There's very little in the substance of [THE LADY IN THE VAN] which is not fact though some adjustments have had to be made. Over the years Miss Shepherd was visited by a succession of social workers so the character in the play is a composite figure. . . . A composite too are the neighbours, Pauline and Rufus, though I have made Rufus a publisher in remembrance of my neighbour, the late Colin Haycraft, the proprietor of Duckworth's.

Were we closer to the ground as children, or is the grass emptier now?

I write plays about things that I can't resolve in my mind. I try to root things out.

I saw someone peeing in Jermym Street the other day. I thought, is this the end of civilization as we know it? Or is it simply someone peeing in Jermyn Street?

Standards are always out of date. That's what makes them standards.

Clichés can be quite fun. That's how they got to be clichés.

Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds.