There's something very fine and lucid and rich in this tradition of the English actor.

I was an art student when I was a boy, and as an art student you don't have to talk to anyone - you just have to paint really wonderful paintings. It's very unlike being an actor, where you have to talk all the time.

The classical actor in England makes roughly the equivalent of a bus driver.

Everything happens every night for this audience, and it's a very special occasion to come to the theatre.

I have a little studio in Chinatown, and I sometimes go there and rearrange my brushes. But I would have to stop acting altogether in order to become a painter. At the moment, I'm still interested and active as an actor and director. Besides, I rather think acting and painting are all part of the same creative urge.

We don't have the rich tradition that some other teams have.