ARTS / Overheard

We are living through a golden age of theatre writing.

Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director

of the Bush, Start the Week (R4)

As a member of the audience, I can't stand going to the theatre at all. There's nothing worse than that chained-to-the-seat feeling when you can't move or walk out if you want to.

Natasha Richardson, actress,

Premiere (UK)

Every time I've done something new I've been condemned from a height. But for some reason, and I have

noticed this, I seem to grow on people like a wart.

Gerry Anderson, controversial

Radio 4 presenter, Guardian

I was very much influenced by ancient and medieval literature, by Greco- Latin mythology and church dramas and Shakespeare - more influenced by literary sources than by film itself. Western civilisation shapes the contents of my films, provides me with subjects that haven't been used before.

Eric Rohmer, New York Times

I worked in a pair of rose-printed Knickerbox pyjamas, which I only

took off when I ran to Marks & Spencer, where I bought a packet of morning rolls, four slices of corned beef and a beef tomato, which became my staple diet.

Sue Townsend, satirist, on adapting her book The Queen and I for the stage, Sunday Telegraph