Malvolio Memories
Well, another example of ‘The best laid plans going awa'.’ Perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned during ‘Twelfth Night’ was that the more work you do toward characterization before rehearsals, it’s all going to change. This isn’t a negative, however – at least not in this case. The Director wasn’t unhappy with the choices I had made for Malvolio prior to rehearsals, just had a few different ideas that she wanted me to explore. The decisions I had made simply showed that I had done some work, and that I could change my character under the time restrictions that we had to work with – and they were bigger than I had planned for, due to my inability to read a calendar correctly.
We met on Sunday for a couple of 'read-throughs', discussions, contractual chores and a few items of wardrobe talks. Following a day off and a chance to read the script with more ‘Stage-Ready’ eyes, we blocked the play in two days, ran it through twice on Thursday, performed a cue-to-cue and had a dress rehearsal, and then previewed on Friday. Considering that we had a matinee opening, a Saturday night performance and a Sunday matinee including the clocks springing forward in between, reminded me how exhausting Theatre is, and how difficult it is to explain that to non-theatre ‘Civilians’. I definitely enjoyed the Monday day off!
My choices were slimmed down, somewhat, and streamlined into the following ‘broad brush’ plan:
Act One, from my introduction and the birth of the bad feeling between Malvolio and Feste to the Box Hedge scene was my opportunity to show who my guy actually was: Someone that didn’t suffer fools gladly, could only see light-hearted partying as both a waste of time, and the probable beginning of something that could only end badly. I chose a dark suit and tie, and made sure that my entire persona showed someone that took himself too seriously – that ‘tasted with a distemper’d appetite’ (to quote Olivia) for everything in life. We all know someone like this – just check your Facebook feed! The addition of yellow stockings and cross-gartering for my Act Two scene was a challenge for a modern wardrobe, but worked, thanks to wife’s eagle eye at a local department store. Who knew you could buy Neon Yellow socks! There was a nightgown available for me for the Kitchen drunk scene, and I added a hairnet (see picture) to show that even when he was asleep, he was so tightly wound, he concentrated on keeping his hair as flat as possible. Once again, Hair Gel played an important part in this role!
I took the opportunity to turn his attitude 100% around for the ‘Yellow Stockings’ scene, and show how his mind worked behind those spectacles, and let his excitement explode out of me. Of course, every audience member knew what was coming, and I wanted to portray something that they may not have seen anymore: No holding anything in as he had to in everyday life, but to show the joy, shock, and certainty he had that it would eventually happen – and here it was! Imagine winning the multi-million dollar lottery! That’s what you saw when he knew he was on his way to his goal of marrying money, and becoming ‘The Boss’, just a little too early. The secret I kept from everyone in the Company was that I didn’t even want Olivia – she was just the Means to the End.
This only left the Prison and the ‘Revenged on the whole pack of you’ final scene, and allowed me to desperately need the Fool’s help without realizing that he wouldn’t. Hopefully, the audiences ‘got’ that the more I begged, the more the distant the prospect of my release became. Malvolio’s final appearance was the result of the complete turnaround from the unsmiling, serious, buttoned-down character that the audience had seen in Act One: A scared, disheveled person that had lost everything due to his treatment of everyone around him. I counterpointed this with a threat – once the plots had been revealed to him – not from someone that had learned anything from his downfall, but a broken middle-aged man that had discovered how his overbearing seriousness had brought him down, but he was still sure that he was correct and he would get his revenge on everyone.
I was more than happy with the final characterization: True to what I believe the author intended, but different enough to make him interesting to audiences. I received the note that someone ‘felt so sorry for Malvolio in the end, something that I had never felt before.’ That made my day! I also got laughs, which – of course – always helps.
