I begin to make up stories. I'll decide that she used one image instead of another because it was something she saw as a child, something that stayed with her. As eloquent as she is about Shakespeare's words, Carey is equally passionate about the movement that must accompany those words on stage. I think of it like watching a conversation through a restaurant window. You can understand everything that's being said if the people are invested in what they're talking about.
Actors do the same thing with a look, a nuance, a hesitation, the use of a prop.
Carey has been known to spend countless hours researching a role and historic period. What counts, though, is the chemistry that you and a particular actor or group of actors create on a stage. That chemistry can only occur in the flesh, on your feet. Carey's own journey to Cleopatra has been an eventful one. A busy early career working at such prestigious places as The Guthrie Theater and the Stratford Festival in Canada became more sporadic with the welcome addition of husband and family.