“They're not a sober race. There's something about the English tradition of argument that of course became diplomacy and gave the English great strength,” she says.

So you have lines like ‘To be or not to be, that is the question,’ and you go on discussing that ... line. The Irish would never write or speak like that. They'd say, ‘To be or not to be, one way or the other.’ They'll invert something and stop it before it has meaning. But in doing that, they make a sort of mini- bomb, an explosion of wit. Whereas the English will genuinely try and structure their thought. The English are descended from the Romans, and it's dialectic. The Irish are full of confusions but not thesis and antithesis; they're full of opposites. They love nonsense. Except for ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ the English are otherwise a very reasonable race.”

Trio packs up for 'Summer Camp'

That tectonic trio Kathy Bates, Diane Keaton and Alfre Woodard costar in the effervescent seasonal romp “Summer Camp,” opening in theaters May 31. Three friends who have not seen each other since childhood reunite at a summer camp to watch the sparks fly.

Bates, who will be filling the size 10s of the old “Matlock” detective series this fall on CBS, says, “I was born late to my mom and dad. And when I wanted to go off to New York and be in the theater, I think it was tough for them at first, but they gave me the money to go and were really supportive of it afterward. After I did my first play, they said, ‘Are you ready to come home now? Haven't you gotten it out of your system?’ ‘No, I'm just getting going.’ But I think they were very pleased.”

She says she had trouble establishing herself as an actress. “I was discouraged the first few years in New York because it's tough getting known, and it's tough finding ways to practice your craft. And I wasn't sure what being an actor did for society. It took me a while to realized that one could make a contribution through theater and film.”

Bates certainly has made a contribution through her memorable roles in “Misery,” “Primary Colors” and “Titanic.”

From Aaron Burr to pastor in 'Purlie'

Leslie Odom Jr. heads the cast of Ossie Davis’ play “Purlie Victorious,” being resurrected by PBS for television on “Great Performances” Friday. The show is about a pastor who’s determined to win back his church from a plantation owner. “This is a play that hadn't been done commercially for 62 years, a comedy,” says Odem.

“We invited people into the room, small audiences ... into our rehearsal process to really get that feedback,” says the star who played Aaron Burr in “Hamilton.”

“We didn’t want to be surprised by New York audiences. And I had had that experience with ‘Hamilton.’ By the time we made it (“Hamilton”) to Broadway, I had done hundreds of performances off-Broadway and in development.

“And so we brought that to this (project). And we had small performances, so we knew that this writing — really at the end of day, it is about the writing. We knew that the writing still crackled, the writing still surprised, it still sang. ... I could feel it, I could feel it every night,” he says.

“I could feel it from those early performances. My training has taught me how to feel that thing. And this play, this Ossie Davis American classic, this gem of the American theater still worked, and it worked well.”

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