We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain.

The tragedy of journalism is that these are people doing their best work.

Most British playwrights of my generation, as well as younger folks, apparently feel somewhat obliged to Russian literature - and not only those writing for theatres. Russian literature is part of the basic background knowledge for any writer. So there is nothing exceptional in the interest I had towards Russian literature and theatre. Frankly, I couldn't image what a culture would be like without sympathy towards Russian literature and Russia, whether we'd be talking about drama or Djagilev.

Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don’t go on forever. It must have been shattering, stamped into one’s memory. And yet, I can’t remember it.

If you took away everything in the world that had to be invented, there'd be nothing left except a lot of people getting rained on.

Audiences know what to expect, and that is all that they are prepared to believe in.

I write plays because dialogue is the most respectable way of contradicting myself.