Theatre quotes
975 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside theatre — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"Today, [theatre's] more likely to be consciously not aimed at the public, but at a more sophisticated or educated public. . . . The result is that some of the sheer humanity has leaked out of the enterprise."
"Every character is a part of you and a part of the character that you are going to evolve into that you are not yet."
"I listened to a lot of tapes of British theatre actresses and tried to learn from them. As Americans, we don't have such a gift with language."
"My working history as an actor is definitely in the theatre; it certainly was in Australia."
"Mankind's common instinct for reality has always held the world to be essentially a theatre for heroism."
"I started in theatre, and for me, it was all about transformation. You transform into the character that you're playing."
"Why did I write? Because I found life unsatisfactory."
"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."
"When a culture is being dumbed down as effectively as ours is, its narrative arts (literature, film, theatre) seem to vacillate between the brutal and the bland, sometimes in the same work."
"I used to love stage above all, but that was when I was a single man. As I get older, the time commitment gets harder for theatre."
"Wyndham's is a beautiful old theatre. The sensation on the stage isn't as different as you might think from the Royal Court."
"I like going into a school matinee. I like to be behind the stage because there's a spy-hole and what you see is the best moment in all theatre."
"If an irreducible distinction between theatre and cinema does exist, it may be this: Theatre is confined to a logical or continuous use of space. Cinemahas access to an alogical or discontinuous use of space."
"Pornography is a theatre of types, never of individuals."
"Prayer doesn't sound like a cool hot topic that would cause people to rush to the theatre, stand in line, and buy tickets about prayer."
"I'm not real. I'm theatre."
"I am a woman of theatre, I'm a librarian of theatre and I love all different kinds of music and all different kinds of expressions."
"Like I said, when all of that goes away and you just completely lose yourself in the fantasy of it, then that's usually when I walk out of the theatre or turn off the television and just go: "That was brilliant!""
"When I first did theatre, I was always doing comedies; it was always my first love. But it wasn't what I was picked for at first, for films and TV."
"I love musical theatre because I love doing a live performance eight times a week."
