Opening a play is just tough. The idea that actors are weirdly protected from it is a myth. If you imagine yourself having to spend two and a bit hours cooking bolognaise, remembering a whole major work by David Hare and speaking it at the correct moment between chopping carrots and stirring the onions in front of an audience - the normal human response is 'Please, can I go to the airport?'

I'm not good at watching myself which I think is perfectly natural. I don't give myself a hard time about it. I am the worst critic.

I used to think that prizes were damaging and divisive, until I got one, and now they seem sort of meaningful and important.

Never go anywhere you have to wear brown shoes.

Emma Watson is adorable in the extreme. She is such a lovely person.

You tell yourself that you're not auditioning but of course you work like crazy, and you prepare like mad. And you think, "Well, I won't get that job. But maybe they'll have another job sometime, and they'll remember that I was good."

When I do a play, it's like agreeing to be ill for a couple of months.