I know some actresses who used to be older than me who are now younger than me - I don't know how they do it.

My parents were not theatrical at all.

I think all good writing is a struggle. To write as well as you feel you can has to be a struggle, almost by definition, because you could always improve.

I am proud of my cake-making image but life is not that perfect. There are socks in my fruit bowl.

Listening to my regular favourites - Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and so on - I always feel, quite misguidedly, that nothing can be too bad if such beauty and brilliance exists in the world.

The rehearsal time is almost my favourite part of being an actress, particularly if you're working on a play that hasn't been done before.

I look at myself objectively and in a way I see myself as a commodity. Your name becomes somehow outside yourself. Now, when I'm at home being Mrs. Scarfe, that's when I'm most myself.