Erik Gratton
As You Like It
A nytheatre voices cyber-interview
Erik Gratton claims to be the only actor he knows that has played Wilbur the pig during a matinee, followed by a performance as Hamlet the same evening. As an actor he has been seen in many productions in New York City as well as across the country.
Poortom Productions is billed as New York City's only all male Shakespeare company. Could you give us some background about this brand new company, your involvement with it, and why you wanted to be part of this inaugural production, especially how you got to be cast as Rosalind?
What constantly intrigues me about poortom productions is the constant energy and enthusiasm for Shakespeare's words and for the essence of his stories. Joe Plummer (our artistic director) is passionate about the future of classical theatre in America (I'd be happy to make some quotes up, to try and capture his essence in rehearsals, but with my sense of humor it's a bad idea—I'm enjoying myself in the show and would like to be asked back in the future). As for my own involvement, I was really just incredibly lucky. I had never met anyone from the production team, and happened on the casting notice by accident. Submitting for Jaques and Touchstone, I hadn't thought that Rosalind was even a remote possibility. I'm a very tall guy, and thought that would automatically disqualify me for her. Not for the first time in my life, I found I was very wrong. Rosalind has me as excited as I've been about a job in years, and the rest of the cast is wonderful. I'm feeling extremely lucky to have been included in this group.
What do you feel an all male cast brings to a version of As You Like It that is different than normal gender casting and what do you expect audience reaction to be?
I have no idea what the audiences will be expecting, coming into the theatre to see us. That's something I'm really dying to find out. My actress friends are a wonderful mix of proud and jealous, excited and angry. I love it! I can't wait to hear what they think after they've seen the show! We don't laugh enough at ourselves and our sensitivities these days. Hot-button issues can be difficult to laugh at, and gender is one of the hottest buttons around… but it's so funny! All this being said, I've got an enormous amount of faith in an audience's ability to run with an idea. It will surprise me very much if people spend the entire show thinking of me as a man, rather than as "Rosalind." As far as what an all-male cast can offer, I hope we can be a window into the play as it was originally written. Shakespeare was bound by Elizabethan law to write for only male actors. A production like this allows us to investigate some differences that have crept into Shakespeare production over the past several hundred years, for better or worse…
How do you go about preparing yourself to play Rosalind and then her disguise as a man?
Spending too much time trying to figure out how to "play a woman" would be a mistake, I think. I'll never know what it's like to grow up in that context (certainly, I couldn't begin to scratch the surface of womanhood in a 4-week rehearsal process). I try to figure out what I have in common with Rosalind, herself. She's pretending to be a man who's playing a woman… well, I am a man who's playing a woman. We're so close to each other, already! I concentrate on playing Rosalind; what she wants, minute by minute. She's so in love, and her world, the context in which she's lived her life, has been completely transformed. These are things I relate to. These are things that can be performed. I can learn how to walk/sit/kneel gracefully in a skirt (deceptively difficult, that). I have a hunch (not an original one) that how we move and appear on the outside is a much bigger difference than what motivates us in our hearts and minds. But what I keep going back to is that this shouldn't be that difficult. It's what the character was written to be. It's not science or high-concept-art, it's a wonderfully vulgar, popular comedy. I try to think about the situation and think about the funny. The rest should take care of itself.
You have performed several other Shakespeare plays but, I believe, this is your first in a woman's role. How does this compare to the other work you have done and what is your opinion as to the many different renditions of Shakespeare that are presented as to their relevance to today's times?
It is, indeed, my first time in a woman's role. If all goes as planned, I'll get to play Hamlet or Prince Hal a few more times. I would lay you odds, however, that this is my one chance to play this role, another of Shakespeare's masterworks. But Rosalind is very like Hamlet or Prince Hal, or even Lear. Her language tastes so good, and her journey is so interesting, that a lot of the work has been done for me. Shakespeare was a pretty smart guy. The reason he's got the most recognized name in western literature is that his plays are still absolutely relevant and accessible. My criticism with a lot of current productions (and certainly ones that I've seen in the city in recent years), begins with a perceived lack of confidence in the text and audience. Make an audience pay too much attention to the director or the designer's "vision" of the play, and the story gets lost. Moritz, our director, is really committed to the text, to the story we're trying to tell. And that, as far as I can tell, is the real concept of this production, quite apart from the casting approach. Arrrgh, you get me started and I can't stop. Point is: I figure that what Mr. S wanted was to make people laugh, and make people think, not drive his actors or his audiences nuts, which is so often what happens, these days.
What plans do you have for the near future?
Up next for me is an independent film about an adult whiffle-ball league. This is really heavy drama. I play the commissioner of the league, a former star pitcher, who lost his eye in the championship game, years before. It's not Shakespeare, but it's just as fun. I can't believe this is my job. Other than that, I have nothing concrete coming up. It's hard to plan too far into the future, when you can't seem to buy an audition for paying work in the city you've chosen as home. I spend a lot of time every year working in other states, performing in regional theatre. It's a way to keep doing what I do, keep being what I am, and not having to work a temp-job or bartend.
February 28, 2007
