I haven't read Ibsen, Shaw, Shakespeare - except 'The Merchant of Venice' in ninth grade. I'm not familiar with 'Death of a Salesman.' I haven't read Tennessee Williams.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I read a bit of Ray Bradbury when I was a younger man. I don't read a lot of fiction anymore... like, none.
I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.
'Death Of A Salesman' is a great acting job.
I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me.
At his heart, Shakespeare was a YA author. So many of his plays are set with high school-aged characters. He understood the passion, the confusion and drama that marks that life stage.
I fell in love with Shakespeare when I was 12, and I read the whole works. Yes, I was precocious.
Shakespeare fascinated me. He hardly ever left the country. His imagination was worldwide though reading.
After a few drinks, my mom would recite her lines as Portia in 'The Merchant of Venice' from her high school play. But I first discovered Shakespeare properly when I was about five. I used to look for the most complicated books I could find and pretend to be reading them. I wanted people to think I was smart.
I'm in the theater because of two plays: 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'Death of a Salesman.'
When I was an adolescent in England, at school we had to read 'Death of a Salesman.' I remember feeling incredibly moved by the portrayal of these people and the idea with which Miller broached the whole subject of failure or failed systems, or the way that people are crushed by a system in which they find themselves.