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The play is one of the very few pieces of great dramatic and comic writing that I have read in a long, long time. I was drawn to it because of the power of the writing, which gives me the actor a chance to explore many facets of myself.

I've never been in a bad play. There might have been bad productions and I might have been bad in them, but I've never been in a play that wasn't interesting or worthwhile doing on some level.

A good play puts the audience through a certain ordeal.

Apart from that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

It's hard to write a good play because it's hard to structure a plot. If you can think of it off the top of your head, so can the audience.

I'm doing this play right now, the new David Mamet play. It's called 'Race,' and it's very interesting how people really leave the theater filled with the desire to talk about the play and the issues and the characters, and how they're all navigating their personal views around race.

It was so satisfying for me - a great reward, just to see it done well. And it was beautifully directed by my daughter Susan Riskin. Imagine, a play about my mother directed by my daughter?!

The play is on top of me all the time, and I am constantly thinking about it. Even when I leave the theatre, I'll mumble the lines to myself or think about the way the character walks or holds himself.

I find playwriting really painful. I love it, or I wouldn't do it, but I don't love the theater as much as I love movies.

The sheer complexity of writing a play always had dazzled me. In an effort to understand it, I became a critic.