Quotes of the week December 19: Alan Cumming, Sharon D Clarke, Adam Lambert and more

“One of the things that’s really pissed me off about Scottish theatre over the years is that when I was a baby actor, the Tron Theatre bar was the most exciting place to be and not just for actors... I feel that has all gone now. I feel like we’ve lost the sense of the theatre as a centre of community, as a church.” – Alan Cumming, speaking at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh alongside Kirsty Wark (Scotsman)

“When I decided I wanted to be a dancer, I hadn’t seen a ballet. I’d seen pictures. I found biographies of dancers fascinating and quite appalling, some of them, what they used to get up to.” – The Nutcracker choreographer Peter Wright (Guardian)

“When you’ve got someone like Ncuti Gatwa in your cast – who is going to be bringing in a whole new generation of younger people – you want to be able to present it in a way that doesn’t feel staid and ‘fuddy-duddy’. You want to bring it bang up to date and have references that they understand and can get into.” – Sharon D Clarke on modernising The Importance of Being Earnest (London Theatre Review)

“It’s my job to make the audience understand that there’s some depth to this satire that we’re playing. I’m getting no laughs now. Every once in a while you hear like one person chuckle. Maybe it’s nerves, maybe they’re uncomfortable, but I’ve quietened them all down.” – Pop star Adam Lambert on his Broadway debut as the Emcee in Cabaret (New York Times)

“The lighting – the use of the filming – was something that I questioned because I don’t know where I am. Am I at a movie or at the theatre? This worked brilliantly. The whole thing. I was energised when I left the theatre. I loved it.” – Patti LuPone on director Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Sunset Boulevard (Deadline)

“There’s no question, in my mind anyway, that the Irish people as a nation are incredible storytellers of every description... It’s there in Beckett; I always think that Beckett is a really funny writer but when you’re in England, they’re so sober-faced about it.” – Director Sean Foley (Times)

“People talk about fame and Bridgerton, but the one moment where I really thought I’d made it was when Nicholas Hytner cast me as Cassio in Othello 10 years ago. He gave me the biggest break. He’s been an incredible mentor. With Richard II, I am returning not just to a play, but to a theatre director.” – Jonathan Bailey on his upcoming performance as Richard II (Vogue)