“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.”
― John Tiffany
“I’m a sucker for emotionally exploitative cello.”
― John Tiffany
“Broadway is full of crazy people.”
― John Tiffany
“The more everything gets digitalised, the more precious the live experience of going to the theatre is.”
― John Tiffany
“The power of imagination is infinite.”
― John Tiffany
“The only thing I fear is when people say, ‘I should go to the theatre more.’ I say, ‘We should create work that makes you not have a choice.’”
― John Tiffany
“Pinocchio’s really naughty. He’s all impulse: ‘I want to sleep now. I want to eat that. I want to run off to Pleasure Island.’ It’s commedia dell’arte meets Grimm’s tales.”
― John Tiffany
“I suppose the key for me is about opening up experiences and untold stories to audiences.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“Sometimes on Broadway, you don’t know who the investors are, and you end up making a million dollars for somebody awful.”
― John Tiffany
“’West Side Story’ is one of the greatest theatrical experiences I’ve had.”
― John Tiffany
“I don’t know how films get made, and I think I’ll leave it to other people.”
― John Tiffany
“’Philistines’ was so beautiful, and it bored me to death. I never want to see another production where the rain splashes against a window and actors wander around in drab cardigans saying, ‘I’m so bored.’”
― John Tiffany
“We just don’t need any more ‘Macbeth’s in the world, however brilliant mine might turn out to be.”
― John Tiffany
“I thought a director was like a pillow who sat under the writer, supporting them and submitting to their vision. It took me a long time to realise that what a writer really wants is a production that matches the play and the writing. It is the only way the play can achieve its full potential.”
― John Tiffany
“Whenever I’d seen Greek tragedy done with masks and declamations, it brought me out in a rash.”
― John Tiffany
“One of the things I realised as I learned to manage a rehearsal room is that the best idea always has to win, and it doesn’t matter where the idea comes from.”
― John Tiffany
“When I realised, on ‘The Straits,’ that physical work in the theatre takes much longer than directing scenes, it was like a eureka moment. If you want to work physically, you have to accommodate it, and it takes a disproportionate amount of time.”
― John Tiffany
“The physicality of a production needs evolution and breath.”
― John Tiffany
“I never get star-struck. I never fanboy. Ever, ever, ever.”
― John Tiffany
“When I sold my flat in Glasgow, I bought a little cottage on the North Yorkshire coast. Whenever we go up from London to stay there, I’m just like, ‘I’m home! I’m home in Bronte-land!’”
― John Tiffany
“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?”
― John Tiffany
“In theatre, previews are the first draft of a show. I strongly believe that. The only way we can truly tell whether that draft works is by having an audience present.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“I don’t think it’s good, culturally, to base all critical judgments on a single performance.”
― John Tiffany
“A first preview is not exactly a pleasant experience for directors and actors. You’re never as raw as when the audience first comes in.”
― John Tiffany
“I was obsessed with theatre and loving the work of Caryl Churchill, Edward Bond, Howard Brenton, and Howard Barker, people doing real formal experimentation. But ‘Road’ was the first time I’d read a play written in a very true Northern dialect that seemed to have that excitement running through it.”
― John Tiffany
“It blows my mind that you get Shakespeare where the ‘low’ comedy characters have got Northern or Welsh accents.”
― John Tiffany
“I don’t think that just because people will pay a certain amount for a ticket that it’s all right to charge it.”
― John Tiffany
“I think associate director jobs are the best in the world, because you can do what you want and not have to take responsibility for it!”
― John Tiffany
“I don’t like the idea of stepping-stones in art forms: that you do your time at a regional theatre, and then you work in London and go to the West End, and then you do films. I’ve never felt like following that trajectory.”
― John Tiffany
“I’m never going to stop making theatre, but I don’t think I’ll make it as much, because I don’t need to. There are other things I want to do with my life. I want to sit by the sea in Yorkshire and eat Eccles cakes and spend time with my family.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“Trump is like an eater of worlds from an ‘Avengers’ movie, but there seem to be different rules for him. What are Twitter doing, for example? He’s constantly breaking their rules, the sort of stuff other people get thrown off for.”
― John Tiffany
“I looked into putting ‘Doctor’ on my license. But the insurance premium is higher, so I don’t think I’ll bother.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“I tend to work quite a lot during the weekends. My weekend can often be about two hours on Sunday.”
― John Tiffany
“If you’re going to be hosting any event or a performance or having dinner with people after a performance, it is work, but it’s also social: food and a glass of wine would be involved often.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“One of my favorite things to read in the ‘Observer’ is the restaurant review by Jay Rayner. I love reading about these restaurants that I won’t ever have the time to go to.”
― John Tiffany
“When you’re growing up, it’s very easy to feel lonely and insecure.”
― John Tiffany
“Where film can eat up story, theatre needs space and breath.”
― John Tiffany
“’Peter Pan’ makes ‘Black Watch’ and ‘The Bacchae’ look like a walk in the park.”
― John Tiffany
“I have a personal issue with Shakespeare. When I first encountered him, he made me feel thick. Well, not him, but the productions I saw.”
― John Tiffany
“I’ve never felt opera was a party I’ve been invited to, and maybe I’ve got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about it.”
― John Tiffany
“I hate rules. I hate ‘This is the way things are done’. I hate a lack of reinvention. I hate theatre as an archeological exercise. Theatre needs to be urgent.”
― John Tiffany
“The whole notion of never growing up is incredibly intense and emotional.”
― John Tiffany
“I want to understand the anger in the world.”
― John Tiffany
“When I get really down, I remember that we all share 99.99 per cent of our DNA with Beyonce. And suddenly, the world doesn’t seem too bleak.”
― John Tiffany
“I did a couple of short films when I was in Scotland.”
― John Tiffany
“No space should be safe from theatre.”
― John Tiffany
“There are some actors who see a show as something to do before going out.”
― John Tiffany
“’Thou shalt not bore’ is a commandment that should be at the centre of our ambitions.”
― John Tiffany
“For me, there is a real line between something being the worst thing in the world and the best thing in the world.”
― John Tiffany
“Even with the success of ‘Once,’ I can’t think about making theater straight for Broadway. Too nerve-racking.”
― John Tiffany
“I studied theatre at Glasgow University and then was lucky enough to land a scholarship with a theatre group in Edinburgh.”
― John Tiffany
“Austerity has led us to a terrible philosophy where we think we’ve got to cut back on everything that’s ‘frippery’, like the arts.”
― John Tiffany
“I do like horror films, but I wouldn’t ever be interested in putting a horror on stage – blood doesn’t equal horror.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“I suppose what I aspire to do is to make it easy for the audience to connect with a story.”
― John Tiffany
“What has started to interest me is how you use all the different disciplines and tools we have at our disposal, and that includes going into different art forms, like music and movement, because often they can tap into things that characters can’t necessarily express through words. Audiences really enjoy that total experience.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“Sometimes it should be the job of Broadway to introduce stars as well as cast them.”
― John Tiffany
“I’m fascinated to see how ‘Black Watch’ connects with an American audience.”
― John Tiffany
“It’s very hard to argue with the politics of ‘Black Watch,’ because it is not an opinion; it is just the true stories of these boys, and any opinions expressed are theirs.”
― John Tiffany
“I know Australians are no strangers to pubs, but in the U.K., the pub is a real meeting place because the houses can be quite small, so the pub is an extension of the living space.”
― John Tiffany
“Usually, in theatre, you’re adapting existing material or creating an entirely new play. With the ‘Cursed Child,’ we have been given the unique opportunity to explore some of the most cherished books and beloved characters ever written, yet work with J. K. Rowling to tell a story from that world that no one yet knows – it’s exhilarating.”
― John Tiffany
“Some actors just have a quality, a way of combining music and character and story, where everything just falls into place.”
― John Tiffany
“I’ve never understood why anyone would want to join the army, but that’s irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that, as long as we go on voting in governments who are prepared to take troops into an illegal war, that army is a necessity.”
― John Tiffany
“Only when you don’t impose things on it do you get real political theatre.”
― John Tiffany
“The idea of audiences becoming part of the show is, I think, where theatre is going.”
― John Tiffany
“When you tell a story that you know is having an effect on the audience, that, for me, is the transforming thing.”
― John Tiffany
“I’m not interested in putting naturalism on stage – I want passion.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“I’ve been in Glasgow since I was 18, on and off.”
― John Tiffany
“I’ll always have a relationship with Scotland.”
― John Tiffany
“Theatre is a playground. It really is, and we should use that playground more.”
― John Tiffany
“I love mishmash and the chaos of art forms.”
― John Tiffany
“’Once’ constantly surprises me. I think it’s the power of the music and the storytelling that people connect with.”
― John Tiffany
“The Black Watch is one of the most illustrious regiments. They’ve been at the vanguard of British military operations for 400 years. Something they’re very proud of is what they call ‘The Golden Thread,’ where you can trace a line back from them to the first Black Watch soldiers who were from the Highlands, spoke Gaelic, and wore the kilt.”
― John Tiffany
“You can only really get to any truth by telling peoples’ stories.”
― John Tiffany
“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.”
― John Tiffany
“’Black Watch’ has taken its place in the canon of Scottish theatre, and that’s fantastic. It’s a very particular kind of theatre. It’s about the music, the movement, the whole ‘event’ of it.”
― John Tiffany
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