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It's a very bleak play, but there is some final sense of redemption. 'Coriolanus' shows mercy, a Christian virtue in an otherwise un-Christian world.
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The 'Mahabharata' is a more complex and longer saga than the 'Ramayana,' which is like a fairy tale. It's much lighter and more fun, and at its heart, there's a cracking love story.
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Directing is extrovert and gregarious; writing is isolating, introverted, and lonely.
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Perhaps I'm temperamentally driven to see things from the point of view of the attacked rather than the attacker.
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As a director, I start with the visual.
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You can't cast Hittites as Trojans; I'd love to do it, but sadly, there are none available!
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I think Le Carre is a great modernist writer, which is to say, in a godless world, he invokes deep, almost religious ideas of betrayal, trust, faith, and that's why we love it.
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'Hamlet' is so modern; 'Coriolanus' is utterly alien to our consciousness, and that makes it difficult for us.
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The 'Ramayana' explores the limits of secular freedom and the limits of religion.
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The forest has always been a place, in fairy tales and in Shakespeare, where you go and discover who you are. You get stripped of everything you thought you were, some type of ordeal takes place, and you come out stronger.
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The thriller protagonist is really just us in extremis. He or she is this individual who is placed under enormous pressure, has huge moral dilemmas and decisions to make.
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To try to convey literally what the Garden of Eden was like is meaningless. What matters is its symbolic function.
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Most Robin Hood stories are not very exciting. There are not a lot of surprises.
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'Hamlet' is a play of many strange parts, with ghosts and players, politicians and clowns.