Lee Hall Quotes

I used to be called a post-modern clown. But now, post-modernism is a quaint notion, too.

Cinema for me only has meaning when it has a relationship with what I see outside on the street.

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.

Art is the close scrutiny of reality and therefore I put on the stage only those things that I know happen in our society.

The whole history of civilization is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.

We live in a world of crisis, of challenge, and... it's in our galleries that we can unpack the civilizations that we're seeing the current manifestations of.

We need art more than ever as we stagger toward the Millennium.

London theatre is different: it is a commercial theatre that brings the whole of society into one place. And Shakespeare grasped, better than anyone else, what it means to engage the entire audience.

The most distinguished hallmark of the American society is and always has been change.

I still feel that a movie has to attempt to say something - even if it fails miserably. But I've sort of given up on believing that I'm going to change the world with every film I choose to act in.

Basically, an artist should be a mirror, or a reflection of society or his or her environment. What you see is what you can articulate.

Cinema is a reflection of its own society.

A theatre, a literature, an artistic expression that does not speak for its own time has no relevance.

The theatre is a spiritual and social X-ray of its time.

Acting is such a huge part of my life. It really allows me to have a creative outlet and to actually be able to have an outlet to discuss openly the things that truly I think are relevant in the world, that make a difference.

I've always thought of acting as a tool to change society. I watch a lot of actors and I see panic in their eyes because they don't know why they act and I know why I act. Whether I'm a good or a bad actor, I know why I do it.

A culture produces ideas which are being explored, which of interest to that culture at that moment. And I think one of the things a writer can do is to take those ideas and go a bit further with them.

I spent so many years of my life as a stage actor and when you do all these plays, a lot of really great plays are very politically driven. They deal with deep social issues, and that's the kind of stuff that I love, as an audience member.

What I do believe is theatre is a medium with a peculiar ability to air vital issues.

A playwright can drop a little acid in the water and it washes away a lot of rust.

A society based on … reality must reconcile in its life, the categories of permanence and change.

I don't think people change; electronics change, the things we have change, but the way we live doesn't change.

I think new plays are vastly more surprising and challenging and inspiring; I hear from audiences all the time that they are delighted when they see plays about the world we live in now, at this moment.

All songs, all pieces of art, reflect the world that they were made in and the values of those artists and the hopes and aspirations of the people who listen to that music and who made that music.

Roja,' 'Bombay' and 'Dil Se' weren't planned as political films. It was a phase India was going through and these things affected me and found their way into my work.