I got to see Alfred Molina in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina this weekend on cable. He had a smaller supporting role again (Constantine Levin). *Sigh* He did such a good job, I just wish he'd had a bigger part in the movie. And it was really wonderful to see him in a nice guy role for a change, a romantic role.
I also went to see a community college production of Othello on Sunday. It wasn't very good. The actors playing Othello and Iago were both somewhat melodramatic, Othello more so, however. Towards the end of the first act when he first begins to suspect Desdemona, the actor took the emotional turmoil to the highest level possible, and that's where he stayed the entire rest of the play. The last 20 minutes of the final scene in the bedroom became extremely boring because there was no variation in Othello's emotional reactions, the actor had no where left to go emotionally, there was nothing left to build up to.
Iago was much more honest in his emotional portrayal, but still a little bit on the melodramatic side. There were a lot of heavy silences in his monologues, sometimes in the middle of a sentence, but mostly between lines as the actor focused on the internal images necessary to create the emotional impact for the next line. At least, that's what it seemed like to me he was doing. I did think he did a good job connecting to the hatred that Iago feels for Othello, and the actor also did a good job of just standing there smiling, with the hatred writhing just underneath whenever Othello called upon Iago to serve him.
Desdemona was just the opposite. Her emotional reactions were so shallow and nearly non-exsistent. Othello nearly strangles her in the first act, then lets her go. She simply stands there with her hands on her throat and says in a wounded tone: "I did not deserve that, my lord." And then in the second act when Othello admits to her that he is going to kill her, she sits there and almost calmly says, "Do not kill me, my lord."
But between Iago and Othello, it's got me worried about my own Blue Window monologue now. Because I have been working on connecting to an emotional life for this monologue, I'm nearly crying at the end, and now after seeing all that melodrama, I wonder if that's the right choice? I'm working very hard to keep it as honest as I can. But I realize that in some cases, understating the emotion of the scene is better. When I performed this monologue for class two years ago, I performed it more like talking from a remembered dream state than with emotion. I don't know which is the better choice now. I really really need to show this monologue to someone. No one has had time to watch me perform it yet. Blah.
But I suppose since, in the past, I've been too cautious emotionally, being melodramatic shouldn't be a worry for me? I hope? And hopefully if I stay connected to my thoughts, my objective, and my obstacles, and NOT focused on the emotions, that will also prevent melodrama? Arg.
On another subject, I've found another audition to go to next week. It's for a new play called Dead Letter Office, comprised of 20 monologues and scenes based on vintage postcards. Sounds very interesting, looking forward to auditioning for that. (Especially since the dates don't seem to interfere with The Laramie Project, which I am still hoping to be involved with as well.)
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