1988 I also received from the city of Vienna the cross of honour for art and science. These titles and the various honors mean a great deal to me most of all for the reason that they would mean a great deal to my parents too.

My parents divorced when I was born and my mother is a political science professor like a feminist Mormon which is sort of an oxymoron.

Much of what Tea Party candidates claimed about the world and the global economy during the 2010 elections would have earned their adherents a well-deserved F in any freshman economics (or earth science) class.

For whatever reason I didn't succumb to the stereotype that science wasn't for girls. I got encouragement from my parents. I never ran into a teacher or a counselor who told me that science was for boys. A lot of my friends did.

The most watched programme on the BBC after the news is probably 'Doctor Who.' What has happened is that science fiction has been subsumed into modern literature. There are grandparents out there who speak Klingon who are quite capable of holding down a job. No one would think twice now about a parallel universe.

It's a sad moment really when parents first become a bit frightened of their children.

Since it's based on my parents it's more emotionally close to me than some of my more surreal plays. And then I like the balance of the comic and the sad. It should play as funny but you should care about the characters and feel sad for them.

I think a lot of people think that my parents' deaths is why I write such sad songs but that's not true. Those songs may just be the woman I am.

Every word facial expression gesture or action on the part of a parent gives the child some message about self-worth. It is sad that so many parents don't realize what messages they are sending.

My parents' divorce left me with a lot of sadness and pain and acting and especially humour was my way of dealing with all that.