The Theatre

“Illustrating is like directing a play, except that you also get to design the scenery and play all the parts.”

Quentin Blake has been an illustrator for more than 70 years. Many of his projects have been inspired by theatre. One of his first jobs was to draw live performances for reviews. Since then, he has illustrated the work of playwrights from Ancient Greece, Elizabethan times and the modern era.

Quentin works in his flat in London, in a room overlooking a garden. He has two tables: one for drawing and one for adding colour. The tabletops are filled with mugs of pens and stacks of paper. Quentin imagines each blank sheet as an “empty stage”, waiting for him to draw in the characters who will bring his ideas to life. While he is drawing them, he feels as if he “becomes” them, just for a moment. “It’s like a kind of acting” he says.