Each time I sit down and write a play I try to dismiss from my mind as much as I possibly can the implications of what I've done before, what I'm going to do, what other people think about my work, the failure or success of the previous play. I'm stuck with a new reality that I've got to create.

If the work of art is good enough, it must not be criticized for its theme. I don't think it can be argued.

I think you remember everything ... you just can't bring it to mind all the time.

As a playwright, I imagine that in one fashion or another I've been influenced by every single play I've ever experienced.

To write a play one must be born a playwright. Otherwise, you're starting at a huge disadvantage.

Your source material is the people you know, not those you don't know, but every character is an extension of the author's own personality.

If you examine the history of any playwright of the past twenty - five or thirty years - I'm not talking about the comedy boys, I'm talking about the more serious writers - it seems inevitable that almost every one has been encouraged until the critics feel that they have built them up beyond the point where they can control them; then it's time to knock them down again.