Mike Bartlett Quotes

In the process of writing ’13,’ friends were asking if I was OK because I was saying things about religion or about intervening in other countries militarily that I wouldn’t normally spout over dinner. In the moment of writing the play, I genuinely changed what I thought.

I don’t tend to write articles and blogs because, I think, if you went into the theatre knowing that this is the writer’s view on x, y, and z, it’s just game over for the play.

You go to a protest, and you’ve got all these different groups saying things you don’t necessarily agree with. If I went to a protest, my placard would have to be very long, explaining the ins and outs of my position.

I don’t care more about ’13’ because it’s in the Olivier than I did about ‘Cock’ in a 100-seat studio. They both matter because it’s still a person sat there watching your play. And the play has to be good enough – because there are a hundred other writers out there who deserve to have their play on instead.

I don’t think anyone is boring, actually, if you ask the right questions and look at them the right way.

Theatre tends to be more metaphorical and intense, as you’re locked in one room and focused on one thing. Television can hop around, and you need to invest in its naturalistic reality more. But I love writing both, precisely because they’re so different.

I wrote a very bad play about Prince William when I was 23 in which he went off to the island of Iona to discover himself. It was very long, and audiences should probably be very pleased that the computer it was on blew up.

If people are going to spend a night out at the theatre, they don’t just want ‘good’ – we can watch box sets for that – they want it to be totally remarkable.

In Britain, many people love the royal family, and other people don’t – but either way, we own them, and we have an opinion, and we know a lot about them. It’s as though they’re our own family.

When I can find a story that explores something that I don’t know what I think, I’ve got a play. If I knew the answer, I would write a speech or an essay.

What’s great about theater and drama is it thrives on dialogue, and dialogue thrives on people with different points of view fighting for what they want.

One question you ask as a writer or any kind of artist when you start making something is, ‘Does this have reason to exist in the world?’ And you’re reassured when you get little confirmations that people are pleased it did exist – whether they buy a ticket, whether it gets good reviews, whether it transfers.