I was originally an actor, and then I started to write. One of the most frustrating things about acting was that it was intermittent - lovely when you're employed, but so utterly miserable being unemployed. I didn't know how to occupy myself, and writing became that occupation.

I love putting a show together, because it's like the chase - I think my masculine side enjoys it most, the aggression of putting together deals.

In your 20s, 30s, early 40s, you work with such a lot of different people, and then suddenly you just can't retain all those names, and you just start calling everyone 'dahling'. I only realised that when I got old enough to find out.

The strange thing about directing, for me, was that opportunities arose; I'd had some nice roles as an actor, but it just never happened with any kind of ease. So directing seemed like serendipity.

The first American show I did was on Broadway, which was quite a good start.

I'm fascinated by what lies beneath the surface. If you manage to put desire on stage, it can be very exciting. It's about getting the right feelings to spark at the right time - a moment of alchemy.

Every market we go to, we have a domain-specific language. Every domain-specific language, underneath, has an architecture.

Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.

There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.

I'd love to go to art school. I'd love to learn how to draw. I'd love to be fluent in Spanish. I'd like to be a brain surgeon.

How do you nurture a positive attitude when all the statistics say you're a dead man? You go to work.

If you're looking for can-do, earthy-crunchy attitude then you've got to go to Wisconsin.