Mary Coustas gets serious as she returns to TV drama
Mary Coustas has filmed her first non-comedy role in 13 years after joining the cast of Asher Keddie-led TV drama Strife.
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There is good reason Mary Coustas has mostly stuck with comedy throughout her career.
She needs the lightness as much as her audience does.
Occasionally though, the celebrated actor likes to break her own rules.
“I only do comedy because I am too serious naturally, that is the only reason,” Coustas told The Daily Telegraph.
“Comedy is the only thing that perforates my intensity and I think that is why it is my drug.
“I’ve got an intensity and a seriousness about me that comes very naturally to me and comedy is the thing that carbonates me, thankfully the audience as well.
“And so I will only do serious stuff if it is pushing it to an extreme, otherwise I will stay in the comedy area – we need a lot of that, people need to be laughing. It is good for me, it is good for them.”
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Coustas has filmed her first non-comedy role in 13 years in joining the cast of Asher Keddie led BINGE TV drama Strife.
The 60-year-old will be seen in season two as psychologist, Sylvie. She initially came on board to work with writers but couldn’t resist the role.
“Sometimes something great comes along that is full of the stuff I like and I like tension, that is why you do comedy, to release it, you make something tense and then you release it with a laugh,” Coustas, of Wogs Out Of Work and Acropolis Now fame, said.
“I love comedy and I love relationships and there was so much to this idea and just the level of quality that they’ve brought to this, it just looked really fantastic and aspirational. It was just happening and buzzy and it was fast, fresh and relevant.”
Coustas is used to doing things on her own terms.
She is always working, and currently has two live shows touring the country – Effie Upyourselfness and Mary Coustas This Is Personal.
“If it is not relevant, I don’t know why I would do it,” she said.
“I did a lot of irrelevant things when I was at drama school like rolling around on the floor screaming and rubbish performance art shit. Why would I do something that nobody understands? Where are my priorities and shouldn’t I speak to everyone?”
Strife season two premieres on BINGE May 8.
Keddie of course returns, as do Matt Day, Tina Bursill, Emma Lung, Lincoln Younes, Alex Dimitriades and BeBe Bettencourt.
Other newcomers include Nathan Page, Tim Minchin, Karis Oka and Dylan Alcott.
“It was an irresistible show for me,” Coustas, who won a Logie in 1993, said.
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