by Kate O'Hare

For those who have only seen James Marsters as the bleached-blond British vampire Spike -- and that includes most people, unless you caught his brief appearance in "The House on Haunted Hill" or in last summer's play called "The Why" -- the Nov. 14 crossover episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" may come as something of a revelation.

Prior to landing the role on "Buffy," Marsters spent most of his career in regional theater. He reveals, "I started my professional career spread-eagled at the Goodman Theater (in Chicago) in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest,' naked, being wheeled out like Da Vinci's perfect man. There's no rewind button, that one's gone."

A decade of experience on the boards has given Marsters, a California native, plenty of acting tools to draw upon, many of which will be on display in the "Buffy/Angel" crossover. In the crossover he plays both Spike (in a few incarnations) and William, the man Spike was before he became a vampire.

Despite Marsters' experience, he and "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon had to come to an understanding on the set. "I feel like I'm a broken record about this, it really is true that the script is going to do it for you, if you just let it, if you just get out of its way. Joss and I have finally agreed on what good acting is. It's not messing up good words."

Was there disagreement? "Oh, yeah, because he always appreciates good acting, while I tend to slough it off, frankly, and not want to talk about it, not want to acknowledge it, really, don't want to get too precious."

"If he loves a moment in a scene or something, it's almost hard to talk about because you don't want to become too aware of it when you're doing it. You just want to show up to work and surprise yourself," Marsters said. "But we finally agreed that good acting is not messing up good words, knowing that when you have good words, you don't need to fix them, you don't need to help them, you just need to give yourself over to them. So in that way, a lot of work is being done by the script. But to my credit, I realize that and let it do that."

Marsters is currently seeking backing for a version of "Macbeth" he'd like to commit to film. "My 'Macbeth' is still worming its way around," he says. "I've really come to the conclusion that I want to play the role. There was some interest in the script if I was willing to let it go, but I've really come to the conclusion that I want to do it."

In the meantime, Marsters satisfies his Shakespearean urges with the help of Whedon. "We're all reading Shakespeare in his home these days. Oh my god, it's amazing. He's the one person with enough social power to get enough L.A. people together to do Shakespeare, and not just actors. There are only two or three actors, it's writers, friends, just normal people. It's been just brilliant."

"I think next week we're going to do 'Mac.' I want to do 'Mac,' he wants to read 'Hamlet,' and he wants to have Tony Head ('Buffy' co-star Anthony Head) read 'Richard III.' We started with some comedies, but knowing the people so well, casting them perfectly in their roles... in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' the best Lion I'd ever seen from a non-actor, was one of the writers, Jane Espenson. She was perfect. Oh my god, I'd never realized that about the play before. She was the best one I'd ever seen in my life."

"Joss is good. He is really good. Oh my god, I'm looking forward to hearing his 'Hamlet.' I think I may understand things about that play that I never did before."