Comments About the Theatre/Stage

I love the theatre, but it’s not just appearing on stage that has impacted my life.

Each new city or town I have visited has provided me with a new opportunity to learn something.

Wherever I’ve toured, I have tried to make local contacts and become, at least for the week I’m there, part of the community.

I first started out acting on the stage before I did television so it seemed a logical step for me to return and test myself against the challenges acting on the stage offers. For me, the commerce of the work has never been as important for me as the substance of it.

In an interview for The Independent in August 2012, David spoke about reading the poetry of Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett at the Enniskillen International Beckett Festival. Saying he wanted to learn more about the Irish playwright, he indicated that he was already familiar with his work: One of the first plays I did as a young actor was Waiting for Godot. It (Beckett’s work) is like a picture or photograph with all the colour taken out, so all you have left is the negative. . . it’s like having a conversation with oneself. Click here to see a short clip of David’s additional comments about Beckett as aired on BBC Newsline.

Regarding the use of multi-media elements like video projections in stage productions to heighten atmosphere: It’s important to move the theatre into the 21st Century.

When I was young I wanted to be a teacher. And then I became an actor anyway. And then I became a celebrity — whatever the hell that means. And I’ve stuck it out, and the more I stick it out, the more I realize it’s about contributing something. I railed against technology for a long time, about how it put people out of jobs. But technology can be a friend, so I think that if we can find ways to use that friendship in the theatre, then God bless us.

I love the theatre. If I come out of a theatre after seeing a play and feel happy or moved, then it’s been a sublime experience. But if I watch the play and think ‘oh, he’s doing this; and he’s trying for that effect’ — well, then I know I’m working too hard!