Conor McPherson

“I guess I'm attracted and repelled by isolation. It scares me. And it's why I tend to write about older characters, too, because for them the stakes are somewhat higher.”

“I just want the actors to put their faith in the language. Just let the words do the work.”

“The young person isn't certain that love can be real; the middle-aged man is only discovering that it is; and the older person seems so sure of it. I was interested in the way that many of us go through the whole of our lives staying with someone just out of complacency, because leaving isn't easy.”

“I have a theory about Ireland, being at the edge of Europe. For 1,000 years, people didn't know what was beyond. But we thought about it - a lot. And that 'beyond' became internalized in our psyche.”

“I'm not a good storyteller - I much prefer to be with people who are chatty, to have the luxury of listening.”

“I'm living as an artist, and that's a staggering feeling, it's a total luxury. And because you have this amazing chance, with so much freedom, I'm determined to make something that is worth that. I feel this responsibility - to create something that makes an audience feel, which takes them somewhere. But that's very hard to achieve.”

“We know so little of the why, what the universe is, what infinity is. The veil around us is very fragile.”

“If I wasn't plagued by needing to write things, that would perhaps be a blessing.”

“I'm anxious about work, the future, friendships, past relationships... I'm just one of those people that, whatever I'm doing, it's a big worry.”