I’m not very good at relaxing. Reading’s the main thing. On the bus, on the tube, on the loo. Literally all the time. I mean, I don’t think there’s a moment of the day when I wouldn’t be if I was left alone.

What did my parents say when I told them I wanted to be an actor? ‘Be a plumber.’

If you play a part that’s been done before, on stage for instance, you feel like you’re carrying a torch and staggering under the weight of it for a bit and then passing it on to somebody else.

It would’ve been hard to do something else, to as it were, run away from the circus and become an accountant.

At heart, this job is about continuing to make great theatre for the people of Sheffield – a city I’ve known and loved since childhood.

Shakespeare I love, but for an English graduate, I’m incredibly badly read.

The idea that if you are very clever you shouldn’t be an actor would be laughable in Russia.

Most actors are socialists, aren’t they?

I’m rather proud of having been a trainspotter.

Of course ‘Hamlet’ is a debate about the nature and morality of revenge and whether it is right to do something to assuage your angry feelings.