Several weeks ago, I saw David Gow’s volcanic work onstage in The Other Side of Silence (TOSOS) production of Martin Sherman’s play “Bent,” which inspired me to invite him to share his thoughts on his Art, its craft and its components, present, past, and future.  David Gow has made a full commitment to his Art, is totally immersed in it, and continues to choose a path.
“I don’t have a Plan B.”  Seated across the table over lunch at a West Village café, David Gow cut to the chase. With that one bold stroke, we were off and running and the interview began in earnest.  “I really have no choice but to do this. Of course, there are other things I could do to just earn some kind of a living, but this is where my heart is, and this is how I want—need—to live my life.”
Up until that moment he had radiated a quiet intensity, energy, and discretion that bespoke his gentlemanly manners, but which, more importantly, signaled to me that he just might have plenty of power in reserve.  And I have learned to trust my intuition in this regard.
David Gow is new to New York City, fresh from earning his theatre degree at North Carolina School of the Arts, a school as excellent as it is rigorous. He is no stranger, however, to either excellence or rigor.  An athlete/scholar, from a family of accomplished athletes, he distinguished himself at an early age in tennis and basketball and seriously considered a major in Psychology, while at college.  The Muses, however, had other plans.
David Gow’s inborn abilities for the stage surfaced prior to any training, and doors opened for him one after another, as if by magic. His instincts for intensive preparation invariably led him in the right direction, and along the way he was fortunate to receive encouragement from ringside. “I have always needed to immerse myself totally in what I’m doing, and commit to it.”
At this early stage, the profession shows every sign of receiving Gow with open arms. Already signed with top management, he has had more acting work during his eight months in New York than many actors have in two years. Find him on YouTube and IMDb.
Gow’s M.O.? Stay IN it. Don’t just sit back and wait for the phone to ring. When not auditioning, he’s reading scripts and studying; when not performing, he’s directing and producing. Would he like to create new roles? Certainly. While he does not describe himself as a writer, there is at least one subject on his mind that might need to be written … His goals?  Simple: Personal Best; to be surrounded by excellence; to be acknowledged by the profession sufficiently to make his entire living from it.
From what this writer has seen of his work, those goals are stated conservatively, in a way that might be a characteristic of artistic humility: Maria Callas sometimes stated her desire to simply be a “useful” singer.  Yes, of course, contemporary television, film, stage, musicals, all suit David Gow to a “T.”  It would interest me greatly, however, to see him take on the challenges posed by some of the great roles in the classical canon of the young actor, and blow the dust off of the under-performed Billy Budd and Pelléas, perhaps then have an encounter with Dorian Gray and Morris Townsend (“Washington Square”), then move on to Anton Chekov’s Konstantin (“The Seagull”).  Oh, and yes, lest we forget … Hamlet.  My reasoning?  As fine a play is “Bent” is, and as stupendous a portrayal as Gow’s Horst was, my sense was that his abilities were far from completely tapped.
And I have learned to trust my intuition in this regard.