: Theatre)
"You really, really, really have to love what you are going to do in theatre because it is an unmerciful life. It's six days a week. It's eight performances a week. And that's doing the exact same thing over and over and over again."
- Harvey Fierstein
(Related: Love, Life, Theatre)
"Also, if you want to reach people, theatre is not always the best way to do it."
- Harvey Fierstein
(Related: People, Theatre, Want)
"I started using film as part of live theatre performance - what used to be called performance art - and I became intrigued by film."
- Mike Figgis
(Related: Art, Performance, Film, Theatre)
"Films take up so much time, and with theatre, you do have to plan a period of time that you can be free."
- Mike Figgis
(Related: Time, Theatre)
"Well, I've always thought that my career was in England, really. I used to do more in the theatre, and I felt that I should be there. It's not far is it? It's amazing the way that special FX have taken a quantum leap in what they're capable of doing."
- Albert Finney
(Related: Thought, Career, England, Theatre)
"I went to the Glasgow Youth Theatre and they just let me in. But I was so shy that I was there for about six weeks without actually introducing myself."
- Bill Forsyth
(Related: Theatre, Youth)
"The best theatre I've done, I've done right here in this living room."
- Jonathan Frid
(Related: Living, Right, Theatre)
"Actually, my favourite roles have been in theatre, but on TV, my faves were Slap Maxwell and Larry Sanders."
- Megan Gallagher
(Related: Theatre)
"My family were broadminded enough to support me when I wanted to pursue a life in the theatre."
- Peter Gallagher
(Related: Family, Life, Support, Theatre)
"I always go back to theatre. It's probably where I'll draw my last breath."
- Peter Gallagher
(Related: Theatre)
"You get used to being lazy doing films, but classical theatre's going to finish me off."
- Michael Gambon
(Related: Being, Theatre)
"I am a theatre actor, but the last ten years I've taken parts in movies because it keeps me in money."
- Michael Gambon
(Related: Money, Movies, Actor, Theatre, Years)
"Theatre demands different muscles and different aspects of one's personality."
- Victor Garber
(Related: Personality, Theatre)
"You can only do so much theatre."
- Victor Garber
(Related: Theatre)
"My first interest was always music, and somehow that channelled itself into films and acting. I don't know what the natural transition of it was. I mean I acted a little bit when I was young and like any kid would in a community theatre."
- Andy Garcia
(Related: Music, Acting, Community, First, Interest, Theatre)
"I just needed a job. Before being hired as an usher at the CBS Theatre, I didn't even know there was a show business!"
- David Geffen
(Related: Being, Job, Theatre)
"I like going to New York. I like the galleries and the theatre and the restaurants and bars and music. I think that city is more alive than Los Angeles."
- Sara Gilbert
(Related: Music, Restaurants, Theatre)
"It's like Branson. When I went to Branson there was only 4 acts in there. Now, you can't count 'em. There's so many theatres now, that only the strong will survive."
- Mickey Gilley
(Related: Now, Will)
"Lost In Space fans are going to get organized, because we'll see them showing up in all the theatres."
- Mark Goddard
(Related: Fans, Space)
"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre."
- Gail Godwin
(Related: Preparation, Teaching, Theatre)
"The difference between a theatre with and without an audience is enormous. There is a palpable, critical energy created by the presence of the audience."
- Andy Goldsworthy
(Related: Difference, Energy, Theatre)
"I am drawn to writing and directing as it is most like the feeling I had when I was a teenager with my puppet theatre. You are more in control of everything and involved in every aspect of production, so more challenged and fulfilled."
- Richard E. Grant
(Related: Control, Feeling, Production, Theatre, Writing)
"Once in awhile, there's stuff that makes me say, That's what theatre's about. It has to be a human event on the stage, and that doesn't happen very often."
- Uta Hagen
(Related: Theatre)
"I think, by and large, the level of acting is mediocre. When I go to the theatre, I get so angry. I don't go."
- Uta Hagen
(Related: Acting, Theatre)
"I don't think it's the job of filmmakers to give anybody answers. I do think, though, that a good film makes you ask questions of yourself as you leave the theatre."
- Paul Haggis
(Related: Answers, Film, Job, Questions, Theatre)
"People come to the theatre to be excited and uplifted - I want to inspire my audience."
- Edward Hall
(Related: People, Theatre, Want)
"Theatre is about people, not buildings. Incalculable damage has been done to the expert talent a company needs - from wardrobe to lighting technicians."
- Edward Hall
(Related: Talent, People, Company, Needs, Theatre)
"I think theatre should always be somewhat suspect."
- Vaclav Havel
(Related: Theatre)
"The good die young but not always. The wicked prevail but not consistently. I am confused by life, and I feel safe within the confines of the theatre."
- Helen Hayes
(Related: Life, Theatre)
"Then I went off to Southern Methodist University in Dallas. They had a really wonderful theatre department."
- Beth Henley
(Related: Theatre, University)
"I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, really in suburbia, so my mother was in community theatre plays."
- Beth Henley
(Related: Mother, Community, Theatre)
"I tried to start a theatre in LA and failed miserably, but I was probably not meant to raise money."
- Beth Henley
(Related: Money, Theatre)
"I love film and TV, the medium of them, just because it's such a smaller screen. It's much more precise. Ideally, I'd like to do maybe a film a year of some sort and use that to work more in the theatre because theatre really is my first love."
- Shuler Hensley
(Related: Love, Work, Film, First, First love, Theatre)
"At the University of Maryland, my first year I started off planning to major in art because I was interested in theatre design, stage design or television design."
- Jim Henson
(Related: Art, Design, First, Planning, Television, Theatre, University)
"I was very interested in theatre, mostly in stage design. I did a little bit of acting."
- Jim Henson
(Related: Design, Acting, Theatre)
"The world 's a theatre, the earth a stage, Which God and Nature do with actors fill."
- Thomas Heywood
(Related: Nature, God, Actors, Earth, Theatre, World)
"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it."
- Alfred Hitchcock
(Related: Film, Theatre, Worth)
"Free speech means the right to shout 'theatre' in a crowded fire."
- Abbie Hoffman
(Related: Fire, Free speech, Right)
"I think I want to pursue a movie career and maybe even pursue some theatre."
- Katie Holmes
(Related: Career, Theatre, Want)
"For me, making films is like being on vacation, it's a nice walk. But theatre is like mountaineering. You never know whether you're going to fall off or make it to the top."
- Isabelle Huppert
(Related: Being, Theatre, Vacation)
"But theatre is always a difficult experience."
- Isabelle Huppert
(Related: Experience, Theatre)
"Firstly I did it in this huge theatre in Avignon, then to smaller places, then bigger places. You have to change the volume of the voice, give more or less. The way you have to relate to space makes it like sculpture."
- Isabelle Huppert
(Related: Change, Sculpture, Space, Theatre, Voice)
"The Greeks already understood that there was more interest in portraying an unusual character than a usual character - that is the purpose of films and theatre."
- Isabelle Huppert
(Related: Character, Purpose, Interest, Theatre)
"If I'm in theatre, cinema doesn't even cross my mind. Similarly when I'm making a film, theatre doesn't cross my mind."
- John Hurt
(Related: Cinema, Film, Mind, Theatre)
"From there, I tried out for a community theatre play, joined an improv group... it all started opening up."
- Kevin James
(Related: Community, Play, Theatre)
"I think it's one of my favourite theatres ever, so quirky and wonderful and steeped in history. The space is wonderful and the acoustics are brilliant."
- Louise Jameson
(Related: History, Space)
"Soon I worked during twelve years in theater works of the prestigious Theatre National Populaire. It was the best time of my life, the most difficult, the most interesting, the most exciting."
- Maurice Jarre
(Related: Time, Life, Theater, Theatre, Years)
"I think the same way about theatre, you go out there and you are creating a world for a moment that can actually have a real impact on people, present some kind of story that gives you something to think about when you walk away, feeling enriched - if it works out well."
- Jeffrey Jones
(Related: People, Feeling, Present, Theatre, World)
"I've gotten to go wonderful places, meet interesting and intelligent people, and I started of course in the theatre and continue to work in the theatre where there is some intelligence involved in it."
- Jeffrey Jones
(Related: Intelligence, Work, People, Theatre)
"This outfit called Los Angeles Theatre Works does readings of plays."
- Jeffrey Jones
(Related: Theatre)
"I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I'm building something for myself. What I build, I am."
- Elia Kazan
(Related: Life, Building, Theatre)
"In the theatre, the actor is given immediate feedback."
- Charles Keating
(Related: Actor, Theatre)
"I write plays for people who wouldn't be seen dead in the theatre."
- Barrie Keeffe
(Related: People, Theatre)
"Then I heard this genius teacher Stella Adler - I recommend you read anything you might find about her and if you have anyone interested in theatre, you get them one of her books."
- Harvey Keitel
(Related: Genius, Books, Theatre)
"I've always found it not only easy, but enjoyable. It's necessary for us to reach out and I'm speaking for myself here. I certainly have a sense of responsibility to reach out to these people in the theatre who might look to someone like me for some guidance."
- Harvey Keitel
(Related: People, Guidance, Responsibility, Sense, Theatre)
"I think I'm a better actress for having friends and interests outside the theatre. I wouldn't want to live my life surrounded by other actors all the time."
- Penelope Keith
(Related: Life, Time, Actors, Friends, Theatre, Want)
"My dream is to eventually open a children's theatre."
- Moira Kelly
(Related: Dream, Children, Open, Theatre)
"My background is somewhat unusual, as I trained to be a ballet dancer. I worked in the theatre for eight or nine years as a contemporary dancer. But as an actor one does read Shakespeare and does try to learn the classics."
- William Kempe
(Related: Actor, Ballet, Shakespeare, Theatre, Years)
"Fifteen years before I became a screen actor, I was in the theatre. A lot of my work was comedy, which I loved doing. It's harder."
- Ben Kingsley
(Related: Work, Actor, Comedy, Theatre, Years)
"The entrance into Jerusalem has all the elements of the theatre of the absurd: the poor king; truth comes riding on a donkey; symbolic actions - even parading without a permit!"
- David Kirk
(Related: Truth, Actions, Poor, Theatre)
"When I play, I feel like I'm in a theatre, why should I look ugly then, because I'm a tennis-player?"
- Anna Kournikova
(Related: Play, Tennis, Theatre, Ugly)
"Theatre is more exciting in the sense that you can actually see the audience in the eye. You know there are no takes and retakes. You have one chance to do your job... and you better do it well!"
- Christine Lahti
(Related: Chance, Eye, Job, Sense, Theatre)
"I'm trying to do the kind of projects that I want to see in the theatre."
- Nicholas Lea
(Related: Projects, Theatre, Trying, Want)
"I think any classical training in the theatre is of enormous value."
- Vivien Leigh
(Related: Theatre, Training, Value)
"When I come into the theatre I get a sense of security. I love an audience. I love people, and I act because I like trying to give pleasure to people."
- Vivien Leigh
(Related: Love, People, Act, Pleasure, Security, Sense, Theatre, Trying)
"Kerri and I met at theatre camp when were 16 years old, which is pretty lame. The rest of us met when we founded the State at New York University in 1988. Most of our adult lives have been spent bickering with these people."
- Thomas Lennon
(Related: People, Old, Pretty, Rest, State, Theatre, University, Years)
"I got into theatre very early, so yes I was surrounded by gay people quite early and frequently."
- Judith Light
(Related: People, Gay, Theatre)
"A theatre receives recognition through its initiative, which is indispensable for first-rate performances."
- Franz Liszt
(Related: First, Theatre)
"I am musical and I enjoy theatre, but I never wanted to just do theatre. I always wanted to go into film. I love film. I loved growing up in the theatre, but I always wanted to do film all along. But, I still pursue music separately."
- Sabrina Lloyd
(Related: Love, Music, Film, Growing up, Theatre)
"Acting must be scaled down for the screen. A drawing room is a lot smaller than a theatre auditorium."
- Arthur Lowe
(Related: Acting, Theatre)
"This is a group effort. This is group theatre. This is no big star turn. You could do things with it to do that but it would just be out of kilter. This is one reason I like this play. This is a unit."
- Gavin MacLeod
(Related: Effort, Play, Reason, Theatre)
"I just love the hours of the theatre, I love the way it operates. I always say that when you're doing a play it's like getting a shot of B12, and when you do television for a long series you need a shot of B12."
- Gavin MacLeod
(Related: Love, Play, Television, Theatre)
"I was on a founding members of the Canadian theatre movement in the late 60's till the mid 70's and performed theatre from Halifax to Vancouver and all places in between."
- Nick Mancuso
(Related: Founding, Theatre)
"I used to go with my parents and loved it, I was in school plays, and I started reading plays before I started reading novels. I'll defend it to the hilt. When theatre is good it is fabulous."
- Patrick Marber
(Related: Parents, Reading, School, Theatre)
"Theatre is how I first encountered art on any level."
- Patrick Marber
(Related: Art, First, Theatre)
"The truth of the matter is I stayed in L.A. raising my children, and when they went to college, I packed my bags along with them and came to New York and looked for parts in the theatre, because that's always what I preferred doing."
- Andrea Martin
(Related: Truth, Children, College, Theatre)
"I love the comradery of doing theatre that you don't get in film."
- Andrea Martin
(Related: Love, Film, Theatre)
"The deaf community is in a favorable position because they have a national theatre and training groups of their own to get them started. Deaf actors have often acquired very valuable skills and experience before they get their break."
- Richard Masur
(Related: Experience, Actors, Community, Theatre, Training)
"It's a scary thing going into the workforce with a $50,000 debt and you've been trained as a classical theatre actor. There's always a depression in the theatre."
- Frances McDormand
(Related: Actor, Debt, Depression, Theatre)
"As a child I was taken to the pantomime or the theatre and I would always, always fall in love with somebody on the stage. And want to have sex with them."
- Ewan McGregor
(Related: Love, Sex, Theatre, Want)
"From there I did a one year theatre acting course in Fife, and then three years of drama school in London."
- Ewan McGregor
(Related: Acting, Drama, London, School, Theatre, Years)
"Then I left school at 16 and worked in Perth Repertory Theatre, which was quite nearby where I lived. And I worked there for about six or seven months, as part of the stage crew."
- Ewan McGregor
(Related: Months, School, Theatre)
"When we'd suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, 'Nobody wants to see Waiting for Godot.' As it happened, every single ticket was booked for every single performance, and this confirmation that our judgment was right was sweet. Audiences came to us from all over the world. It was amazing."
- Ian McKellen
(Related: Management, Performance, Audiences, Judgment, Right, Theatre, Waiting, World)
"I can't do theatre in the US,' she says, 'because I don't have a green card."
- Jacqueline McKenzie
(Related: Theatre)
"Though I acted in hundreds of productions, appeared at the Guthrie Theatre and on Broadway in Amadeus, I discovered in my thirties that I didn't really like stage acting. The presence of the audience, the eight shows a week and the possibility of a long run were all unnatural to me."
- Fred Melamed
(Related: Possibility, Acting, Theatre)
"The reason why I hate working in theatre is the tedium of memorisation. But once that is done, then you feast on this never-ending meal. If you play it correctly, every night is fraught with very high stakes that are very difficult to find in everyday life."
- Christopher Meloni
(Related: Life, Hate, Night, Play, Reason, Theatre)
"I had great faith in Irish actors, that they'd be hip to the whole theatre thing, and they are. I had no illusions of coming over here as some kind of big shot. It's been a learning experience for me too."
- Christopher Meloni
(Related: Experience, Faith, Actors, Irish, Learning, Theatre)
"I come from the New York theatre world, and I have a lot of gay male friends, so this friendship of Will and Grace's isn't such a stretch."
- Debra Messing
(Related: Friendship, Gay, Grace, Theatre, Will, World)
"I showed my mom the movie then I told her the movie got bought and that it was gonna be shown in theatres and be on video. Everyone was really psyched about it. Everyone in my little town of hounds started to call me movie star."
- Jason Mewes
(Related: Mom, Hounds)
"All of a sudden Kevin told me that the movie got bought and was gonna be shown in a movie theatre. I was shocked. I was psyched. It was just weird."
- Jason Mewes
(Related: Theatre)
"Working on a film, you don't get time to develop rivalries, but the theatre is like a little village, and the differences between me, Lionel and Georgia grew."
- Ron Moody
(Related: Time, Film, Theatre)
"I have ambitions to do a Broadway record one of these days and get in the studio with like, a real orchestra. I'm a big musical theatre geek."
- Mandy Moore
(Related: Theatre)
"By obtaining a sense of its place in the unfolding drama of life, set in an ecological theatre, so we can understand why it has become one of the leading players."
- Simon Conway Morris
(Related: Life, Drama, Leading, Sense, Theatre)
"I've always tried to not let movie, television or theatre be all that my life is about. I've always tried to get involved in the community or my family now I have kids."
- David Morse
(Related: Family, Life, Community, Kids, Now, Television, Theatre)
"I love doing movies but I loved doing theatre just as much."
- Joe Morton
(Related: Love, Movies, Theatre)
"There were wonderful moments when I was singing for the first time in the Olympia Theatre and I was pregnant with my son, which was very, very strange for a singer."
- Nana Mouskouri
(Related: Time, Son, First, Moments, Singing, Theatre)
"Having started out in theatre, I feel an impulse to do it as much as I can."
- Cillian Murphy
(Related: Theatre)
"Normally our season is seven weeks in the Drama Theatre and four weeks in the Opera Theater."
- Graeme Murphy
(Related: Drama, Opera, Theater, Theatre)
"I like the theatre because you paint with broad strokes. To me the theatre is stretching its definition really far."
- Ajay Naidu
(Related: Theatre)
"Musical theatre is something I'm familiar with, I've been doing that."
- David Naughton
(Related: Theatre)
"People ask me if I ever feel outside the Hollywood loop, and I never do, because both of us do a lot of theatre, so it's great for New York and it's also half-way between Europe and the west coast, so it's the best of both worlds."
- Liam Neeson
(Related: People, Europe, Hollywood, Theatre)
"When I was in college, all the pretty women were in the theatre, so I auditioned for a play."
- Judd Nelson
(Related: Women, College, Play, Pretty, Theatre)
"I love the rehearsal process in the theatre, and the visceral sense of contact and communication with a live audience."
- Judd Nelson
(Related: Love, Communication, Sense, Theatre)
"There is an atmosphere about the picture theatre that speaks of entertainment and relaxation. The charming surroundings, good music, and the fact that each visitor is determined to enjoy a few hours of holiday all exert an influence on the mind."
- Ivor Novello
(Related: Music, Entertainment, Fact, Holiday, Influence, Mind, Relaxation, Theatre)
"When the cinematograph first made its appearance, we were told that the days of the ordinary theatre were numbered."
- Ivor Novello
(Related: Appearance, First, Theatre)
"I met my wife Anne who was a sociology student, and her influence together with activities associated with the student movement of the time opened up my interests amongst other things into the theatre, art, music, politics and philosophy."
- Paul Nurse
(Related: Politics, Time, Art, Music, Wife, Influence, Philosophy, Theatre)
"I do like to be creative and I'm very lucky that I've been given different areas in which I'm able to do that - whether it be film or television or theatre or whatever. I'm also still into music and recording."
- Richard O'Brien
(Related: Music, Film, Television, Theatre)
"I have done every job in the Theatre apart from wardrobe. I was out of work more times than I was in it."
- Richard O'Brien
(Related: Work, Job, Theatre)
"I paid my dues at drama school and worked backstage in every Theatre in London."
- Richard O'Brien
(Related: Drama, London, School, Theatre)
"As a working actor, all I want to do is work. That's it. It's terrifying when you don't work. It's very hard when you don't work. There have been times when I've been out of work for like six months. I feel theatre to me is like manna."
- Sandra Oh
(Related: Work, Actor, Months, Theatre, Want)
"I feel that David took a risk with me. I have a sense that by starting off in the theatre and going off to do films you are seen to sell out in some way. I don't hold truck with that, but you can't stop people from feeling it."
- Julia Ormond
(Related: People, Feeling, Risk, Sense, Theatre)
"I tell my children to avoid theatre and go into cinema and TV."
- Peter O'Toole
(Related: Children, Cinema, Theatre)
"I think film likes me better than the theatre does for some reason."
- Miranda Otto
(Related: Film, Reason, Theatre)
"I received the most fantastic welcome to the Broadway Theatre community. I walked on stage to tremendous applause and a long standing ovation, wondering when I was ever going to be able to say my first line!"
- Elaine Paige
(Related: Applause, Community, First, Theatre)
"My playground was the theatre. I'd sit and watch my mother pretend for a living. As a young girl, that's pretty seductive."
- Gwyneth Paltrow
(Related: Mother, Living, Pretty, Theatre)
"I did loads of student films and fringe theatre. I worked for free a lot."
- Christopher Parker
(Related: Theatre)
"But I loved the theatre and I was just doing theatre 24/7 and kept dropping courses because I didn't have the time and the chancellor thought that wasn't a good idea after awhile."
- Mandy Patinkin
(Related: Time, Thought, Idea, Theatre)
"There are a few directors around who I have some excitement about spending my $7 at the theatre watching their movies."
- Sean Penn
(Related: Movies, Excitement, Theatre)
"When you combine the men and women deployed from our military installations with activated reservists and members of the National Guard, Georgia is contributing more personnel to the theatre than any other State in our Union."
- Sonny Perdue
(Related: Men, Women, Military, State, Theatre)
"Now I'm seen by more people in one episode than I was in 20 years of theatre and movies. It's gratifying to have an impact on 25 million people a night, but I can say goodbye to my lunch-pail life as a working actor. I'm scared I might be a celebrity."
- William Petersen
(Related: Life, Movies, People, Actor, Celebrity, Goodbye, Night, Now, Theatre, Years)
"Make them laugh, make them cry, and hack to laughter. What do people go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise. I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that."
- Mary Pickford
(Related: People, Exercise, Laughter, Theatre)
"It was in New York, and I've always wanted to film in New York. And the writer was a teenage friend of mine. We did youth theatre together when we were 16 and always had a dream of making a film together. And ten years later, we've done it. So it's great."
- Rosamund Pike
(Related: Dream, Friend, Film, Teenage, Theatre, Writer, Years, Youth)
"There's a tradition in British intellectual life of mocking any non-political force that gets involved in politics, especially within the sphere of the arts and the theatre."
- Harold Pinter
(Related: Life, Politics, Force, Theatre, Tradition)
"I feel that film, as opposed to theatre, is about capturing that one, real moment."
- Michael Pitt
(Related: Film, Theatre)
"The play is on top of me all the time, and I am constantly thinking about it. Even when I leave the theatre, I'll mumble the lines to myself or think about the way the character walks or holds himself."
- Donald Pleasence
(Related: Time, Character, Play, Theatre, Thinking)
"I'm looking for one of two things and sometimes they dovetail: I'm looking to go into a theatre and see a certain kind of show. And if it's not there, I'd like to do it myself so it would be there."
- Hal Price
(Related: Theatre)
"The real thing is, you should be seeing these plays in the Theatre. That's what they were written for. That's where the enjoyment is. Studying them is no enjoyment whatsoever."
- Tony Randall
(Related: Enjoyment, Theatre)
"I never achieved my first goal in the National Actors Theatre, which is to have a permanent Acting Company."
- Tony Randall
(Related: Goal, Acting, Actors, Company, First, Theatre)
"I would have started the National Actors Theatre 30 years earlier."
- Tony Randall
(Related: Actors, Theatre, Years)
"Many of the Universities have very good Theatre Departments these days."
- Tony Randall
(Related: Theatre)
"Most of the competition was into bulk popcorn because of the major increases in the Drive-In Theatre Outlets."
- Orville Redenbacher
(Related: Competition, Theatre)
"You take a plug and put it in a socket, and that's what the theatre is-it lights up right away. You speak, and they respond immediately."
- Chita Rivera
(Related: Right, Theatre)
"Theatre is immediate gratification."
- Chita Rivera
(Related: Theatre)
"It's communication - that's what theatre is all about."
- Chita Rivera
(Related: Communication, Theatre)
"The great difference between screen acting and theatre acting is that screen acting is about reacting - 75% of the time, great screen actors are great reactors."
- Nicolas Roeg
(Related: Time, Acting, Actors, Difference, Theatre)
"Movies are not scripts - movies are films; they're not books, they're not the theatre."
- Nicolas Roeg
(Related: Movies, Books, Theatre)
"I'm really keen to go back and do some theatre, but I can't afford to at the moment because we're getting married in September. And then I'm hoping to direct a film at the end of this year, and that means a year of your life without pay."
- Richard Roxburgh
(Related: Life, End, Film, Theatre)
"Our job is to make manifest the story, to be it. In a sense, the theatre is such a big star itself, bigger than any Shakespearean actor I could hire, that we should take the opportunity to fill it with voice and verse and movement, not interpretation."
- Mark Rylance
(Related: Opportunity, Actor, Job, Sense, Theatre, Voice)
"I started off in a small theatre performance company and worked my way into commercials."
- Devon Sawa
(Related: Performance, Company, Theatre)
"With a theatre audience there's always the additional sense of a sustained challenge of which I'm acutely aware and for which you need to have the tools ready - your voice, physicality, brain."
- Greta Scacchi
(Related: Challenge, Sense, Theatre, Tools, Voice)
"Theatre is a sacred space for actors. You are responsible; you are in the driving-seat."
- Greta Scacchi
(Related: Actors, Driving, Space, Theatre)
"Movies are a complicated collision of literature, theatre, music and all the visual arts."
- Yahoo Serious
(Related: Movies, Music, Literature, Theatre)
"Thirty years ago dinner theatre used to be much more of a going concern than it is now."
- Ted Shackelford
(Related: Concern, Now, Theatre, Years)
"I still think of myself as a stage actor. When I do film and television I try to implement what I was taught to do in theatre, to try to stretch into characters that are far from myself."
- Tony Shalhoub
(Related: Actor, Film, Television, Theatre)
"I've directed enough in the theatre and a couple of films to know that - to feel fairly secure that if I find a story that I really like I can probably get it done somewhat."
- Gary Sinise
(Related: Theatre)
"I come from a TV background, so for me this more like doing a freeing theatre piece because we'd go into a room and do the scene, instead of doing it as a wide shot, medium shot, and close up with only the odd line of dialogue."
- Jennifer Sky
(Related: Theatre)
"There's something about doing theatre in London - it sinks a little bit deeper into your soul as an actor. It's something about the tradition of theatre, about performing on the West End stage."
- Christian Slater
(Related: Soul, Actor, End, London, Theatre, Tradition)
"I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost - it's there and then it's gone."
- Maggie Smith
(Related: Performance, Theatre)
"I directed before I was even in television; I directed in the theatre for seven years, so that was my trade anyway. But in the UK, I've given up any hope of being considered a director."
- Mel Smith
(Related: Hope, Being, Television, Theatre, Trade, Years)
"All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists."
- Stephen Sondheim
(Related: Theatre)
"Pornography is a theatre of types, never of individuals."
- Susan Sontag
(Related: Pornography, Theatre)
"I grew up in the theatre. It's where I got my start. Writing a television drama with theatrical dialogue about the theatre is beyond perfection."
- Aaron Sorkin
(Related: Drama, Perfection, Television, Theatre, Writing)
"One of my beliefs is that there are certain institutions within a community which stand for the spirit and heart of that community, there's the church, the local football team, the local pub and the theatre."
- David Soul
(Related: Heart, Church, Beliefs, Community, Football, Spirit, Theatre)
"It's important to move the theatre into the 21st Century."
- David Soul
(Related: Theatre)
"If these theatres didn't exist, the tradition of British theatre would cease to exist."
- David Soul
(Related: Theatre, Tradition)
"The first perk of theatre is the girls."
- James Spader
(Related: First, Girls, Theatre)
"We can compare classical chess and rapid chess with theatre and cinema - some actors don't like the latter and prefer to work in the theatre."
- Boris Spassky
(Related: Work, Actors, Chess, Cinema, Theatre)
"Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it."
- Konstantin Stanislavisky
(Related: Theatre)
"On the last day of our five-day work week, we did two performances and we had an audience. It was similar to theatre; we went from beginning to end, and it was very pleasing."
- Jean Stapleton
(Related: Work, Beginning, Day, End, Theatre)
"I worked in rep for six years, then I came to London and to the National Theatre. What's better than that?"
- Imelda Staunton
(Related: London, Theatre, Years)
"I sometimes think that theatre is a torture."
- Juliet Stevenson
(Related: Theatre)
"For seven years I did very little theatre, and I have to make up some time."
- Patrick Stewart
(Related: Time, Theatre, Years)
"I realize I'm a very lucky man. I love what I do, I love films, TV and theatre, and the fact that I'm able to make a living at it staggers me."
- Eric Stoltz
(Related: Love, Fact, Living, Man, Theatre)
"I get bored at the theatre a lot because I notice that there's not always a connection between the actors. They may be technically proficient, but they're not surprising each other. I'm thrilled by actors who make choices that are surprising."
- Lusia Strus
(Related: Actors, Choices, Connection, May, Theatre)
"What draws me to the theatre, and what appealed to me about Too Much Light, is that you have no idea what's going to happen. That's the most exciting part of theatre, it's never the same. If it were, it would be like watching a movie."
- Lusia Strus
(Related: Idea, Light, Theatre)
"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."
- Lusia Strus
(Related: Play, Respect, Theatre)
"What I love about theatre is that it disappears as it happens."
- Lusia Strus
(Related: Love, Theatre)
"You can't go around the theatres handing out cards saying, 'It isn't my fault'. You go onto the next one."
- Preston Sturges
(Related: Cards, Fault, Saying)
"I did a play called Throne of Straw when I was 11, at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. It became really clear to me at that point that I enjoyed acting more than any other experience I was having."
- Kiefer Sutherland
(Related: Experience, Acting, Play, Theatre)
"I'd like to do some more classical work if I do some more theatre."
- Sarah Sutton
(Related: Work, Theatre)
"I do still like television very much, but the theatre does really have something special about it."
- Sarah Sutton
(Related: Television, Theatre)
"But I think theatre in a repressive society is an immensely exciting event and theatre in a luxurious old, affluent old society like ours is an entertaining event."
- Janet Suzman
(Related: Society, Old, Theatre)
"In this country, you have movie actors and theatre actors and television actors."
- Max von Sydow
(Related: Actors, Country, Television, Theatre)
"My plan is to have a theatre in some small town or something and I'll be manager. Ill be the crazy old movie guy."
- Quentin Tarantino
(Related: Manager, Old, Theatre)
"I like simple things. I like to sneak in the theatre and watch movies. I'm a movie buff."
- Justin Timberlake
(Related: Movies, Theatre)
"Because Chicago was to radio what Hollywood was to films and Broadway was to the theatre: it was the hub of radio."
- Mel Torme
(Related: Chicago, Hollywood)
"What I'm trying to do is find either existing properties or come up with properties or angles or stories which will create music drama. It's my obsession and most of all I would like to remain working in theatre. I think it's very much alive."
- Pete Townshend
(Related: Music, Drama, Obsession, Theatre, Trying, Will)
"What theatre started to look at much earlier than any other form was the internal operations of ordinary people, sometimes using mythic models in order to tell the story."
- Pete Townshend
(Related: People, Order, Theatre)
"Early British pop was helped tremendously by the writing of Bob Dylan who had proved you could write about political and quite controversial subjects. Certainly what we did followed on from what was happening with the angry young men in the theatre."
- Pete Townshend
(Related: Men, Theatre, Writing)
"This visible world is wonderfully to be delighted in, and highly to be esteemed, because it is the theatre of God's righteous Kingdom."
- Thomas Traherne
(Related: God, Theatre, World)
"The theatre fulfills, whereas the cinema is empty."
- Marie Trintignant
(Related: Cinema, Theatre)
"All TV can do is capture the spirit of a book because the medium is so utterly different. But I'm very grateful for the readers that Masterpiece Theatre has undoubtedly brought me."
- Joanna Trollope
(Related: Spirit, Theatre)
"I figured as I got older, the good roles for women would be in the theatre. So 15 years ago I started building a Broadway career to try and develop the chops to be accepted as a great theatrical actress."
- Kathleen Turner
(Related: Women, Building, Career, Theatre, Years)
"A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening."
- Kenneth Tynan
(Related: Time, Drama, Theatre)
"I did a little theatre work after that and the following year I got another part in a television series. Then it was almost to the end of the year before I got more work. That was coming to terms with the reality of the vocation I had chosen."
- Karl Urban
(Related: Work, End, Reality, Television, Theatre, Vocation)
"When I used to do musical theatre, my dad refused to come backstage. He never wanted to see the props up close or the sets up close. He didn't want to see the magic."
- Nia Vardalos
(Related: Dad, Magic, Theatre, Want)
"Every baseball crowd, like every theatre audience, has its own distinctive attitude and atmosphere."
- Bill Veeck
(Related: Attitude, Baseball, Theatre)
"In my freshman year in high school, I went to the only public high school in Boston with a theatre program."
- Donnie Wahlberg
(Related: Boston, Public, School, Theatre)
"On the one hand, young theatre directors were coming to television theatre, because they wanted to get closer to the cinema, despite having studied and worked for the theatre."
- Andrzej Wajda
(Related: Cinema, Television, Theatre)
"Nevertheless, in the theatre, and in the cinema, the contemporary reality of Poland has been represented only to a minuscule degree in the last 12 years."
- Andrzej Wajda
(Related: Cinema, Reality, Theatre, Years)
"It was progressively more difficult to find work in the theatre, as well."
- Andrzej Wajda
(Related: Work, Theatre)
"The difficulty of writing a good theatre play set in new reality was even greater given that the level of similitude to life that is allowed in a film would not work on the stage."
- Andrzej Wajda
(Related: Life, Work, Difficulty, Film, Play, Reality, Theatre, Writing)
"Television theatre, as is implied in its name, should rely on adaptations of scripts written for the theatre."
- Andrzej Wajda
(Related: Name, Television, Theatre)
"At the same time, television theatre became more visibly active."
- Andrzej Wajda
(Related: Time, Television, Theatre)
"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."
- Christopher Walken
(Related: Actor, Comedy, Theatre, Training)
"I never had any acting heroes. I never really went to the theatre."
- Julie Walters
(Related: Acting, Heroes, Theatre)
"It's a whole different kind of anxiety. But the great thing about doing a theatre job is that once the ball starts rolling you just have to go with it, it's inexorable."
- Emily Watson
(Related: Anxiety, Job, Theatre)
"Well the least favourite question is the one that one's asked particularly about in Japan is what's the difference between theatre and cinema and I think, well, that's about eighty bucks."
- Andrew Lloyd Webber
(Related: Cinema, Difference, Question, Theatre)
"It must have been an extraordinary time. I guess the worrying thing about musical theatre to me, is if you look at the London season this year, mine is actually the only one to have come in."
- Andrew Lloyd Webber
(Related: Time, London, Theatre)
"I think that the wonderful advantage we have in the film of being able to cast a girl as young as Emmy and which we couldn't do in the theatre of course because no girl of 16 or 17 could sing 8 shows a week, couldn't sing two."
- Andrew Lloyd Webber
(Related: Being, Film, Theatre)
"I guess we've had a very close relationship because I don't pretend to know about cinema and I think I do know a bit about theatre but he does, he respected that and so we really just had a collaboration which went completely like this."
- Andrew Lloyd Webber
(Related: Cinema, Collaboration, Theatre)
"I knew nothing about film at all. I suppose the biggest surprise is all these things. In the theatre we sort of do, I might do two or three key interviews and that would be it."
- Andrew Lloyd Webber
(Related: Film, Key, Nothing, Theatre)
"I have the terrible feeling that, because I am wearing a white beard and am sitting in the back of the theatre, you expect me to tell you the truth about something. These are the cheap seats, not Mount Sinai."
- Orson Welles
(Related: Truth, Feeling, Theatre)
"At heart, this job is about continuing to make great theatre for the people of Sheffield - a city I've known and loved since childhood."
- Samuel West
(Related: People, Heart, Childhood, Job, Theatre)
"Suddenly we saw that you could do plays about real life, and people had been doing them for some time, but they weren't always getting to the audiences. They were performed in little, tiny, theatres."
- Timothy West
(Related: Life, Time, People, Audiences)
"The newly decorated theatres produced things like car parks and restaurants, so you could have a good night out, quite cheaply without all that bother of having to go somewhere else."
- Timothy West
(Related: Car, Night, Restaurants)
"There was no real fringe theatre in London until way after the war, so either a play was done secretly with a club licence or it was done openly and had to be assessed along with everything else."
- Timothy West
(Related: War, London, Play, Theatre)
"In 1968 the Arts Council managed to get a grant from the treasury to buy up a lot of derelict touring theatres and put them back in the hands of the local authorities."
- Timothy West
"In spite of holidays when I was free to visit London theatres and explore the countryside, I spent four very miserable years as a colonial at an English school."
- Patrick White
(Related: English, Holidays, London, School, Visit, Years)
"I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being."
- Oscar Wilde
(Related: Art, Being, Sense, Theatre)
"The theatre is supremely fitted to say: 'Behold! These things are.' Yet most dramatists employ it to say: 'This moral truth can be learned from beholding this action.'"
- Thornton Wilder
(Related: Truth, Action, Theatre)
"Whether it was working on theatre sets or stage lighting, I didn't realize most all of the skills I was exposed to were going to come in handy later on when I became a designer."
- Douglas Wilson
(Related: Theatre)
"In fact, one was so booked out we went from March and were to go till November, but the pantomime was booked so they transferred the show to the Prince of Wales Theatre because it was so packed out, and it ran on from there."
- Norman Wisdom
(Related: Fact, March, Theatre)
"But, you see, the theatre is not always art in America."
- Beatrice Wood
(Related: Art, America, Theatre)
"Every time I listened to Lux Radio Theatre, I wanted to vomit."
- Dick York
(Related: Time, Theatre)