The immediate response whenever any Jane Austen-fan finds out you're doing Sense and Sensibility is "Oh! Who are you playing??"
Yet when I gleefully divulge - "Fanny Dashwood" - it has been astounding to me to see their faces drop, and feel them close off emotionally. "Oh…" they say, "well that's too bad." I realized very quickly that the general public's opinion of Villains is very different from mine, as the actor. So allow me to let you in on a little secret - I love playing the villain.
During a recent conversation with an old friend from college (about S&S, of course) she exclaimed "You're such a sweet person, I can't wait to see you play a part like that!" - So maybe the rabid excitement I feel at playing such a diabolical character comes from the delight of having an out from society's demand that I be "nice" all the time.
Something extremely important to consider as an actor is always finding the positive truth in a character, despite how vicious and irredeemable they may be. This can be extremely difficult with Jane Austen, who often works in hyperbole - rarely are any characters (except for her heroines) presented as anything but foolish or cruel. For example - Fanny is described as cold-hearted and self serving - so how do you find anything positive to play from with that? For me, I focus on her entitled nature. Entitlement is still not an exceptional quality in a human, but it helps me to ground her viewpoint in reality. Instead of focusing on her being nasty to the Dashwood sisters, I frame my actions in the sense that I, naturally, deserve all that I am fortunate enough to have, and how dare any of these people try to take any of that from me?
I also tend to be the type of actor who can't help but absorb some of whatever character I'm working on at the moment. After all, much of our characters onstage come from some aspect of ourselves. Again, it's important to keep what's positive and leave the rest. When I walk out of Sussex and back into reality in Portland, I take the time to remember to leave behind Fanny's manipulative cold side, and carry with me instead her confidence and grace.
Yet when I gleefully divulge - "Fanny Dashwood" - it has been astounding to me to see their faces drop, and feel them close off emotionally. "Oh…" they say, "well that's too bad." I realized very quickly that the general public's opinion of Villains is very different from mine, as the actor. So allow me to let you in on a little secret - I love playing the villain.
During a recent conversation with an old friend from college (about S&S, of course) she exclaimed "You're such a sweet person, I can't wait to see you play a part like that!" - So maybe the rabid excitement I feel at playing such a diabolical character comes from the delight of having an out from society's demand that I be "nice" all the time.
Something extremely important to consider as an actor is always finding the positive truth in a character, despite how vicious and irredeemable they may be. This can be extremely difficult with Jane Austen, who often works in hyperbole - rarely are any characters (except for her heroines) presented as anything but foolish or cruel. For example - Fanny is described as cold-hearted and self serving - so how do you find anything positive to play from with that? For me, I focus on her entitled nature. Entitlement is still not an exceptional quality in a human, but it helps me to ground her viewpoint in reality. Instead of focusing on her being nasty to the Dashwood sisters, I frame my actions in the sense that I, naturally, deserve all that I am fortunate enough to have, and how dare any of these people try to take any of that from me?
I also tend to be the type of actor who can't help but absorb some of whatever character I'm working on at the moment. After all, much of our characters onstage come from some aspect of ourselves. Again, it's important to keep what's positive and leave the rest. When I walk out of Sussex and back into reality in Portland, I take the time to remember to leave behind Fanny's manipulative cold side, and carry with me instead her confidence and grace.
Hannah Quigg plays Fanny Dashwood and the elegant Lady Mary Middleton in Sense and Sensibility, running February 12-28th at Portland Actors Conservatory.