'War Horse' is just an extraordinary being.
— Marianne Elliott
It would be quite interesting to use Kermit the Frog to act like a real frog. But it wouldn't produce captivating theatre.
Directors have this mask of being in control and in charge, but underneath, I'm terrified.
I believe that theater has to be utterly life-changing for the people watching it.
It's difficult to find an actress prepared to play a fading star.
My dad had a big influence on me, and although I was never very bright at school, I used to love philosophising with him about big universal things - and I think that's what directing is.
When I was a kid, I never spoke. I would sit under a table and not speak to anybody. No words for years.
I'm interested in teasing out the contemporary issues in what I'm working on, however old the piece might be, whenever I'm working on it.
Horses are wild animals, essentially, and they're not there to do what humans want them to - they can be browbeaten or cajoled or trained, but they don't hear English; they're not obedient most of the time.
I always wanted to beat my own path.
I never wanted anything to do with the theatre as a child. I was dragged there under duress.
I hope that subsidised theatres continue to be rewarded for the wonder of talent they provide to this industry, on stage and off.
I didn't want to just be remembered for 'War Horse.'
I felt like that growing up - that I didn't have a voice.
The less subsidy we have, the more the 'producers' take over, and the 'bottom line' becomes the raison d'etre. That's quite an unappealing landscape for artists.
I suppose that I'm excited by exciting theater. It takes a risk to show us the world in a new way.
We're always steered towards what is good in the canon by a male perspective. I like to do plays with a female protagonist who finds her way through. My way is unusual.
I think theater is so undervalued. I have seen things there that have been far more vivid than things that actually have happened.
There's a certain type of theatre that I haven't got any time for at all - established, boring, same-old stuff without any reason or passion. There's quite a lot of it about, and it motivates me to try to do something different, something risky, raw, ugly, and challenging.
I'm quite unusual in directing terms: I'm a woman. I'm quite a girly girl. I was never academic.
With everything I do, there always seems to be a massive risk involved.
If you are working in a publicly subsidized building, then you have a responsibility to deliver truly interesting, risky, innovative, even provocative work. Work that speaks to your audience in many resonant ways. The priority is less about the financial rewards.
