Top 85 Quotes & Sayings by John Tiffany

It couldn't interest me less, the idea of putting a living room on stage. I just think, what's the point of walking into a theater to see a living room? A sofa in a forest? Now you're talking.

I don't think it's good, culturally, to base all critical judgments on a single performance.

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.

The only thing I fear is when people say, 'I should go to the theatre more.' I say, 'We should create work that makes you not have a choice.'

In theatre, previews are the first draft of a show. I strongly believe that. The only way we can truly tell whether that draft works is by having an audience present.

One of my favorite things to read in the 'Observer' is the restaurant review by Jay Rayner. I love reading about these restaurants that I won't ever have the time to go to.

I worked on new plays at the Traverse and did my best work in Scotland for years, so I never had ambitions for things like Disney.

We just don't need any more 'Macbeth's in the world, however brilliant mine might turn out to be.

The whole notion of never growing up is incredibly intense and emotional.

I hate rules. I hate 'This is the way things are done'. I hate a lack of reinvention. I hate theatre as an archeological exercise. Theatre needs to be urgent.

Pinocchio's really naughty. He's all impulse: 'I want to sleep now. I want to eat that. I want to run off to Pleasure Island.' It's commedia dell'arte meets Grimm's tales.

'Philistines' was so beautiful, and it bored me to death. I never want to see another production where the rain splashes against a window and actors wander around in drab cardigans saying, 'I'm so bored.'

When you're growing up, it's very easy to feel lonely and insecure.

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

I realise that there's something about fantasy, whether it's written by the Grimm Brothers or J. K. Rowling or Thorne or J. M. Barrie, that it gets closer to the human experience than realism every could.

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!'

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

I've never felt opera was a party I've been invited to, and maybe I've got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about it.

Austerity has led us to a terrible philosophy where we think we've got to cut back on everything that's 'frippery', like the arts.

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.

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.

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.

I don't know how films get made, and I think I'll leave it to other people.

I had a lovely time growing up. But I was very aware of the miners' strike going on, friends' families collapsing, and people being unemployed.

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

Broadway is full of crazy people.

I looked into putting 'Doctor' on my license. But the insurance premium is higher, so I don't think I'll bother.

I never get star-struck. I never fanboy. Ever, ever, ever.

The physicality of a production needs evolution and breath.

I do like horror films, but I wouldn't ever be interested in putting a horror on stage - blood doesn't equal horror.

I was pre-med at Glasgow University. I was from a family who were of the mind that if you were clever enough to be a doctor or a lawyer, why wouldn't you be?

A first preview is not exactly a pleasant experience for directors and actors. You're never as raw as when the audience first comes in.

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

I don't think that just because people will pay a certain amount for a ticket that it's all right to charge it.

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.

I studied theatre at Glasgow University and then was lucky enough to land a scholarship with a theatre group in Edinburgh.

In film, if you've got to do a scene in a swimming pool, you do a scene in a swimming pool. If you've got to blow up a car, you blow up a car. In theater, you can't do that, and therefore, you have the opportunity to engage the audience's imagination in a way that's rich.

I tend to work quite a lot during the weekends. My weekend can often be about two hours on Sunday.

When I get really down, I remember that we all share 99.99 per cent of our DNA with Beyonce. And suddenly, the world doesn't seem too bleak.

If you're going to be hosting any event or a performance or having dinner with people after a performance, it is work, but it's also social: food and a glass of wine would be involved often.

Even with the success of 'Once,' I can't think about making theater straight for Broadway. Too nerve-racking.

How do we compete with the 3D superscreens at the cineplex? We just make it better - because theatre is better because it's live. Instead of trying to be like the poor cousin, we need to accept that we're the king.

The power of imagination is infinite.

'Black Watch' has taken its place in the canon of Scottish theatre, and that's fantastic. It's a very particular kind of theatre. It's about the music, the movement, the whole 'event' of it.

I don't like the idea of stepping-stones in art forms: that you do your time at a regional theatre, and then you work in London and go to the West End, and then you do films. I've never felt like following that trajectory.

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

I think associate director jobs are the best in the world, because you can do what you want and not have to take responsibility for it!

I have a personal issue with Shakespeare. When I first encountered him, he made me feel thick. Well, not him, but the productions I saw.

I did a couple of short films when I was in Scotland.

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.

No space should be safe from 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.

I'm never going to stop making theatre, but I don't think I'll make it as much, because I don't need to. There are other things I want to do with my life. I want to sit by the sea in Yorkshire and eat Eccles cakes and spend time with my family.

It blows my mind that you get Shakespeare where the 'low' comedy characters have got Northern or Welsh accents.

There are some actors who see a show as something to do before going out.

I suppose the key for me is about opening up experiences and untold stories to audiences.

Whenever I'd seen Greek tragedy done with masks and declamations, it brought me out in a rash.

'Thou shalt not bore' is a commandment that should be at the centre of our ambitions.

Theatre is a living organism. You only know if your show is working when you see it with an audience. You can also tell when it isn't working - it's horrible, and you desperately try to figure out how to make it connect.

I want to understand the anger in the world.