Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
—Martin Mull, 1979
16
***
The little foolery that wise men have makes a great show.
—William Shakespeare, 1600
Good taste is the enemy of comedy.
—Mel Brooks
17
Good taste is the worst vice ever invented.
—Edith Sitwell, 1967
Drama is life with dull bits cut out.
—Alfred Hitchcock, 1960
I write plays because writing dialogue is the only respectable way of contradicting yourself.
[…] I put a position, rebut it, refute the rebuttal, and rebut the refutation.
—Tom Stoppard, 1977
If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become President.
—Václav Havel, 1990
18
Theater supposes lives that are poor and agitated, a people searching in dreams a refuge
from thought.
—Romain Rolland, 1903
If the play is good, there is no need to bother actors: reading it is sufficient to get the proper
impression. And if the play is bad, no acting can make it good.
—Anton Chekhov, 1889
Actors are a necessary evil.
—Alfred Hitchcock, 1943
If you want to help the American Theater, don’t be an actress, darling. Be an audience.
—Tallulah Bankhead, 1952
Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington,
Don’t put your daughter on the stage.
—Noël Coward, 1935
We’re actors – we’re the opposite of people.
—Tom Stoppard, 1967
16
Frequently misattributed to Elvis Costello.
17
As quoted, without a date, in several generally reliable collections, starting not later than 1991.
18
Before becoming the President of Czechoslovakia in 1989 (and then the first President of the
Czech Republic in 1993), he was a prominent playwright.
116
On Arts, Entertainment, and Internet
—Martin Mull, 1979
16
***
The little foolery that wise men have makes a great show.
—William Shakespeare, 1600
Good taste is the enemy of comedy.
—Mel Brooks
17
Good taste is the worst vice ever invented.
—Edith Sitwell, 1967
Drama is life with dull bits cut out.
—Alfred Hitchcock, 1960
I write plays because writing dialogue is the only respectable way of contradicting yourself.
[…] I put a position, rebut it, refute the rebuttal, and rebut the refutation.
—Tom Stoppard, 1977
If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become President.
—Václav Havel, 1990
18
Theater supposes lives that are poor and agitated, a people searching in dreams a refuge
from thought.
—Romain Rolland, 1903
If the play is good, there is no need to bother actors: reading it is sufficient to get the proper
impression. And if the play is bad, no acting can make it good.
—Anton Chekhov, 1889
Actors are a necessary evil.
—Alfred Hitchcock, 1943
If you want to help the American Theater, don’t be an actress, darling. Be an audience.
—Tallulah Bankhead, 1952
Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington,
Don’t put your daughter on the stage.
—Noël Coward, 1935
We’re actors – we’re the opposite of people.
—Tom Stoppard, 1967
16
Frequently misattributed to Elvis Costello.
17
As quoted, without a date, in several generally reliable collections, starting not later than 1991.
18
Before becoming the President of Czechoslovakia in 1989 (and then the first President of the
Czech Republic in 1993), he was a prominent playwright.
116
On Arts, Entertainment, and Internet