Is it acting a true vocation?... I say it is a gift...And fame? Neither sought nor expected... still confounds and amazes and disturbs. Whatever the reason... I am so very delighted that it did happen... I would not have missed it for the world.

The last word always belongs to the audience. ... Yes, that is a most powerful feeling. One that is worth savouring on dark nights when the wind blows. On the other hand, there is no way of ever knowing, when one steps out into that circle, if the connection will be made.

Knowing that one dies... has brought with it a peace that before was elusive to say the least... it is useless, if at times pleasurable, to fantasise about the future. It is not here and it is not known. In the same way the past is just that. Past. Gone. To be relinquished. 'What's done cannot be undone.' Now is what it's about... Life is still to be lived, suffered, enjoyed, battled over.

Is it acting a true vocation?... I say it is a gift...And fame? Neither sought nor expected... still confounds and amazes and disturbs. Whatever the reason... I am so very delighted that it did happen... I would not have missed it for the world.

But now, the final feeling... is one of gratitude that the journey was undertaken. Looking at the past has meant, for the first time, being able to let it go.

I truly feel absolutely at home on the stage. It's very comfortable to me. It's very much my workplace, very much my workplace. I feel that an audience and I are happy with one another. I'm grateful for that.