Stamps from Afghanistan are hilarious. You can tell when the revolutions are because suddenly they stop having pictures of the mullahs and the independence monument and they start having fish on them.

If you play a part that's been done before, on stage for instance, you feel like you're carrying a torch and staggering under the weight of it for a bit and then passing it on to somebody else.

Im lucky enough to work with, I think, the greatest writer theres ever been, Shakespeare. Whose collected works would always be under my pillow if I was only ever allowed one book to keep, and who never bores me.

What I do believe is theatre is a medium with a peculiar ability to air vital issues.

What did my parents say when I told them I wanted to be an actor? 'Be a plumber.'

The idea that if you are very clever you shouldn't be an actor would be laughable in Russia.

It would've been hard to do something else, to as it were, run away from the circus and become an accountant.