I want to preface this by saying that I am not a good actor. I am self-conscious and have never once lost myself in a role. But I like theater and I love Shakespeare.
I was in a class (purportedly a combo philosophy-fine arts-literature class) where our prof went out on maternity leave, and one of our projects while she was gone was to perform The Tempest. With two weeks preparation. And four rehearsals.
I was the only person with any theater experience. They elected me director. And then we started handing out roles, and the list dwindled until the only role left for me was Caliban. So like, apparently I’m not the only one who takes myself too seriously. No one wanted to play the monster.
In the way of all plays, this one was a rush and a flurry of costumes and props and (my favorite) sound effects. We decided the play should be set in space, and that the island is actually a distant planet, with Caliban and Ariel members of its strange alien races. It worked so well, underpinning the theme of colonization, that even the hesitant folks in my class got excited about acting it. In the way of all plays, somehow our one-time performance came together.
And meanwhile, playing Caliban struck a nerve with me. A character i would have originally dismissed as a creep became a victim of dispossession, a narrative that, as a white person, I have never fully understood. Of course, Caliban was written by white person, so his characterization is naturally problematic, but I do think that playing him opened a door of empathy, to try and understand my privilege and ponder the way “natives” are portrayed in media I enjoy. It was a good starting place to, I hope, a much healthier, less racist point of view.
So thanks, Shakespeare.
And um. Here’s me as Caliban.
0 comentários:
Postar um comentário