Rumor Has It
Clay’s on stage and we’re game
Culture | November 2011
Since September 19, our own Clay Mabbitt has been heading over to the nearby Center for the Performing Arts for rehearsals after work. We worry that he has a career to fall back on, but we’re also big supporters. All the Squares are going to see him in the Civic Theatre’s presentation of Amadeus inside the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre next week. Here’s our exclusive look.
So, Clay, I hear you’re in Amadeus and we’re all coming to see you. Can you tell me a little about your character and what you’ve learned from him?
The character I play is one of the Venticelli. We’re a couple of gossip-mongers who are kind of the 18th century version of TMZ.
So what kind of juicy gossip do you have from the 18th century?
I hear that Emperor Joseph is very tight-fisted. There was some talk flying around that Court Composer Salieri hates Wolfgang Mozart, although I’ve clearly overheard them talking as friends. There was also something about Mozart being a tiger in bed. Or a house cat. Or something. Look it’s very hard to keep all of this straight when I don’t have an iPhone to record the people I’m spying on.
Also Britain’s naval supremacy won’t last, but you didn’t hear that from me.
Sounds like you’re in character. How does an actor get to know or develop a new character? And how does this practice of “getting into character” help you in your real life?
I’m not sure how anybody else finds a character, but I usually do most of the work when I’m by myself in the car. Once I’ve memorized my lines, I can repeat the dialogue out loud over and over. I vary it a little each time, trying to imagine a different way I might be feeling as I say that line. (Note: do not do this when other people are in the car with you.)
In the beginning I’m all over the place, but eventually I land on a line or two that sounds right to me. Then I can work on the lines right before or after that and build a stream of connected lines that all fit together. Then once I have a sense of the character I have to forget all these speech patterns so I can react naturally to how the other actors on stage are portraying their characters.
This is a long answer, but I want to respond in a little detail because I think this practice does translate beautifully to the real world. There’s a direct application to developing your own character. By imagining yourself in various hypothetical situations, you can explore different ways you might react and how you feel about each one.
A classic example is what to do if you find a hundred dollar bill on the ground. Do you turn it into lost and found? Do you try to find the owner? Do you put it in your pocket before anyone else sees? That’s basically what I’m doing in my car when I’m trying out various interpretations of lines from the script. How do I want this character to react in a particular situation?
If I do enough work on the lines ahead of time, when anything unexpected happens during a show (and sometimes it’s the unexpected things that really turn into great theatrical moments) I already know enough about my character that I know how to react in that situation. Usually the worst thing you can do on stage is freeze up.
The parallel in life is that if you’ve spent enough time to really figure out who you are and what you value, you can react to the curve balls life throws you without breaking character. You don’t freeze up. You just react in the way that’s right for you and keep moving forward.
