Everything that we have gone through, are going through, and will go through is there in Shakespeare. It is all of human life.
Shakespeare wrote all there is that we need to know about dementia in 'King Lear.'
I would say critically of myself that I am somebody without secrets. Sometimes acting depends on you having a secret. I don't think I've ever had that.
You could say Shakespeare is so extraordinary precisely because he was so ordinary. He had all the usual anxieties and understandings of what it is to have children, lose children, get married, struggle to make a living and so on.
I don't have any big regrets.
There is something essentially sanguine about me, which I am inclined to attribute to the fact that I was born by caesarean section. It must affect you.
Artists probably should have some impenetrable aspects of themselves.
I actually wanted to be a writer long before I wanted to be an actor.
Jesus is absolutely at the centre of Western civilisation and part of my fascination with him is, why? What is it about this particular man and his story?
Very often my weekends are spent performing on Saturday, on stage in the afternoon and again in the evening.
My mother wanted me to be a teacher. She had this vision of me walking across the quadrangle in an Oxford college wearing my academic gown.
I'd like to direct more operas.
Bleak House is just the most astounding piece of work. There's huge, visionary poetry in it.
Like many Catholics, I was very affected by the personality of Jesus and that impression, pious as it was, has stayed with me.
I went to Queen's University Belfast and stayed nine months, then I ran away to be an actor.
When the BBC decided to bring Doctor Who back as a feature film a few years ago, one national newspaper ran a poll to ask its readers who should be the new Doctor, and I topped it.
When children have grieving parents it's also common for them to feel an obligation to cheer them up and make them happy.
I am never bored, never short of anything to do and I don't even ever feel lonely. I am quite gregarious and I get out and about a lot, but sometimes it is just wonderful to be on your own.
To live another person's life is quite a weird thing.
Having caught a glimpse of what I might be able to do with my talent, I feel a tremendous obligation to try to fulfill it.
