Chetwynde & Trout
It appears to be the year of multiple roles. Following The Old Curiosity Shop on stage, and the Docudrama filmed last month, I finished off the year on stage playing more than one role in Slaughterhouse 5 for Little Mountain Lion Productions – the same company that produced A Behanding in Spokane last year.
That production was so enjoyable, I jumped at the chance to work for them again, and the prospect of working on a stage adaptation of one of my favourite Science Fiction novels (and not having to audition!) was too good to pass up.
Foe anyone familiar with the book and movie, you will know that this story is tricky to pull off on stage: Time Travel, multiple characters, and action taking place on two worlds makes this a project to commit to, and drag the audience with you, rather than knowing that they will follow you.
Once again, multiple parts made this a project where I felt the characterisations had to be strong and distinct from each other, and the actor’s commitment to his own work all had to be strong. I felt lucky that Colonel Chetwynde gave me the chance to play a career army officer stuck in a POW camp of World War 2, and his bearing, mannerisms and gait all reflected a life in uniform. Of course his personal belief that personal hygene was the best defense a soldier had gave me the chance to have fun with his major speech, and the other absurdities if keeping morale up during an incredibly stressful time. I came to the realisation that this character would be the tiniest bit insane – and not the Trout character that an audience may well expect him to be.
Kilgore Trout is one of Vonnegut’s most loved characters, but there wasn’t a definite model to work on. I had the opportunity to play against the Chetwynde type, so made Trout bowed down with the weight of the failure of his own expectations and success. Untrusting, and sarcastic, he spoke sideways, and bit at people like a dog, rather than conversed with them. Still certain that his own view if the Universe was the only correct one, I was surprised that his bombastic and untrusting appearabce and delivery gacve me so many laugh lines – you live and learn. I made sure to play him as the ‘sanest guy in the room’, just with poor people skills.
Along with the additional characters of a down-trodden US soldier turning into a Hobo before dying, and two German characters (along with the German language they spoke!), this production was a roller coaster ride from curtain up onward – the entire cast felt this, as far as I could see – and it was the most ‘hang on, this train isn’t stopping’ kind of experience that I haven’t experienced for a while. Along with the accents, languages, different characterizations, and the miming of all sets and props, this was exhausting, but a great experience. Oh, and the picture? We didn’t take any in character for this production, so I proudly present a picture of me at my agent’s year end party! It doesn’t happen very often, so this is me, in 2014
