[Q] Have you ever thought about seeing a therapist about this?

Oh, yes, I think I have once or twice done that, but it’s just not worth it. I mean, I go on doing the work and I think I go on doing good work. I mean, I watch the things of mine that have been running for years. I mean, for example, my... well, these are things that I did much later, my Rigoletto, and you look at the early reviews and they’re very, very dismissive, and now it’s been in the repertoire at the English National for 27 years. The Mikado was also regarded, oh, wouldn’t you know it, of course he’s taken all the Japanese out of it, he’s got to be original in some way. Well, it was original in some way to the point that it ran for 25 years. But what I remember, and still live in, is this hydrogen sulphide secreted by these Platyhelminthes who infect my world.

[Q] What a shame.

It is a shame, hmm.