Acting

I was wondering what it is that makes success of a play? Sensitive portrayal of characters, lighting, music etc are indeed factors which contribute immensely. But it is important to have no clashing objectives. It is important for an actor to understand the script. That is the beginning. The next thing for him to understand is the interpretation of the script by the director. It helps to compare your understanding with the director's. Any script can be interpreted differently while keeping the overarching intention of the playwright. When we did Moliere's Tartuffe for instance, Jill, the director wanted not the 18th century play. She wanted to refer to times we live in. She wanted Tartuffe to entertain us in our times rather than reconstruct Moliere's times. She wanted to interpret. When we performed, it was called Tartuffe Texas. It was largely set around the New Creation swimming pool in Auroville. I played Morgan and spoke American, southern accent. Americans who saw it told me that my accent was indeed southern American! The point here is that I tried to understand the script and Jill's objective behind interpreting Moliere. I was a foil to Jean Legrand who played Terry Tuff (Tartuffe). We worked a great relationship, I remember. It was done in 2005.