Jonathan Miller on Directing

JC mentioned something about this to me just now, saying there was a great piece in the Guardian on Saturday where Jonathan Miller had talked about actors sometimes being people on stage who had simply learnt to say their lines in the right order, and this being a. bad. thing. JC says he remembers enjoying the philosophy part of the article. If this is indeed the same piece, then the following stood out for me:

He (Jonathan Miller) says his philosophy of directing is simply to "remind the audience of what it is like to be alive". He cites Robert Frost's poem "A Considerable Speck", in which a piece of dust on Frost's notebook apparently shows signs of life. "That is what all important art is about. It invites your attention to the previously overlooked and negligible, and shows that the unconsidered is deeply considerable."

From the Guardian on Saturday. Great stuff.