John Tiffany Quotes
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Broadway is full of crazy people.
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We never want to update 'Black Watch,' because it's about a moment in time, and through that moment, it manages to speak about Afghanistan and all other wars. This play is 'about' Iraq, but it's actually about every war that's ever been or will ever be.
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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.
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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.
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I'll always have a relationship with Scotland.
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My need is about communicating the whole, and when the whole is there in the text and in what the actors are doing, then it doesn't need 'frou-frou,' as I call it.
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I did a couple of short films when I was in Scotland.
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Some actors just have a quality, a way of combining music and character and story, where everything just falls into place.
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I don't know how films get made, and I think I'll leave it to other people.
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I never get star-struck. I never fanboy. Ever, ever, ever.
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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!'
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Where film can eat up story, theatre needs space and breath.
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It blows my mind that you get Shakespeare where the 'low' comedy characters have got Northern or Welsh accents.
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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.
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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.'
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I've never understood why anyone would want to join the army, but that's irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that, as long as we go on voting in governments who are prepared to take troops into an illegal war, that army is a necessity.
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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.
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I suppose the key for me is about opening up experiences and untold stories to audiences.
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We just don't need any more 'Macbeth's in the world, however brilliant mine might turn out to be.
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I'm fascinated to see how 'Black Watch' connects with an American audience.
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I tend to work quite a lot during the weekends. My weekend can often be about two hours on Sunday.