I don't think you can be a good actor and want to please, because so much about performing and acting is surprising people.
I had such a supportive family, and I think that affects your life in such a profound way; it fortifies you completely.
Wouldn't it be exciting if all women just went on strike? Just a woman's strike. Everything would fall apart pretty quickly then, wouldn't it?
I've been so obsessed with 'Game of Thrones,' and there's so much about nobility and duty that I think about a lot.
This world of 'Star Wars' is just so accepting and beautiful that the idea a droid and a human are trying to waddle their way into a relationship is something that's celebrated.
I suppose the cult of the strong woman character on TV has probably been misinterpreted in so many different ways, meaning that a woman can't be emotionally complicated or want things or can't be weak in moments.
I just kind of like to feel myself into stuff by writing scenes and seeing what characters end up saying.
I always knew that if I was ever going to perform something that I wrote in front of an audience, I was going to do the thing I most like to experience as an audience member, which is to be tricked.
However much people want to politicize every movement of a controversial woman in life or on the screen, we just have to keep being personal and truthful, or we will explode.
I just love any kind of language that can change the energy in a room. There are no limits for me, as long as it feels like it's being used in a particular way to garner or elicit a very particular reaction so that you can then use that reaction later for something else.
Every single performance of 'Fleabag,' I would learn so much from the audience reaction or how you could change it all the time, and I loved that sense that the performance is ever-growing and changing and could be affected by the audience.
I think, a lot of time, I'm just writing my worst fears, of the idea of losing my mom or my best friend or doing something so terrible to somebody that's kind of deemed unforgivable or having a really broken family.
You have to make an audience feel like they can - and want to - change something about what they are watching. And that might be the thing that galvanises them in the end, that makes them come out of themselves and say, 'No! Don't do that!'
I think it's important that culture is this ongoing thing that needs to be nurtured, because there is no such thing as a quick, arty fix.
I remember being a teenager and saying, 'Oh, I want to be an actress when I grow up.' And people saying, 'You need to be a good liar - are you a good liar?'
I suppose every time [something bad happens], I have that instinct to make that joke that distracts.Collection: Instinct
I've always wanted to work for, like, "Assume your audience is cleverer than you," rather than the other way around.Collection: Way
I'm a huge fan of basically anything written about complicated, contradictory women. I'm drawn to them really quickly.Collection: Fans
I think a lot of time, I'm just writing my worst fears, of the idea of losing my mom or my best friend or doing something so terrible to somebody that's kind of deemed unforgivable, or having a really broken family.Collection: Mom
I have a real aversion to sentimentality, but I also really want to write about love and friendship.Collection: Real
I think a lot of time, I'm just writing my worst fears.Collection: Writing
I know actors who say acting is acting, but I love the live-ness of an audience. I love feeling the energy of a room and allowing them to sort of teach you how to do it better.Collection: Feelings
The characters I didn't have actors in mind for, that was the scary moment. Because in any production, until you find the right person, you're constantly judging your writing or what it is that isn't working here or not clicking here, because you have amazing actors coming to read for it, and if something's not clicking, it can't be them because they're amazing actors. You're sort of completely doubting yourself.Collection: Writing
Actually, my worst nightmare is losing my best friend, as I imagine most people's are.Collection: Worst Nightmares
I just love any kind of language that can change the energy in a room. There are no limits for me, as long as it feels like it's being used in a particular way to garner or elicit a very particular reaction, so that you can then use that reaction later for something else. But when it's gratuitous language or physical exposure, then I get a bit like, "Oh! Put it away!"Collection: Long
I'm constantly on the brink of tears in conversation about things that happen to people.Collection: People
I am comfortable talking about sex scenes and stuff, but to me, when it's physically explicit, I do feel prudish and uncomfortable.Collection: Sex
I feel like my home is stage acting.Collection: Home