Jonathan Pryce Quotes

I was a repertory actor, which meant that I did a play every week. I was a different character every week; for a year, I was doing 40 or 50 characters.

I am really not of the school of naturalism. I like style, and you can use more style in theater than in film roles. I love to sink my teeth into a part.

I would love to play Bobby in 'Company.' Also, I would love to play George in 'Sunday.'

When I'm doing a play like 'Betrayal,' I have to be careful not to get stimulation overload.

I expect at some point I'll probably want to go back on stage and do some theater, because I've not done theater in 10 years.

I don't like being away from theater that long. The muscles get atrophied if you don't exercise them.

An actor is an impersonator; he plays many different roles. If you played the same role all the time, God - that'd be a boring career. When you take on different roles and become a different person, that's called acting... It's a challenge.

I'd also like to do a play. I've never done theater, and constantly changing and refining a performance is something I'd like to do, even though it may sound like work to some people - and it probably is work.

Having done a lot of theater, I'm used to sustaining characters over long periods of time.

If you can sell that you're the King of Scotland, or Henry V on a tiny stage in a studio theater somewhere, then you can probably sell that you're a starship captain or a time traveler.

I think my best teacher and my best study was theater in general. It taught me a lot of patience and a lot of hard work, and I think that theater teaches you that you've got to know your stuff because you only get one chance.

I did Shakespeare in college, and the nerves I got doing Shakespeare are the same nerves I get doing 'Mad Men.' I want to get the dialogue just spot-on.

Acting on stage is still my favorite thing to do. And everyone who's been in musicals knows that there is nothing more fun.

As an actor, you should be willing to take challenges.

If I really buckle down, I think one day I could be a very good actress.

People may know me from films, but theater is my first love. I did about 35 plays before I even landed my first screen role. I'm very comfortable on stage, and theater is not something you can just wing.

From the time I was five years old, theater was all I knew. I did community theater; I went to theater school. It's like going to the gym as an actor: every single night, you have to recreate the illusion of the first time, so you really have to listen and connect and stay in the moment for an hour and a half - with no breaks.

I find it difficult to work if I don't know the lines, you know, and not just knowing - they're second nature to me. Then, whatever happens in the performance when you're actually doing it, you're not going to go off. You're going to retain all of that. So I like to have my lines.

I'm an actor and I'm able to do a lot of things and play a lot of characters.

I really want to act and act in great roles, which have scope of performance.

In theater acting, you leave that night and what it was is what it was.

I don't mind being identified as any character as long as I'm doing a good job as an actor. I have done all kinds of roles - from an editor, judge, police officer, murderer to a corrupt businessman.

It's very good for me to remember what actors go through.

There's nowhere to hide in the theatre. You can't be the one in rehearsal who doesn't know their lines.

Acting is ephemeral. You can't hang it on a wall. You can't throw it off. And you can't bring it out of a closet. It's there one night and it's gone the next, at least with stage acting anyhow.