Random and topical thoughts and quotes gathered by My Theatre Mates contributor Aleks Sierz, first published on www.sierz.co.uk.
“None of these people [Dorimant, Lady Bracknell] speak the way people spoke, even then. The actor’s job is to make the audience believe they did, but the whole pack of cards comes tumbling down if you do that by trying to speak the way people spoke. One of the director’s jobs is to create a stage world where dialogue written in the high style seems inevitable and spontaneous.” – Nicholas Hytner’s Balancing Acts.
Aleks Sierz FRSA is a theatre critic, and author of the seminal study of new 1990s playwrights, In-Yer-Face Theatre. His other books include Rewriting the Nation, The Theatre of Martin Crimp, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights and Modern British Playwriting. His latest book (co-authored with Lia Ghilardi) is The Time Traveller’s Guide to British Theatre. He also works as a journalist, broadcaster, and lecturer. Aleks blogs independently at www.sierz.co.uk and tweets at @alekssierz.
