Shatner: Life Lessons
2 min readWilliam Shatner is performing his one-man show all over the world and sharing his life lessons with his audiences as well as revising his show based on feedback from those audiences.
When doing his show in Australia, Shatner realized that he was getting something emotionally from the show. “I’m doing it because I did it in Australia and I was moved at times to tears in telling people about things I was doing, that I have done, lessons I was able to learn — to cull, if you will,” he said.
“The interaction between me and the audience provided such an enormous experience I thought I would try and repeat that,” said Shatner. “I did five cities in Australia and New Zealand; I would try and repeat that in Canada.
“I revamped the show from lessons I learned, how the audience was reacting, and my hope is to repeat that experience, in this case, in Edmonton.
“I’m having that moment actors talk about when acting in a role. It would be no different than coming to the Shaw Conference Centre in a play. But this is a play that has a beginning, middle and end, it just happens to be my life.”
More relaxed these days when it comes to performing, Shatner’s insecurity is never far away though. “…you’re filled with trepidation all the time,” he said. “Even right now, as you speak to me, a shaft went through me. ‘Can I do this, Edmonton? Will I be good enough?’ No. You don’t know. You can only hope, based on previous experience. It went well the other day; I guess it might go well today.”
Shatner learned how to relax a bit when he began to do comedy. “..I started doing comedy, and somehow people think of you differently if you’re able to get a laugh,” he said. “Suddenly you’re a funny guy and you’re not so serious. Whereas I always thought I was getting laughs. I was always the funny guy on the set and think if I was making the serious role more amusing, I would do that.
“As for making fun of myself, it’s all in fun, I think. Although, maybe it’s not.”
How Time Flies, an Evening with William Shatner will be taking place in Edmonton on Sunday, October 23, at the Shaw Conference Centre, and in Winnepeg at the Centennial Concert Hall on Tuesday, October 25.
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