Home / Quotes / Quote by Gregory Doran

Quote by Gregory Doran

“I always feel emotionally engaged in productions. If I ever get to the point where I don't feel emotionally engaged, maybe I should stop. You have to make each play an event. Whether that's star leading actors or the concept behind the production.”

Quote by Gregory Doran

Author

Gregory Doran is a renowned British director, born in 1958. He is known for his outstanding contributions to the theater, particularly in the realm of Shakespearean drama. more

You May Also Like

“The list of potential candidates for Julius Caesar is quite large. You could go, "Well, he's a Caesar." Idi Amin, or Bokassa in the Central African Empire, or in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe coming to power. They have all, at some point in their lives, been candidates for a casting as Julius Caesar.”

Author:Gregory Doran

“At the assassination of Caesar when Cassius says, "How many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn and accents yet unknown!" And you kind of went, "Never was there a truer word spoken."”

Kind Age Scene Unborn

Author:Gregory Doran

“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.”

Knows Wisdom Winning Moral Emotional Defeat Limitation Revolutionary Invites Riot Participants Futility Reactionaries Catharsis Rioting

Book:The Trumpet of Conscience

Source: The Trumpet of Conscience

“Sometimes it can get overburdened with nuance - the actors find all sorts of different spins on the lines that can lose simplicity and directness. They all become fond of their extra stresses and the audience are going, "Just give me the line simply, what did you mean?" You have to ward against that.”

Giving Mean Different Sometimes Audience Stress Simplicity Extras

Author:Gregory Doran

“I don't think Vladimir Putin goes to the theater enough to even deign to think there was any criticism intended. We were invited by Moscow. Maybe they wanted a particular production of Julius Caesar in order to remind Putin that he was vulnerable, but that wasn't our intention.”

Thinking Enough Criticism Intention Vulnerable Julius

Author:Gregory Doran

“My first interaction with William Shakespeare was an American production and there was an actress, playing Puck, who sounded like Mickey Mouse. When she said, I'll put a girdle around the earth in 40 minutes," I was amazed - the idea of Puck traveling around the Earth in 40 minutes was amazing to me. My dad, who was a scientist, I remember him telling me that Sputnik circled the globe in an hour in a half. And I thought, "Wow, Puck is twice as fast as Sputnik."”

Earth Remember Hours Dad Scientist My Dad Amazed Mice

Author:Gregory Doran

“I went to a Jesuit school and they did a William Shakespeare play every year. I got to know Shakespeare as parts I wanted to play. I missed out on playing Ophelia - it was an all-boys school. The younger boys used to play the girls, I played Lady Anne in Richard III and Lady Macbeth, then Richard II and Malvolio. I just became a complete Shakespeare nut, really.”

School Girl Boys Ophelia Jesuit

Author:Gregory Doran

“Intelligent machines will continue that mechanization process, taking over the more menial aspects of cognition and elevating our mental lives towards creativity, curiosity, beauty, and joy. These are what truly makes us human.”

Joy Creativity Intelligent Curiosity

Author:Garry Kasparov

“By the time I came of age and, indeed, Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, I had seen the entire William Shakespeare canon, which, in those days, you were quite able to do. Now, it's a much harder thing. Mrs. Thatcher was really axing public subsidy for the arts.”

Author:Gregory Doran

“What's depressing, in a way, thinking of Margaret Thatcher legacy - and she was no doubt great in many ways - but the arts in the UK are still having to justify that it is a profitable business rather than a frivolity. It's one of the greatest UK exports, one of the reasons people come to the UK, and yet we're still having to justify our existence in terms of funding.”

People Thinking Art Reason Term Existence Doubt Legacy Justify Depressing Frivolity

Author:Gregory Doran