The Irish Independent, 5.30.10: Stoppard: Why I Need to Write

As posted before here, Arcadia is in revival in Dublin and Mr. Stopppard has schedule some time to meet with the press.  Of course, as we might expect, Mr. Stoppard chamed the interviewer. 

Over lunch in Chelsea, Sir Tom Stoppard laments, good-naturedly, his inability to say no to giving this interview. And then he generously stays on, well beyond the agreed amount of time, pays for lunch, and even gives me a lift to the station.

No wonder he has a reputation for being such a very nice man. A friend who had met him before my scheduled interview remarked on his charm and warmth. "Not many people know how much support he gives to small theatres and companies," she said.

Then this:

He writes, he says, not out of a burning desire for expression but because, as a vocation, it has come to define him. "The answer is quite embarrassing. There's absolutely no reason why I have to write a play at all. Who says I have to write a play? Nobody is making me write a play. The motivating thing is to do with a sense of self-worth or something. You think, well, that's all I am. That's all I'm supposed to be doing, so I better do it.

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