Marianne Elliott

“What I really would like to see is more female stories out there. Particularly older female stories, because women are predominantly ticket-buyers.”

“I've enjoyed lots of productions, and it's always been down to the actors I've been working with.”

“If you put a blank canvas in front of Matisse and say, 'This has to be a success,' who's going to pick up a paintbrush?”

“Directors have this mask of being in control and in charge, but underneath, I'm terrified.”

“I would like to see more female stories out there, particularly older female stories.”

“Having a child is all-consuming; so is doing a play.”

“I think theater is so undervalued. I have seen things there that have been far more vivid than things that actually have happened.”

“I worked in casting for about five years before I became a director, and that taught me a huge amount because you never actually will see the character walk through the door - and if you do, then you have to be slightly suspicious of that.”

“If you are working in a publicly subsidized building, then you have a responsibility to deliver truly interesting, risky, innovative, even provocative work. Work that speaks to your audience in many resonant ways. The priority is less about the financial rewards.”

“I'm interested in teasing out the contemporary issues in what I'm working on, however old the piece might be, whenever I'm working on it.”

“'Friends' is easy to dismiss, but it's really good television - the art with which those actors play with comedy shouldn't be denigrated. And they also know how to play irony, which I think a lot of English actors might find quite difficult.”

“I was 28 before I started putting on productions. I got in the back door by doing fringe shows and a lot of assisting, and I learned on the job. There weren't many female directors when I was starting out. I slowly gained confidence and understanding of the theater, but on my own terms.”

“It's incredible how London-centric the theatre world is. Certain actors won't travel away from London anymore for work; practitioners often aren't taken seriously enough unless their work is seen in London; and it's sometimes very difficult to get national critics to review shows - especially if there's a clash with a London press night.”

“I'm very much of the opinion that theatre is a collective art form, not just one person's vision.”

“'War Horse' is just an extraordinary being.”

“With everything I do, there always seems to be a massive risk involved.”

“If you can't see it, you can't be it. It's just having those brilliant women break out and do something - then other girls can say, 'I can do it, too!'”

“I always wanted to beat my own path.”

“A bad audition is usually the director's fault, not the actor's. It's up to the director to get the atmosphere right to get the best out of your auditionees.”

“I had done drama at university, but I never thought I could be a director. There were so few female directors then. I just assumed you had to be a man to be a director. I also assumed you had to be extremely authoritarian and extremely intellectual, none of which I was.”