"the most challenging aspect of bringing this adaptation to life has been understanding and mapping Oswald’s mental deterioration throughout the play while grappling with the emotional reality of living with his illness."
In a new interview series on our Backstage Blog, we chat with the cast of the upcoming BY THEATRE WORKS production GHOSTS by Jodi Gallagher after Henrik Ibsen. Today, we chat with Gabriel Cali on preparing for and performing as Oswald in the upcoming post-dramatic interpretation of Ibsen's classic.
What initially interested you in GHOSTS?
What initially interested me in GHOSTS was the opportunity to work with Steven Mitchell-Wright and the chance to play such an interesting and challenging role.
What has been the most challenging aspect of bringing this adaptation to life?
For me the most challenging aspect of bringing this adaptation to life has been understanding and mapping Oswald’s mental deterioration throughout the play while grappling with the emotional reality of living with his illness.
As an ensemble one of the more challenging and exciting aspects of rehearsal has been the exploration and merging of the expressionist elements of this interpretation with the naturalistic.
GHOSTS is known for its intense themes and dramatic narrative. How do you prepare emotionally for a performance?
For me, the most important aspects of preparing emotionally for this story are preparation, the warmup and working in an ensemble. Fully engaging with Oswald’s emotionality reality has required an understanding of his psychology that has come through script analysis, research, conversations with Steven and Jodi, and exploration in the rehearsal room. From here, the most important thing for me is keeping my body and imagination open and accessible. This means listening to music while commuting to the theatre, taking time to fully warm up my body and voice, dancing, and listening to my fellow actors. The show opens with a ritual sequence, choreographed by Steven, which focuses and prepares us energetically for the story are about to tell.
How do you think this adaptation of Ghosts differs from traditional interpretations of Ibsen's work?
Where traditional interpretations of Ibsen’s work would stay firmly placed within naturalism, this version steps into the post-dramatic, playing with both style and form. Jodi’s adaptation establishes a framework through which to interpret the events of the story, based on Nietzsche’s idea of the myth of eternal recurrence, and this allows us to get more than a little freaky with the subject matter. This is one of the most exciting aspects of this adaptation, and I am very excited to see how audiences will respond.
How has working with director, Steven Mitchell Wright been?
For me, working with Steven it has been an enormously developmental. He has conducted an incredibly unique process, which has allowed us to continue playing and exploring throughout rehearsal. This process has created opportunities to mess with form in a way that feels very organic. He has an instinctive eye for design and images, and I have loved how he has directed us in the more naturalistic elements of rehearsal. I have learnt so much from this process that I will bring into my work going forward, and I would love to work with Steven again.
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