Capturing Paris
Had my first blocking rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet last night, and I enjoyed it very much. I'm liking this character, Count Paris, but I think he is going to take a little while to really get a handle on. I've played more than my share of men on stage before, but I believe this is the first time I've ever played a character that required this particular kind of "model of a man" masculine presence. Paris is supposed to be an attractive, powerful, highly admirable example of masculinity. I know I can be a small and perhaps slightly delicate man. Can I be a handsome alpha male? That's a little tough when your Juliet is taller than you.
Contrast my most recent previous male roles-- Fleance, Puck, the Fool, Dromio. A boy who wasn't yet a grown man. A nonhuman presence that didn't need any strong gendering. A flexible presence that was far more defined by personality. A comedic character who wasn't supposed to have any manly authority. It was easier to buy that these character were males who simply weren't "man's men." With Paris, though, you can tell from the way the other characters talk about him that they see him as basically the model of what a man should be-- I think being decidedly masculine is part of that. It's important that I establish him as a figure who would have earned that reputation, and I don't know if just going with the "delicate-featured youth" air is going to cut it. It's going to be a real challenge for me to project that kind of presence, but I'm going to work very hard on it and I am determined to figure it out.