“It is a tremendous feeling to walk off stage at the end of a show and hear all that laughter back there.”

 

“I don’t first and foremost start looking for a comedic idea. What you look for is a tragedy. People understand the predicaments that arise from certain situations and settings and that’s what they find all the funnier…”

 

“People who go to the theatre and who work in this industry know what goes into a farce. As an actor you work very hard in farce. When you come off stage you really know you’ve been in one! For an audience, you see, they mustn't see all the hard work, just the comedic developments – so the more people laugh, the better I have done my job.”

 

“If X is in the cupboard and Y is in the bedroom and B is coming up the garden path – what does X plus Y minus B make? This kind of tangled situation appealed to my rather Machiavellian mind.” In fact Algebra was my only good subject at school!

 

“I guess I started writing farces because that was the style of play in which I was appearing at the time and because it appealed to the kind of crazy mind I have.”

 

“Farce is light-hearted, but really it is all very carefully and cleverly rehearsed. It’s supposed to look like they’re making it up as they go along.”