From my perspective, there are basically two ways to go about deciding things about characters like this. The first is my go-to: consider things that may be true for your character and try putting them into your own body. What if Oberon makes all of his steps as silent as possible? I try it out in rehearsal and feel this new physical element in my own body. If it works, I work with it until it feels totally natural to me. The other, arguably more interesting way of building fun new character things is rather the opposite. We dig into ourselves and find things that are true for us, things that maybe we don’t explore much in our everyday lives, and highlight them as prominent features of the character. This I find a little more difficult because it’s an extremely vulnerable process. John Corr is a very emotionally controlled person: I generally don’t get too angry/sad/excited/whatever, not because I don’t feel those things but because I prefer to not make choices based on heightened emotion. But Oberon has a temper. He’s a pretty controlled dude most of the time, like me, but he definitely lets his rage out every now and then. So it was/is important for me to delve into what it feels like for me to get carried away in anger, so that I can honestly let Oberon do that.
Acting is fun. It’s one big game of pretend that we try to get the audience to let themselves believe. But a major part of the fun and games involves going into vulnerable, emotional places and letting our characters have pieces of ourselves. I do not like letting people see me get upset. But if you come see A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you’re gonna see me get real upset. And as uncomfortable as that is for me, it’s what’s going to make Oberon real for me, my partners, and you in the audience. And at the end of the day, the most uncomfy things about the work do turn into the most fun. So come get carried away with me.
John Corr spent a large amount of his childhood mentally preparing himself for what he would do if he found himself stuck in quicksand. It hasn’t been an issue yet, but he’s still ready. Also, his dad gives Polonius-level good advice, including but not limited to “Don’t be a lawyer.” John's dad is a lawyer.