Let the Word Do the Work

I am a hopeless romantic. I also majored in Theatre in college.

It should, therefore, come as no shock that I LOVE “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë, a classic in literature. I read it in high school, well, most of it (Cliff Notes did the rest).

Speaking of “cliff,” let’s talk “Heathcliff,” the dashing male figure within the literary classic.

This, now, leads me to my hopeless romantic self, to my love of film, and the film adaptation of “Wuthering Heights.”

Sir Lawrence Olivier embodied the dashing, brooding, moody, tortured (in need of trauma therapy, for sure), Heathcliff.

(Yes, let’s be real. In the story, whether it be in book or film form, Heathcliff was not emotionally healthy. Heathcliff was abusive. Olivier’s portrayal of him certainly spotlights his cruelty. But I digress).

 Yes, Heathcliff, we will put a pin in this “Wuthering Heights” stuff for now; we will make that world stop for now.

And move on to the very real actor portraying you.

“Let the wig do the work.”

Sir Lawrence Olivier

This famous thespian, of stage and screen, supposedly, uttered this line.

They did not teach it in any of the acting classes I took in college.

Nevertheless, I did acquire some “on the stage” experience concerning this quote, years before I came across the quote.

During my Junior year, I was cast in a stage production of John Guare’s “The House of Blue Leaves.”

I was cast as Bananas O’ Shawnessy, the crazy housewife, just released from a mental facility.

And she barked like a dog.

Woof-woof.

Dealing with the director, he wanted me to wear a wig. I had long dark hair.

And, despite one my fellow actors making the comment, “She’ll look great and crazy, running across that stage, with all that hair flying,” the director’s vision decided otherwise.

Faded copper wig, instead, with three curlers in it.

I already tried being a redhead when I was thirteen, with disastrous results, dying my hair “Red Copper Penny” TWICE during a three-month summer vacation.

I wanted to look like Rita Hayworth.

I looked like I had Jaundice instead. (My Olive Complexion).

Anyway, I can attest to the influence that faded copper wig, with at least three curlers in it, had on me.

Yes, I learned my lines. Yes, I rehearsed. Yes, I prayed not to make a fool of myself onstage, forgetting my lines or tripping on the set.

All of that helped.

And there was something about putting on that wig, along with the ratty robe costume.

“Let the wig do the work.”

Did I more authentically… “become crazy?”

(No comment from the peanut gallery, please).

I say all of this, if you are still following me after Heathcliff, Olivier, theatre, and wigs to highlight THIS SCRIPTURE…

Isaiah 55:8-11:

 

8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

10“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

But let’s really zoom in on Verse Eleven:

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

 

“LET THE WORD DO THE WORK.”

 

That’s what popped up for me, anyway.

Scripture asserts that His Word… WORKS!

It accomplishes what it was intended to do.

And, unlike a wig, it is not ornamental, or for aesthetics only.

It does some DEEP work.

My theatre background has familiarized me some on similarities to “learning lines.”

It goes far beyond simply “reading the Bible.”

Yes, we are called to read, and even memorize, Scripture.

AND…

Much like that of a wig…

Put on The Word.

Embody it. Apply it. Speak it. Make it your own.

“Work The Word.”

But know, the entire time, that it is truly “The Word doing The Work.” 

Just some musings from a Theatre Major.

Copyright © 2026 by Sheryle Cruse