“Where else in the world could be like this?”

“Austria. Degenerate, that’s the word. Derelict. Grotesque.

Retarded, that’s the word.

Mentally feeble.

Mozart. Schubert. Ubiquitous. Ubiquitosity, that’s the word.

Wherever we tour -- jealousy. Tiny little minds. Xenophobia. White-hot hatred of art. Deep suspicion of abstraction. Violent loathing of the intellect. Where else in the world could be like this?”

“Lifelong imprisonment in the theatre with zero chance of release. And yet we keep going. Theatre as prison. Tens of thousands of convicts, not one of whom has a chance of release. The death sentence is the only definite.”

“The writer is lying, the actors are lying and the audience is lying too. So the whole effect is one monumental idiotic lie. And that’s completely ignoring the fact that we are talking about a perversity that dates back a thousand years. The theatre is a thousand year old perversity which humanity is in love with. And so in love because humanity is deeply in love with its own lies. And nowhere else is this so monstrous and so fascinating as in the theatre.”

-- quotations from The Histrionic [Der Theatermacher] by Thomas Bernhard, translated by Tom Wright. Presented by Malthouse Theatre and the Sydney Theatre Company. Merlyn Theatre, Melbourne, until May 5. Then Wharf 1, Sydney, from June 20.