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Antonia Novello
Former Surgeon General of the United States
(My teacher) called my mother and despite of the fact that I was 20, she called my mother to tell her, "I want her to have surgery." And, my mother said, "She's 20. She can speak for herself. Do you want it?" I said, "Mommy, if I have to have that surgery without any explanation or no limitation, I think I'd rather die." And, Mommy said, "It is your body and you will take care of it they way you want to." And that was the end of it. But, it was painful because people make decisions for you in your benefit without asking you what is good for you.
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Sir Trevor Nunn
Theatrical Director
Unquestionably, the first few weeks when I took on running The Royal Shakespeare Company, it wasn't just self-doubt. I mean I was deeply frightened. I was frightened that I was going to be exposed, or even -- you know, I was going to have to go through the ignominy of being rebelled against. You know, that there were people working for me who were going to say, "I'm sorry, I'm not going to go on doing this because I don't respect the leadership sufficiently." I mean, I was deeply frightened that that was going to happen. There have been a number of other occasions, but it's to do with trusting your judgment. At one stage we were in bad financial shape at Stratford, and I decided to do a rare Shakespeare play and to spend more on the design image of it than had been spent on other productions. People said, "This is totally crazy, with the financial situation that we're in." And I said, "I think we've got to give the opposite message. I think we've got to get people into the theater because we're giving them more and the word will spread." Having taken that decision, in the weeks or the days immediately prior to the opening of that, yes, I was deeply frightened that that was a mistake and that would mean the end of the regime, the end of my job. And the opposite happened.
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Sir Trevor Nunn
Theatrical Director
If you can't fully believe in your ideas, it very quickly communicates to a group of actors who need something to hold onto. They need to believe that whatever criticism, whatever comment is received, is meant. And, if they pick up the message of "I might mean this. On the other hand, I'm feeling rather doubtful about myself, so maybe I don't mean it. And maybe you've got a better idea. Or maybe actually what he said is better." Then, of course, chaos reigns. And self-doubt is something that communicates very quickly through an acting company. It's contagious.
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