Theatre Quotes

Good actors are good because of the things they can tell us without talking. When they are talking they are the slaves of the dramatist. It is what they can show the audience when they are not talking that reveals the fine actor.

Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly.

A good actor makes clear the meaning of the words. A better actor gives also the emotion of the part. The best actor adds emotion of which the character is unconscious.

It is very hard to cast a number of plays adequately from the same company of actors without several parts being miscast.

The truth is that the spectators are always in their senses, and know, from the first act to the last, that the stage is only a stage, and that the players are only players.

A stage set should not make a pretty picture of its own. The empty stage should look formal and pleasing, but should seem to be waiting for the action to complete it; it should not hold definite significance in itself.

A play is a painting that moves. Instead of it holding still, and you are looking at it, you hold still and it scrolls by.

Next to a tenor, a wardrobe woman is the touchiest thing in show business. [Birdie, in All About Eve]

If I am so insistent about the bright lights, both the stage and house lights, it is because I should in some way like both actors and audience to be caught up n the same illumination, and for there to be no place for them to hide, or even half-hide.