My favourite Thomas Hardy wasn’t an actor, but he wrote powerfully about the ancient Roman theatre. 

I traced the Circus whose grey stones incline
Where Rome and dim Etruria interjoin,
Till came a child who showed an ancient coin
That bore the image of a Constantine.
She lightly passed; nor did she once opine
How, better than all books, she had raised for me
In swift perspective Europe’s history
Through the vast years of Caesar’s sceptred line …

And how can we forget those lines from Act II, Scene VII of Shakespeare’s As You Like It?

These beautiful lines encapsulate the entire life, suggesting that life itself is a grand performance. They propose that theater and illusion are noble arts that go beyond the literal stage. In our lives, we assume many 'parts,' much like actors portray fictional roles on stage.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school …

I dedicate these lines to Philippe Gaulier's memory.