Ken Kesey Quotes

I write my plays to create an excuse for full-tilt acting and performing.

It's communication - that's what theatre is all about.

Directing is something I always wanted to do. I started when I was 13 directing scenes in high school and then plays in college with my theatre company.

When it is good, theatre takes a lot of beating both to watch and perform.

But what is drama? Broadly speaking, it is whatever by imitative action rouses interest or gives pleasure.

Performing on stage is my first love - it's why I wanted to be an actor in the first place - and 'Arcadia' is the highlight of my career so far. I love the intimacy of a live theatre audience - you can really squeeze every last drop out of each scene.

For me, a play is a form of writing which isn't complete until it is interpreted by actors. But it's still a form of writing. And so most of my time is spent thinking about how to write a sentence.

I enjoy working on stage. Having relationships with the audiences and question and answer sessions afterwards. I enjoy that.

The best thing about theatre is that every time we get onstage, the show is new.

Theatre is highly satisfying in terms of words. You get to speak in monologues; words drive the action.

As rewarding as a good film role can be, there is just nothing like getting up on a stage and taking an audience for a ride.

I went to a performance of 'The Crucible' at the Guthrie when I was a sophomore in high school, and I knew right away that that's what I wanted to do.

I've always really liked theater. It fascinated me. You can create a reality and get people involved in that reality. It takes place in real time.

I still feel I belong to the theatre. There is nothing more challenging and exciting for an actor than performing before a live audience. The stage is the real testing ground for an actor.

I love theatre because it's just me and the audience. It's the litmus test in acting, to be able to sustain a performance over one, two or three hours.

I'm always in disguise in one form or another in my plays.

I love the simple poetry of theater, where you can stand in a spotlight on a stage and wrap a coat around you, and say, 'It was 1860 and it was winter...'

I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.

The play is a marvelous form, but it demands less than a novel.

Acting is a sport - especially working with Mark Rylance. There is competition involved. I have to be muscular, challenging, get audiences on side. It's extraordinary how Globe audiences join in - it's like competing at an event - I love it.

If I had my druthers, I would do only stage work.

What I love about a play is that it's such an investment because only time can create a lot of what happens onstage.

There's nothing like a play. It's so immediate and every performance is different. As an actor, you have the most control over what the audience is seeing.

Two of the first plays I saw after I arrived in Britain were 'King Lear' in Liverpool, and 'Antony and Cleopatra' at Stratford. One was produced with hardly a backdrop and the other with gigantic scene changes. I was impressed by what connected the two: the words and their life beyond the stage.

There is so much freedom I enjoy in theatre. In films, the roles are limited.