London: Actress Kathy Bates had to take a break from Broadway play “Night Mother” because the plot brought back too many bad memories about her father’s suicide attempt.
The 68-year-old star originated the role of Jessie in the 1983 Marsha Norman play, about a woman planning to take her own life, and never imagined it would impact her so much.
She eventually had to leave the show because it was too disturbing for her to play a suicidal character, reported Contactmusic.
“Coincidentally my father had tried to kill himself because he had diabetes and he was facing an amputation. My mother found him in time and revived him and I was ready to do the play in the fall,” Bates said.
“So he went ahead with the amputation and I was helping him one day with all that you give, like, ‘Come on dad, you got a lot to live for… Blah blah blah…’ He was 83 and he said, ‘You know how I feel. You’re doing that play out there!’
“So I took that experience with me into the play and, as a result, over an 11 month period of playing it on Broadway, it got so close to me that I had to stop. I had to leave the play for a day or two and I realised you can’t be so… It was just, like, invading me. I realised I had to be professional and leave it on the stage.