Ian Lake doesn’t want to be defined by the characters he plays.
The 33-year-old actor had segued from theatre school to six straight seasons at the Stratford Festival when, in 2013, he decided a hiatus was in order, essentially so that he could – although he avoided explicit use of the term – find himself.
The Vancouver-born Toronto resident, who is Jewish, explained that he sought time off because he wished to “stretch other aspects of myself.”
So Lake worked in construction and spent several months “kicking around” Europe on a Richard Monette Travel Grant before returning to acting with a drive to apply his newly broadened sense of self to his roles.
“I think a lot of young actors identify themselves with their work. They say, ‘What I do is who I am.’ But after a few years, that starts to shift in most people. You realize, I’m an actor but that’s not who I am… I think you bring more truth and honesty to your work that way, as opposed to hiding inside it,” Lake said.
His stint away from acting ended when Lake was cast as one of the leads, Guy, in the 2015 Mirvish production of Once, his first performance in a musical.
The challenges of playing such an illustrious part are huge. Lake recalls going to see Graham Abbey act the role in the 2004 Stratford production and mouthing along the words to some of the speeches – but he stressed the importance of not becoming overwhelmed by a sense of pressure.
“I’m trying to examine which parts of Macbeth are me… You imagine that everyone has preconceived ideas [about the role], but if you worry about living up to that, you aren’t going to be true to your own living, breathing thoughts inside the story,” Lake said.
He added that if he really hones in on what he’s thinking or trying to communicate with the part, “however famous the words are goes away. You realize that everything you’re doing is in pursuit of telling a story and of connecting to your fellow actors. I think that’s what wins out in the end.”
Lake, whose family belonged to a secular Jewish community in Vancouver when he was growing up, is one of several young actors generating buzz at this year’s Stratford Festival for being cast in major roles typically played by veteran actors.
Case in point: Lake’s Macbeth follows that of actor Colm Feore, who was 50 when he played the part in Stratford’s last production of the play, in 2009.
Lake said this trend is in many ways a fitting reflection of the youthful energy exhibited by many of Shakespeare’s characters.
“They’re often impetuous and wilful in the way young people can be. They make a lot of decisions that aren’t right, but are made with the best of intentions – that’s a very young type of behaviour,” Lake said.
Overall, Lake said the richness of Macbeth makes for an immensely satisfying experience as an actor.
“Every time we do a performance, I have this feeling of, ‘Oh, I get to try again.’ Macbeth is so layered and such a profound examination of the human condition. It feels like we can never dig all of it up,” he marvelled.
Macbeth runs in Stratford’s Festival Theatre to Oct. 23.