It couldn't interest me less, the idea of putting a living room on stage. I just think, what's the point of walking into a theater to see a living room? A sofa in a forest? Now you're talking.

We just don't need any more 'Macbeth's in the world, however brilliant mine might turn out to be.

No space should be safe from theatre.

I love mishmash and the chaos of art forms.

'Thou shalt not bore' is a commandment that should be at the centre of our ambitions.

I was pre-med at Glasgow University. I was from a family who were of the mind that if you were clever enough to be a doctor or a lawyer, why wouldn't you be?

Broadway is full of crazy people.

Theatre is a living organism. You only know if your show is working when you see it with an audience. You can also tell when it isn't working - it's horrible, and you desperately try to figure out how to make it connect.

I worked on new plays at the Traverse and did my best work in Scotland for years, so I never had ambitions for things like Disney.

'Once' constantly surprises me. I think it's the power of the music and the storytelling that people connect with.

It blows my mind that you get Shakespeare where the 'low' comedy characters have got Northern or Welsh accents.

I'm fascinated to see how 'Black Watch' connects with an American audience.

You can only make the work that you have to make. And I am old enough now to know that I can't start making shows that are going to win awards. That way madness lies.

Sometimes on Broadway, you don't know who the investors are, and you end up making a million dollars for somebody awful.

I studied theatre at Glasgow University and then was lucky enough to land a scholarship with a theatre group in Edinburgh.

In film, if you've got to do a scene in a swimming pool, you do a scene in a swimming pool. If you've got to blow up a car, you blow up a car. In theater, you can't do that, and therefore, you have the opportunity to engage the audience's imagination in a way that's rich.

I'm not interested in putting naturalism on stage - I want passion.

I've been in Glasgow since I was 18, on and off.

I had a lovely time growing up. But I was very aware of the miners' strike going on, friends' families collapsing, and people being unemployed.

The power of imagination is infinite.

I don't know how films get made, and I think I'll leave it to other people.

I never get star-struck. I never fanboy. Ever, ever, ever.

I don't think it's good, culturally, to base all critical judgments on a single performance.

I tend to work quite a lot during the weekends. My weekend can often be about two hours on Sunday.

I love singing, and I used to perform quite a lot, but now, as a director, you just tend to watch other people perform and tell them what to do.

Where film can eat up story, theatre needs space and breath.

The whole notion of never growing up is incredibly intense and emotional.

I realise that there's something about fantasy, whether it's written by the Grimm Brothers or J. K. Rowling or Thorne or J. M. Barrie, that it gets closer to the human experience than realism every could.

I did a couple of short films when I was in Scotland.

There are some actors who see a show as something to do before going out.

For me, there is a real line between something being the worst thing in the world and the best thing in the world.

I do like horror films, but I wouldn't ever be interested in putting a horror on stage - blood doesn't equal horror.

How do we compete with the 3D superscreens at the cineplex? We just make it better - because theatre is better because it's live. Instead of trying to be like the poor cousin, we need to accept that we're the king.

I suppose what I aspire to do is to make it easy for the audience to connect with a story.

There are always discussions about casting stars in lead roles in theater - especially when you're working with commercial producers - and it's not something I'm against, not at all. But any casting has to be right for the project.

Some actors just have a quality, a way of combining music and character and story, where everything just falls into place.

Only when you don't impose things on it do you get real political theatre.

The idea of audiences becoming part of the show is, I think, where theatre is going.

When you tell a story that you know is having an effect on the audience, that, for me, is the transforming thing.

The more everything gets digitalised, the more precious the live experience of going to the theatre is.

My need is about communicating the whole, and when the whole is there in the text and in what the actors are doing, then it doesn't need 'frou-frou,' as I call it.

I'll always have a relationship with Scotland.

Theatre is a playground. It really is, and we should use that playground more.

You can only really get to any truth by telling peoples' stories.

We never want to update 'Black Watch,' because it's about a moment in time, and through that moment, it manages to speak about Afghanistan and all other wars. This play is 'about' Iraq, but it's actually about every war that's ever been or will ever be.

We're all so busy we don't make time to enjoy our lives, good company and good food.

Cooking steak is a joy because it is a terrific piece of meat that has great flavour whether it is grilled or pan-fried.

My earliest memory of cooking is my grandmother showing me how to make chicken gravy on the big combustion stove in her kitchen. I still use Nana's gravy recipe.

I think restaurants and family homes and stuff are about conversation and about chatting. Food is there because you want to enjoy it and have fun with it but I'm not there to study it - I'm there to spend time with my friends.

My affinity for beef extends into my home life, so you'll notice canvas prints of cows, a cowhide rug and prints of Smithfield meat market.