Curveball

One of the things that l like best about being an actor is all the...well, for lack of a better term...all the drama.  Anytime you're in a play you can pretty much guarantee there is going to be some kind of hullabaloo at some point.  Or, maybe it's just the plays that I'm in.  Who knows?  But despite how emotional it can be in the moment, I love it - mainly because my real life is not nearly so interesting.  The play that I'm in now is no exception.  Here's what went down...

The girl playing our lead has been feeling like she isn't doing a good job, and that the director doesn't like her interpretation.  I think she is doing great, and I told her as much, but it doesn't have the same resonance coming from a fellow castmate.  It got to the point that I felt it might start to interfere with her ability to perform, but didn't really feel it was my place to speak with the director.  I did, however, end up saying something to the producer.  She's a good friend of mine, and she was going to come to the next rehearsal to see how things were going.  I thought that if she came, watched the play, and said something - anything! - encouraging to the lead, it would help.

She came.  She watched.  She spoke.  She helped.  The lead felt much relieved.  Everyone was happy.  Then the director started giving notes. 

First up was me.  The director has spent the entire rehearsal period telling me that he was really happy with what I was doing, that I had the character "spot on", that I was doing a wonderful job.  Now he's decided that the character is not "bitchy" enough, and that the whole reason the lead is not reading to the audience as a more sympathetic character, is that I am playing my character too "nice".  I have to be more of a bitch.

Now, I have no trouble being a bitch.  It comes quite naturally to me.  (Just ask the Husband!).  But I have spent the last two months of rehearsal trying to avoid just that.  I think it's really easy to make this character bitchy and vapid, and I believe that my challenge as an actor is to weave humanity and sympathy into my interpretation.  As my character, I genuinely believe that my intentions are pure, and that I'm trying to help my sister.  I think she is misinterpreting my honest attempts to help her.  I will allow that fact that I may not actually be helping all that much - I'm pushy, aggressive and believe that there is a a right way to do things: my way.  All this could easily be interpreted as a "bitch", but I think that is a one-dimensional outlook and does a disservice to the character.

However, technically, it is the actor's job to realize the director's vision.  They have an outside eye on the show and know what is working and what isn't.  An actor must trust the feedback that the director is giving them.

So here's my quandry:  Do I chuck all the work that I've done over the past couple months and completely re-interpret my character two weeks before Opening Night because the director has all of a sudden decided he doesn't like what I'm doing?  Do I do all this even though it is completely contrary to how I see the character?  Or do I stick to my guns, and play the character the way I've grown to know her and love her - faults and all - because I honestly believe that I am right?  Do I do this eventhough it technically makes me a "bad actor" because I am not doing what the director is asking of me?  From my point of view, it's a no-win situation.

I tell ya - drama is many things, but it is NEVER boring.

Comments

[Mac & Cheese]

Instead, why don't you throw a Christian Bale type of hissy fit and become a YouTube celebrity.

In all seriousness though, is there a happy medium?

[Painted Maypole]

Take what you're doing and turn it up a notch... don't decide to make her "bitchy" (bitchy people never think they're bitchy, anyways)- but up the aggressiveness, etc. Maybe up her cluelessness, too. One thing my acting teacher in college said that stuck with me is that even though your character is always trying hard to DO something, they don't always do it WELL. So maybe your character does her good intentioned actions REALLY POORLY. So that even though she's being obnoxiously pushy, she knows she's doing it to help her sister and can't possibly see how anyone else would interpret it differently. Does that make sense? The director obviously liked what you're doing, but just wants you to nudge it up a bit. I think you can take direction AND stay true to your work.

on similar lines, I've started rehearsals for a new show (because I'm insane) and the director is MICROMANAGING EVERYTHING. On our firt rehearsals we can't go two lines without stopping and being given specific line readings, etc. I did my all my actor homework, but was given no chance to show the director where I thought the character and scene were going. I'm so terribly frustrated, and don't know how to handle it. I feel like now I have to do the director's interpretation of the character and not mine... like I am a puppet and not a part of the creative process. I'm trying to figure out how to apply the same basic principals I was writing to you about to this situation. Crazy.

and I'm totally stewing over the fact that I was offered a paying gig after I accepted this job, and did the noble thing and stuck with my original commitment. ack, ack, ack!!!

[kgirl]

The fact that you can even take direction from somebody makes me respect you a lot. I'm no good at doing what people tell me to.

[Beck]

What Painted Maypole said - no one I know who is bitchy actually thinks of themselves in that way. They see themselves as Bravely STanding Up For Themselves, or Outspoken or Assertive. I think there are ways to stay true to your idea of who the character is and still get across what the director wants as well....

[Woman in a window]

I think your interpretation sounds more real and the director's a little more simplified. Maybe the director has some insight into the intended audience. Maybe all the tickets have been presold to unthinking drones.

Oh, was that mean? I guess I'm just tired of being spoon-fed. Fight for it. Yer right.

[mamatulip]

It's a cop-out comment, I know, but I agree with Painted Maypole.