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Roger Rees Quotes

Powerful Roger Rees for Daily Growth

I got out of this school and went to Camberwell College of Arts, a terribly prestigious thing to do. I was there to be a painter. And I sketched so well that, a year later, I was sent to Slade School of Fine Art, one of the great art schools.

- Roger Rees

College, Year, Great Art, Year Later

When it was announced I had won the Tony Award, I was in Bangkok doing a movie with Judi Dench. I remember coming back from the location to the Oriental Hotel and hearing someone yelling across the reception area, 'You've won the Tony!' It was wonderful and strange to be halfway around the world.

- Roger Rees

Doing, I Remember, Dench, Bangkok

You got paid on Friday, go for a late-night poker game, and have no money on Saturday. But the RSC took your rent out of the paycheck, so at least you had a place to sleep.

- Roger Rees

Game, Late-Night, Took, Rent

'Merry Wives of Windsor' is a wonderful machine. It's one of the great farces, and it's astonishing to remember that this is written by the same man who wrote 'Hamlet,' 'The Taming of the Shrew' or 'Cymbeline.' It's so similar, and yet the form is so different.

- Roger Rees

Remember, Hamlet, Merry, Windsor

Sometimes the most excruciating experiences in rehearsals and performances yield the most beautiful work.

- Roger Rees

Most, Excruciating, Yield

I have a little studio in Chinatown, and I sometimes go there and rearrange my brushes. But I would have to stop acting altogether in order to become a painter. At the moment, I'm still interested and active as an actor and director. Besides, I rather think acting and painting are all part of the same creative urge.

- Roger Rees

Sometimes, Rather, Studio, Chinatown

The Elizabethan mind wanted and demanded that one word could mean 50 things. What Shakespeare offers us is not ambiguity; it's choices.

- Roger Rees

Mind, Could, Offers, Ambiguity

Gerry Schoenfeld told me 'Les Parents Terribles' was not going to sell, even though we had Kathleen Turner and Jude Law in the cast. So we called it 'Indiscretions.'

- Roger Rees

Law, Gerry, Though, Turner

I joined the Royal Shakespeare Co. with no experience whatsoever - I'd never been to a drama school or anything. But I was strong and could lift things, I could move scenery about.

- Roger Rees

Strong, Been, Whatsoever, No Experience

My first acquaintance with 'Peter Pan' was back when I lived in South London. I was at art school, and I needed to earn money, so I got a job as a stagehand at the Wimbledon Theatre, and 'Peter Pan' was on tour there with Donald Sinden, who was playing Captain Hook.

- Roger Rees

London, Donald, South, Pan

I love to argue and share bright ideas in a rehearsal room, and when you live with somebody who is working on the same show, the delight can go on all evening!

- Roger Rees

Love, Bright, Rehearsal, Delight

I don't think perfection is possible. I think you can attempt to reach perfection, but I don't think it's a possible thing. I think perfection is a moving point, and we spend our artistic lives chasing it.

- Roger Rees

Think, I Think, Lives, Perfection

I want to play King Lear, Macbeth, Benedict, Coriolanus. I wouldn't mind doing Hamlet again. Well, I'm a little old. Perhaps I can rub Vaseline on the audience's eyes.

- Roger Rees

Mind, Play, King Lear, Macbeth

Well-written plays deserve to be learned from and understood properly, both by actors and audiences alike, and Rattigan's very human characters help us do that.

- Roger Rees

Deserve, Very, Plays, Well-Written

The classical actor in England makes roughly the equivalent of a bus driver.

- Roger Rees

England, Actor, Bus Driver, Roughly

Rattigan's world demanded unwavering trust in principles, loyalty, and virtue. At the time of this play - Rattigan was writing this play in 1947 about an incident that took place in 1914 - should a boy say he didn't do something, his father would believe him; a British father would take the defense of his son's honor to his grave.

- Roger Rees

Trust, Play, Unwavering, Incident

Some of the finest Shakespeare has been done recently by college theater programs. I'll tell you what these young kids have: They have a natural authority in Shakespeare. They feel a right to do it. And once they honor the humanity of it, the rhythm of the verse comes with it.

- Roger Rees

College, Some, Been, Verse

The shields were enormous. In 'Julius Caesar,' I died early in the scene and used to fall asleep under the shield until I was woken up by applause.

- Roger Rees

Shield, Julius, Enormous, Applause

My neighborhood in South London was very Dickensian.

- Roger Rees

London, Very, South, Neighborhood

If you take away a lot of the pretension and grandness from Shakespeare, a true poeticism is revealed.

- Roger Rees

Away, Lot, Take, Revealed

'Nicholas Nickleby' was the best example, where 43 people could make an audience of 1,500 look at a fingernail at any given moment. It was so controlled, and yet it was a group of disparate individuals. It was a happy, constructive time, and it seemed to be an active discussion of what makes the theater work.

- Roger Rees

Happy, Best, Discussion, Disparate

What I strive to do is to make the theater experience something that people remember and recall rather than dismiss because it was less like their everyday experiences. So, I'm less interested in internal emotionalism and much more in making the audience laugh and cry by the devices that we use as theater actors.

- Roger Rees

Rather, Internal, Use, Everyday

I like to do really good things. But 'good' - witness Charles Dickens - doesn't mean 'not popular.'

- Roger Rees

Good, Like, Charles, Dickens

I like working with authors who are a bit pesky.

- Roger Rees

Working, Like, Bit, Authors

I directed Bebe Neuwirth in 'Here Lies Jenny' at the Post Street Theatre. I was gobsmacked - the audiences were extremely knowledgeable, affectionate, interested, and not cynical.

- Roger Rees

Here, Directed, Affectionate, Cynical

The loser, the fool, is embraced in England because there is a recognition of silliness there that allows a person to keep his ambitions and desires at a certain distance. Just being in the race is enough.

- Roger Rees

Distance, England, Race, Silliness

I've learned from the greatest people, and I've got wonderful things to pass on.

- Roger Rees

Pass, Things, Learned, Wonderful Things

Now, of course, we know there has been an end to apartheid in South Africa, but what excited me was seeing it in the context of history.

- Roger Rees

Africa, Been, South Africa, Context

I was really serious about painting, so I could never be a Sunday painter. You can't just switch it on and off.

- Roger Rees

Could, About, On And Off, Switch

Everything happens every night for this audience, and it's a very special occasion to come to the theatre.

- Roger Rees

Audience, Occasion, Very, Every Night

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