John Tiffany

“When I realised, on 'The Straits,' that physical work in the theatre takes much longer than directing scenes, it was like a eureka moment. If you want to work physically, you have to accommodate it, and it takes a disproportionate amount of time.”

“I was obsessed with theatre and loving the work of Caryl Churchill, Edward Bond, Howard Brenton, and Howard Barker, people doing real formal experimentation. But 'Road' was the first time I'd read a play written in a very true Northern dialect that seemed to have that excitement running through it.”

“Where film can eat up story, theatre needs space and breath.”

“The more everything gets digitalised, the more precious the live experience of going to the theatre is.”

“Only when you don't impose things on it do you get real political theatre.”

“I love singing, and I used to perform quite a lot, but now, as a director, you just tend to watch other people perform and tell them what to do.”

“Theatre is a playground. It really is, and we should use that playground more.”

“When I sold my flat in Glasgow, I bought a little cottage on the North Yorkshire coast. Whenever we go up from London to stay there, I'm just like, 'I'm home! I'm home in Bronte-land!'”

“Trump is like an eater of worlds from an 'Avengers' movie, but there seem to be different rules for him. What are Twitter doing, for example? He's constantly breaking their rules, the sort of stuff other people get thrown off for.”

“I'm a sucker for emotionally exploitative cello.”

“Sometimes on Broadway, you don't know who the investors are, and you end up making a million dollars for somebody awful.”

“'Peter Pan' makes 'Black Watch' and 'The Bacchae' look like a walk in the park.”

“Sometimes it should be the job of Broadway to introduce stars as well as cast them.”

“Some actors just have a quality, a way of combining music and character and story, where everything just falls into place.”

“You can only make the work that you have to make. And I am old enough now to know that I can't start making shows that are going to win awards. That way madness lies.”

“One of the things I realised as I learned to manage a rehearsal room is that the best idea always has to win, and it doesn't matter where the idea comes from.”

“I thought a director was like a pillow who sat under the writer, supporting them and submitting to their vision. It took me a long time to realise that what a writer really wants is a production that matches the play and the writing. It is the only way the play can achieve its full potential.”

“I know Australians are no strangers to pubs, but in the U.K., the pub is a real meeting place because the houses can be quite small, so the pub is an extension of the living space.”

“For me, there is a real line between something being the worst thing in the world and the best thing in the world.”

“'West Side Story' is one of the greatest theatrical experiences I've had.”