Vincent Canby Quotes

There's a playwright named S.M. Berryman, Sam Berryman, who wrote these kinds of social comedies. They are actually extremely sharp and still quite provocative.

I love period dramas and language, but I love comedy as well.

What's the funniest play ever written? I used to think it was 'Noises Off,' but now that I've seen 'The Liar,' I'm not so sure.

There's this weird kind of coming-in-from-left-field thing going on, and I love it - I am a huge fan of Christopher Durang.

In terms of sheer pleasure, Tom Stoppard was very big for me because he is so funny and so smart, and it felt delicious reading him.

'Arcadia' is obviously a play that's got interesting things in it that are perhaps quite hard to grasp.

I actually feel that all drama has an element of comedy in it. A great deal of that I learned from writers like Chekhov who called his plays his comedy even when they touch on tragedy.

Divers alarums and excursions', she read, uncertainly. 'That means lots of terrible happenings, said Magrat. 'You always put that in plays.' Alarums and what?', said Nanny Ogg, who hadn't been listening. Excursions', said Magrat patienly. Oh.' Nanny Ogg brightened a bit. 'The seaside would be nice,' she said. Oh do shut up, Gytha,' said Granny Weatherwax. 'They're not for you. They're only for divers, like it says. Probably so they can recover from all them alarums.

If I weren't performing, there is a real chance that I would be a 'One Man, Two Guvnors' groupie. I think that production is masterful in every way.

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

There is still a lot to be said for the well-made, witty, clever, three-act comedy.

I've always wanted to do a Shakespeare play.

When I was a playwright earlier in my career - my senior project in high school was my first produced play - I used to put on the title page: 'A tragedy with laughs.'

The first professional play I ever saw was The Importance Of Being Earnest, and I just fell in love.

First of all, Shakespeare is about pleasure and interest. He was from the first moment he actually wrote something for the stage, and he remains so.

I'd love to play some kind of fop.

I think good comedy is a commitment to the absurd in that the situation for the actors should be virtually played like a drama.

I would love to play Richard III.

I did 'Love's Labour's Lost' in the theater and found it to be riotously funny.

There's a certain rhythm to comedy that is almost like you're dancing and you just go on autopilot, so to speak. There's something just beautifully enjoyable about comedy in that respect. It's a joy to be able to do that. Drama, you get to go to depths that you haven't gone to before.

I was in the play 'Fat Pig in the West End,' which is a comedy but has dramatic moments.

'Harvey' continues to be both a charming and hilarious play.

I fell in love with 19th-century Russian plays.

I'm not funny ha-ha, but I look for real humour in just about everything I've ever played.

I've always loved absurdism and plays of that genre. I think that my humour is very much rooted in theatre and drama.