Robert Brustein Quotations

The primary function of a theater is not to please itself, or even to please its audience. It is to serve talent.

Olivier's idea of introspection was to hood his eyes, dentalize his consonants and let the camera circle his blondined head like a sparrow looking for a place to deposit its droppings.

Forty years later, people still swear they can hear his offstage scream.

Laurence Olivier once made the rather cruel remark that when you've got the strength to play Lear you're too young, but when you're old enough, you haven't got the strength. Well, Alvin is well muscled and trained.

Theatergoing is a communal act, movie going a solitary one.

Alvin had the most startling blue eyes and blond hair at the time. He also had an extraordinary physical grace that made him an actor early on.

The invention of film has given our generation the dubious advantage of watching our acting heroes deteriorate before our eyes.

The love that previously dared not speak its name has now grown hoarse from screaming it.

No enlightened person would deny its premise, but as an ongoing program it is monotonous, limited, locked in a perception of victimization.

On Laurence Olivier as Hamlet in a 1948 film: Olivier's idea of introspection was to hood his eyes, dentalize his consonants and let the camera circle his blondined head like a sparrow looking for a place to deposit its droppings.

The primary function of a theatre is not to please itself, or even to please its audience. It is to serve talent.

Without an elite in the arts, we have no leaders, which is to say we have no vision, which is to say we have no arts.

The commercial theatre may still be considered one of New York's primary tourist attractions, but . . . there is no longer an audience for serious Broadway plays. . . . Perhaps we should acknowledge that, having lost its traditional audience, Broadway can never again be a home for new plays.

Theater going is a communal act, movie going a solitary one.