Richard McCabe quotes:

I don't think I have had a big break, although joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986 opened up new horizons.

If you are feeling something, then Shakespeare felt it and wrote about it - and wrote about it so eloquently.

In my whole career, in fact, I can remember only two first nights when a show was at its peak on the first night. And I just wish we could devise a system where critics came not on a single evening but were given a choice of performances to attend.

As a young actor, I worked with Kevin McNally and have always thought him brilliant.

It is strange how your understanding of a play changes. It normally happens after a performance and you suddenly think, 'So that's what that line really means' - it's like a light going on.

A live audience with live reactions feeds a different sort of acting that will then inform your film work, and vice versa.

It is the nature of the business that you work unsociable, unpredictable hours and can get called away at a moment's notice to somewhere on the other side of the world. This can put a strain on home and personal life.

Music has always been profoundly important to me.