The Freedom of Drama Class versus the Tyranny of Hollywood
I never went into acting, I would never chose it as a career, for a multitude of reasons, but I was a drama club nerd, and I fucking love the drama classes I went to.
Even the last one, where the new teacher was a bit of a douche. I had a feeling he hated to be there.
...and looking through my old notes, I remember now the argument I had with him. I don't even remember which role we were fighting over, but the argument came down to this: He said I can't play a male character's role, and that said restriction for a class assignment was logical because hey, irl, I wouldn't be allowed to cross-gender act anyways.
Except I know I WOULD, it's unusual, but it's not remotely unheard of, where the fuck were you?
...and um, as an asian, I shouldn't be doing Shakespeare maybe...
...and wow, with the exception of Elizabeth the first and some minor stuff, for all the major class projects, I realise that I chose the male roles. Hamlet was a big one, though in hindsight, I think I should have chosen Ophelia, since some of the stuff happened to me was more in line with her experience, than the pressures driving Hamlet - I identified with Hamlet's depression, but it was over the choices he had, whereas my situation was just more like Ophelia's, other people's choices.
The biggest one, oh, if I were to do theatre for fun or for side, the role I really really want to play again and learned a lot doing was this one:
Staff Captain Vassily Vasilyevich Solyony from The Three Sisters.
Alas, I'm not Russian, which I view as a way bigger deterrent than sex/gender difference because I get mistaken for a dude (unintentional0/ pass as one (intentional) every other week.
Walking around in his skin was the thing that talk me the importance of context and details when it comes to understanding. In plain text, Solyony was The Villain who was in love with Irina, and killed her boyfriend in a duel. Irina was disgusted with him, and he was aware of it, and subtextually(?) disgusted with himself with the frequent perfuming of his hands, this was something I had heartfelt identification with at the time - being attracted to a girl, feeling like I would disgust her with my attraction.
...but Solyony was still a villain for deliberately killing the Irina's ticket out of town...or did he?
...see, throughout the play, Solyony compared himself to the romantic poet Lermontov, and as a part of character research, I read a few Lermontov poems (granted, translated to English) and of his life - Lermontov was killed in a duel over the love of a lady.
So when Solyony challenged Tuzenbach to a duel, or OH WAIT, accepted Tuzenbach's invite to a duel - he wasn't looking for an opportunity to kill his rival, Solyony was looking to be killed!.
Even the last one, where the new teacher was a bit of a douche. I had a feeling he hated to be there.
...and looking through my old notes, I remember now the argument I had with him. I don't even remember which role we were fighting over, but the argument came down to this: He said I can't play a male character's role, and that said restriction for a class assignment was logical because hey, irl, I wouldn't be allowed to cross-gender act anyways.
Except I know I WOULD, it's unusual, but it's not remotely unheard of, where the fuck were you?
...and um, as an asian, I shouldn't be doing Shakespeare maybe...
...and wow, with the exception of Elizabeth the first and some minor stuff, for all the major class projects, I realise that I chose the male roles. Hamlet was a big one, though in hindsight, I think I should have chosen Ophelia, since some of the stuff happened to me was more in line with her experience, than the pressures driving Hamlet - I identified with Hamlet's depression, but it was over the choices he had, whereas my situation was just more like Ophelia's, other people's choices.
The biggest one, oh, if I were to do theatre for fun or for side, the role I really really want to play again and learned a lot doing was this one:
Staff Captain Vassily Vasilyevich Solyony from The Three Sisters.
Alas, I'm not Russian, which I view as a way bigger deterrent than sex/gender difference because I get mistaken for a dude (unintentional0/ pass as one (intentional) every other week.
Walking around in his skin was the thing that talk me the importance of context and details when it comes to understanding. In plain text, Solyony was The Villain who was in love with Irina, and killed her boyfriend in a duel. Irina was disgusted with him, and he was aware of it, and subtextually(?) disgusted with himself with the frequent perfuming of his hands, this was something I had heartfelt identification with at the time - being attracted to a girl, feeling like I would disgust her with my attraction.
...but Solyony was still a villain for deliberately killing the Irina's ticket out of town...or did he?
...see, throughout the play, Solyony compared himself to the romantic poet Lermontov, and as a part of character research, I read a few Lermontov poems (granted, translated to English) and of his life - Lermontov was killed in a duel over the love of a lady.
So when Solyony challenged Tuzenbach to a duel, or OH WAIT, accepted Tuzenbach's invite to a duel - he wasn't looking for an opportunity to kill his rival, Solyony was looking to be killed!.