This month, among other projects, I'm preparing to play Mercutio. This is the role I was really gunning for in the Spring, and I'm thrilled to be playing it. It's going to be a BLAST. Four great scenes, a fight, AND an onstage death (well, technically, immediately offstage).
The last role I was this excited about was Oberon. I had seen several productions of Midsummer, including the film version with Judi Dench. Frankly, I'd never really been that taken with the play. But when I found out it was going to be produced here, I sat down and read the play again, and Oberon was the role that stood out for me, since I feel that age-wise, I'm pretty firmly out of Demetrius / Lysander territory and not yet in Egeus land. Oberon is the heart of what I feel is missing from other versions of Midsummer that I'd seen. He's often played as detached, cold, and uncaring. I see where that choice comes from, but I don't really think it's supported by the text (or particularly interesting). After all, at the beginning of the play, Oberon is "passing fell and wrath," so much so that the elves hide from him. And although he and Titania create the seasons, and have, every year since the dawn of time, the conflict between them is so great that they are prepared to let the world spin itself out of existence. As Titania notes,
...the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.
If this conflict is not HUGE, the other action of the play overshadows it, and it becomes unimportant. And it's the driving force for much of the other action of the play. To put it another way, when the Oberon/Titania conflict is understated, the entire play is on its head. So, I began my work on the character by focusing on the source of this conflict. What's different this time? Why is this time special? What has changed in the dynamic between Oberon and Titania?
Anyway, to make a long story short, I found a reason for it, based on the text and on common stories from myth (how the Greek gods behaved, since we're talking about Cupid's arrow, about Theseus, etc.) The director, however, had a different idea. I thought her idea was less interesting, and, honestly, unplayable. At least in a way that would give the conflict between Oberon and Titania the high stakes necessary to make the play work the way (I think) it should. Also, it's my opinion that the director's take on the conflict was only sustainable if certain things were cut from the text.
Mea culpa time. I was a bad actor. I could NOT let go of my take on the character. I probably should have quit. I had an absolutely *miserable* time working on the production. I kept trying to make my case, and ultimately, I began to feel that no matter what choice I made, I was always told it was the wrong one. I really struggled with how to make it all work, and once the run started, I slipped more and more into the way I felt the character should be played. By that point, the director was too busy dealing with other things to pay any attention to what I was doing. I know, it's terrible. But I KNOW my take was better. And I don't think I lack objectivity on this, either. The feedback I got from the audience was very positive - people saying they'd never seen it done that way and that it gave the show a new layer of meaning - and I was also offered some other roles by people who saw that production. I have very mixed feelings about that production. I know that I didn't hold up my end of the bargain, by taking my marching orders and carrying them out like a good soldier. But, on the other hand, I don't really respect choices that I think directly contradict the text.
So, here I sit, getting ready to emotionally involve myself in a take on a character again. From what I've heard, the director of this production is very hands-off with respect to actors' choices. That's looking good for my freedom to do what I want with Mercutio. But it also brings me to the other side of the coin.
One danger in a production where actors are given too much freedom is that when you have two or three actors who have different ideas of the scene, or who don't work together as a team, they can get into a competition. In those cases, the performances of each actor are improved by someone essentially watching the scene with a pointer, saying, "right now, the focus is here... here, it shifts to you, etc." Someone needs to steer the ship. When you're on stage with a group of clowns, and it's every man for himself... well, that's not going to maximize the effect of the scene, in my opinion. It's going to lack focus, it's going to be diffused, everyone can end up pushing to try to get through the clutter, and you end up with an audience who feels pummeled, even though they may not consciously realize it.
Back to Mercutio. This guy is ridiculous. He has a quick tongue and a quick blade. Everything is a joke to him, and most of the jokes are dirty. When you read some of these speeches, you have to pity the scenery, because you know it's going to be chewed beyond all recognition. I'm looking forward to working with the guys playing Benvolio and Romeo - I'd really like to make this a team effort, instead of the Mercutio show. In fact, I'm going to suggest that we try stand, sit, lean in some of the scenes. I'd love for us to have a lot of physical interaction and movement while I'm yammering on about tithe-pigs and little atomie. But I suppose the main concern I have, and the reason for this post, is that since I have an outsized character in mind, I hope it will work with the director's concept and will not be out of place in the context of the show.
