Zawe Ashton Quotes

This acting was very hard work.

Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.

Theatre is difficult. It's not that I'm afraid of doing 'one takes' or shots, but it's about being able to live one character for several hours on a daily basis!

Having done a lot of theater, I'm used to sustaining characters over long periods of time.

In school, I was Martha in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' I loved that.

In a drama, you don't make a fool of yourself.

I would love to play Bobby in 'Company.' Also, I would love to play George in 'Sunday.'

People prefer doing films. That is not the case with me. I don't do theatre because I have to but because it makes me feel alive. I enjoy the whole process of rehearsing, though repetition can make it tedious.

I did Shakespeare in college, and the nerves I got doing Shakespeare are the same nerves I get doing 'Mad Men.' I want to get the dialogue just spot-on.

What I love to do requires portraying different characters, and you have to separate your life from the role.

I have, I think to do a play a year is very good if you can afford the time and the energy because it's difficult to do, it's really the actors medium of course, because you're really out there and nobody's yelling cut so, yeah I have.

There are times when you do a play when you are living in the character over a two-and-a-half-hour period or longer, and you come to the end of the night, and you can feel like you were hit by a truck.

Eventually, you know the rhythm of your character, of the set of the piece. It takes less energy for you to hit that point, and then everything resonates. But initially, it takes a tremendous amount of energy. You just hope it's gonna be okay and you don't forget your lines and those cameras.

It's fun finding your way to the performance instead of coming in and hoping to God you're impressing the director - and hoping you're delivering the lines right with no treatment beforehand.

During theatre, I had never faced problems with my lines and I was very proud of myself.

I don't know why, but I was really good in that first play.

I do not want to work to stay busy. I want to feel excited and challenged with each character that I portray on-screen.

In theater acting, you leave that night and what it was is what it was.

As rewarding as a good film role can be, there is just nothing like getting up on a stage and taking an audience for a ride.

Acting is the ability to dream on cue.

I don't like being away from theater that long. The muscles get atrophied if you don't exercise them.

In theater, there's a lot of work to do to build the characters. It's a great experience.

As an actor, I'm familiar with having bursts of energy, where you're giving things a try, and then you have down time.

You have to like the characters you play.

I'd also like to do a play. I've never done theater, and constantly changing and refining a performance is something I'd like to do, even though it may sound like work to some people - and it probably is work.