Theatres, along with the likes of the Ulster Orchestra, for example, are the cultural heartbeats of our towns and cities, and without them, we are much poorer for it.
In our own, theatre can be the place where we come together, reaching with and through stories, to who we are and to who we can be.
I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre, and that's really where my training is.
A few years later, my Uncle David took me to the Earle Theatre to hear Duke Ellington.
Telly and films has been my thing, not necessarily by choice, and if the right piece of theatre came along, I would jump at it.
The theatre is one of those muscles - if you don't exercise it, it becomes a strange and truly fearful place.
I've been an actor for 14 years now and a lot of that time was spent in theatre and television. Then I moved to L.A. to try and build upon that and it's starting to pay off!
Films take up so much time, and with theatre, you do have to plan a period of time that you can be free.
I remember a time when I was younger, when if you had to see an actor, you had to go to the theatre and watch a film.
It was in England that I discovered theatre. I didn't have any money, but I would just eat yoghurt in order to get some money for tickets.
I was always very independent and looked out for myself. I think that ability really helped me in later years both in sports and in theatre.
When I first did theatre, I was always doing comedies; it was always my first love. But it wasn't what I was picked for at first, for films and TV.
I get grumpy about the innate conservatism of our tastes; I love bold theatre, and I get annoyed when a heritage piece is really successful.
My father was a classical singer of baroque music, and my older sister was in musical theatre, and I thought about doing the same thing but then realised straight acting was for me.
I like going to New York. I like the galleries and the theatre and the restaurants and bars and music. I think that city is more alive than Los Angeles.
Anybody with a sharp brain and a mic can become a comedian, but there's a need to move beyond it. The audience wants to witness the marriage of theatre, comedy and something more.
Bill Sampson: Wherever there's magic and make-believe and an audience, there's theatre.
When I was young, my mum was part of a brilliant puppet theatre that toured all over the world.
Free speech means the right to shout 'theatre' in a crowded fire.
When I play, I feel like I'm in a theatre, why should I look ugly then, because I'm a tennis-player?
The regrets in the theatre have always been the shows that you know ought to have worked but for one reason or another haven't.
