Where To Watch
David Ogden Stiers said it was ''imperative'' that he step away from M*A*S*H fame
Shakespeare was a real lifesaver!
It's pretty crucial to be able to leave your work at your job. With any luck, you have the privilege of crossing the threshold into your home and kissing your work goodbye. Hopefully, you can destress, unwind, and relax without giving your 9-5 a second thought. That's important not just for your mental health, but for your actual job, as well. You need to be able to step away from your work so that you can come back to it with a fresh, rested mind.
This is important for actors as well! Keeping things fresh is as important as memorizing lines. Whether it's a serious role or a comedic one, things can get stale if a performer is just doing the same thing day after day. The monotony comes through in the performances unless that actor can get away, and then come back to breathe some new life into their work.
M*A*S*H's David Ogden Stiers said it best in a 1982 interview with The Pittsburgh Press. At the time, Stiers and the rest of the cast were on a hiatus before they began filming the series' final season. Stiers was keeping his acting flame burning, appearing in as many theaters as possible to stay sharp. But he stressed the significance of switching things up from his role as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III.
It's not 'important'— it's imperative," said Stiers.
"I feel the need to expose myself to other experiences, writers, actors, and audiences to bring new energy, attitudes, and a heightened awareness of my value to an ongoing project."
Clearly, he was doing something right. On M*A*S*H, David Ogden Stiers was part of one of the most awarded ensembles in television history. While the show's writing is frequently lauded as some of the best, M*A*S*H's actors helped elevate excellent scripts, making near-perfect TV.
"Shakespeare, of course, is what I enjoy doing most. Playing his roles fills up in me what TV erodes. It allows me to use my mind, my feelings, and the sum of my experiences. The wonderful part is that you can appear in Shakespeare again and again and never hit it, all the while learning more and more about yourself. Shakespeare is a test like none other for the actor.
"Working on those classic plays touches me most deeply, uses me most deeply. How can there be anything more useful than dealing with the basic themes of life which were Shakespeare's concerns?"
Related
4 Comments
