I could paint for a hundred years, a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing.
Paul CezanneRead
Although you should never mention your premise in the dialogue of your play, the audience must know what the message is. And whatever it is, you must prove it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A playwright must effectively convey their message without explicitly stating it in the dialogue.
This quote by Lajos Egri emphasizes the importance of subtlety in storytelling, particularly in playwriting. While the underlying themes or messages of a play should be clear to the audience, they should emerge organically from the narrative and characters rather than being overtly stated in the dialogues. This approach challenges the playwright to craft compelling and nuanced storytelling that invites audience engagement and interpretation.
Themes
PlaywritingMessageStorytellingArtAudience
In practice
Example use cases
A director might use this quote during a workshop on developing character-driven narratives in theater.
Similar quotes
I'm very happy to have the heritage that I do, but I'm not wanting to be 'the Latino actor.' I just want to be 'an actor.'
Oscar IsaacRead
Fiction writing is a twenty-four-hou r-a-day occupation. You never leave your work behind. It is always with you, and to some extent, you are always thinking about it. You don't take your work home; your work never leaves home. It lives inside you. It resides and grows and comes alive in your mind.
Terry BrooksRead
It is very bad for (an artist) to talk about how he (creates). It is not the (artist's) province to explain or to run guided tours through the more difficult country of his work. It's none of their business that you had to learn. Let them think you were born that way.
Ernest HemingwayRead
I say to myself, 'I don't know how to act - and why does anybody want to look at me on-screen anymore?' ... Lots of actors feel that way. What gives you strength is also your weakness - your raging insecurity.
Meryl StreepRead
The two things you can't fake are good food and good music
Etta JamesRead