theatrical versatility Quotes

I'm as happy doing 'Postman Pat' as I am doing 'Hamlet.'

If I'm going to be honest with you, when I trained at school, I feel like I was training to be a chameleon. I want to be that versatile actor who can do anything - that's why you learn fifty different dialects, you do Shakespeare, you do commedia, you do it all so that if any job comes your way, you should be able to do it.

When I first started getting into acting, I was doing improv in acting class, and I had done a serious monologue and everyone was cracking up laughing and I went to the drama teacher and said I don't want to be the class clown anymore, I want to do serious work, too, and they loved that, and so I started mixing in drama.

There seem to be two sorts of actors. Some people play themselves marvellously, and others, like me, rather like to become someone else.

I come from the theatre where there are no boundaries to the style you're doing; you're doing Molière, then you're doing Chekhov and then you're doing Arthur Miller in a season and no-one bats an eye.

I'll always be figuring out what parts I want to play, because I want to play all parts. I'm a very hungry actress.

I want to do roles that no one else has ever done, which I know is difficult.

A frequent change of role, and of the lighter sort - especially such as one does not like forcing one's self to use the very utmost of his ability in the performance of - is the training requisite for a mastery of the actor's art.

I was desperate to do more TV and film. Because I considered myself to be a theater creature. A theater animal. I was convinced that I was going to be onstage for the rest of my life. Because it's something I can really do. I thought I was pretty good at it, and it's kind of stupid, but I was concerned that people would go, "Oh yeah, he's very good onstage, I'm not sure he can do television."

With that incredible voice that he [Alan Rickman] could play like a sort of wonderful instrument, like a cello or something. He played his voice, and he could be the most subtle of actors. And he could also be quite a big actor. He could do the grandiose performances as well.

All of my favorite actresses are comedians at heart: Shirley MacLaine and Madeline Kahn, Diane Keaton and Debra Winger. And they are all amazing dramatic actresses, but everything they do is funny.

I like doing everything - theater and film, radio and TV, comedy and tragedy. I love it all. And I've never really planned anything - I've always looked at my job in a rather simplistic way. It's like being a plumber. One day you might be fixing an early 20th century showerhead that requires real detailed work. The other day you might just be clearing a sewer. Both jobs are very different, but all the tools come out of the same box. That's the way I look at acting.

I'm not a good actor, I can play myself and a much gayer version of myself. That's my range.

Acting in different languages doesn't stop you from growing; on the contrary, for an artiste, it helps a lot.

I think any actor hopes to have variety and range in what they do. Everybody has a certain range, so you take on roles to expand that the best you can... See things a little differently and whatnot.

I would love, more than anything, to do an out-and-out farce with huge physical energy. Just because you're from the minimalist school, it doesn't mean you can't go big.

Of course, every actor has their box and you have to respect and play for it, but I do love challenging myself. I love every role to be new, and I always like to bring a freshness to every character I play.

That's not part of me that I have to do something dark to prove to people that I'm an actor. The fuel for me is the laugh. Maybe later I'll want to show people the darker side... But right now, I'm having too much fan making people laugh. And it really makes me feel good.

Change is vital to any actor. If you keep playing lead after lead, you're really gonna dry up. Because all those vehicles wean you away from the truths of human behaviour.

I just want to do as many utterly different parts as I can get. Variety teaches you to act, and it keeps you fresh in your approach.

I've done a lot of weird, otherworldly characters, and I think I'm at my best when I'm kind of in the woods running around screaming or depressed.

I would like to work in both comedy and drama. I'd love to do a really juicy drama that's just really real.

I've pretty much played every regional accent you can play in the U.K. I've played German, French, Arabic; I've been Jordanian, Lebanese. I've covered a lot of ground.

My husband, who's the greatest actor in the world, can do anything. Look at what he did in The Critic and Oedipus. In every role he gets-he did this in Richard the Third-there's nothing he can't do, nothing. Just nothing.

You can only do so many serious dramas in a row before you want to break. You want a change.