Squeaky: Part 14
Squeaky Part 14
After watching some footage of Squeaky:
Me: “Crazy chick, huh?”
My dad (also an actor): “Yeah, but don’t say that: you can’t PLAY that.”
Me: “Dad, obviously I won’t play her as a total wackadoo; I won’t play her as if SHE thinks she’s crazy. I think as an actress I can recognize that a person isn’t all there mentally and still play that person in such a way that shows she wholeheartedly believes she is 100% sane and on a holy mission…”
Or can I?
posted by Shannonymous @ 9:29 AM
3 Comments:
Yes and no. Sure, you can call her crazy because you know that you can't play "Ooooh, I'm so craaaaaazy!" It just has to go out the window when you get into the meat of it. Maybe she's not crazy. Maybe she's completely sane, wouldn't that be so interesting? She can't be let off the hook with "nutcase."
The director of the play I'm working on now keeps using the phrase "be your character's advocate"... so while I (Fink) believe that my character is on the odd side, my character believes every single thing that comes out of her mouth- even the contradictory stuff. So it's my job to step out of the way and understand and empathize with her behavior for every single moment I'm onstage. I can judge her when rehearsals are over.
Does this even make sense?
TOTALLY. And I completely agree! And I definitely don't want to let her off the hook, but yes, I know she 110% believes that everything she says is true and just and everything she's doing is what needs to be done for the good of the planet.
Thanks for the input- ALWAYS appreciated, especially from YOU! =)
Totally agree with Fink. I think you have to sell your character's POV. Just like it's a writer's duty to convince his/her audience that the characters running around on stage are coming from a place that's human and real and vulnerable and flawed, a place not unlike their own heart, I think it's important for an actress to sell the audience on the idiosyncratic, the human side of whoever they're playing, be it Squeaky, Hamlet, or Santa Claus.
It's like a good villain. A good villain always has a motivation that you can ALMOST understand. The best is when you find yourself agreeing with the villain's view of the world, but not his/her actions. That rules.
Like Magneto.
(dork)
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