All the world’s a stage… are iconic words from one of history’s most iconic playwrights. Shakespeare observed the world is a stage and we are mere actors. But there are others whose whole life is dedicated to acting and theatre.
To celebrate this vibrant art, March 27 is commemorated as World Theatre Day annually. Long before the ‘lights, camera, action’ world of moving pictures, theatres have been the primary outlet for writers and actors (and audiences as well). The emotions arising in a live performance are a delight to watch.
The World theatre Day was established by the International Theatre Institute in 1961. Every year, a playwright or a stage actor writes the ‘message’ for that year. This year’s message is written by actor and writer Helen Mirren,who has won an Academy Award for her performance in The Queen.
On the day dedicated to celebrating this art and its artists, here are some quotes about the wonderful world of theatre.
• “Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good”- Terence Mann
• “Everything happens every night for this audience, and it’s a very special occasion to come to the theatre.” -Roger Rees
• “Theatre is a sacred space for actors. You are responsible; you are in the driving-seat.” -Greta Scacchi
• “Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances.” -Victor Hugo
• “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” – Oscar Wilde
• “The novel is more of a whisper, whereas the stage is a shout,” -Robert Holman
• “I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theatre is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture.” -Laurence Olivier
• “The theatre is certainly a place for learning about the brevity of human glory: oh all those wonderful glittering absolutely vanished pantomime!”– Iris Murdoch
