The following is an edited transcript of a
candid taped conversation among Michael,
Jan (his website designer) and her friend Laura the evening
of 06 July 2002,
following the performance.
Fans interested in Michael's role in this play, may find this
conversation
insightful and interesting.
When
Jan and Laura and mentioned how impressive the stage setting
was, Michael began:
MICHAEL:
It's a great set, with that nursing station which is like a
prison guard tower. It's very cool.
LAURA:
Nurse Ratched [played by Annie Fitzpatrick] was really good.
MICHAEL:
She was great. She really looks the part, doesn't she?
LAURA:
Yes, she does. And the tone of her voice…
MICHAEL:
[imitates] "Behave yourselves, boys!"
JAN:
The word that comes to mind is "strident." And that
little fake bun she had on…
MICHAEL:
Yeah, 'cause she doesn't really have long hair.
JAN:
Did I hear you correctly? You told somebody you [the cast] put
the play together in two weeks? You guys are amazing.
MICHAEL:
Yes, only two weeks.
JAN:
I want to know how you learn so many lines so perfectly.
MICHAEL:
I don't have the most lines. People like Harding [played by
Dudley Swetland] and McMurphy [played by Marty Lodge] and Ratched
have so many lines. It would take such a long time to learn
that. It's tough.
JAN:
I guess that's one advantage of doing films because you're just
doing little snippets, right?
MICHAEL:
You're just responsible for short sections of dialogue during
any single day. Some days you have only one line to say, others
you have many, but it's never like a play where you've got to
know all your lines and cues during a single performance.
JAN:
You expressed so much emotion. Each time it was a new emotion.
MICHAEL:
Oh, cool!
JAN:
You went through almost the whole gamut of human emotions [on
stage]. Isn't that completely draining for you as an actor?
MICHAEL:
It's a little tough.
JAN:
First, you were cowering, you were afraid. Then you start to
come out of your shell a little bit. Then, near the end, you're
showing defiance, you're showing compassion, you're showing
triumph. And everything in between. Plus your conga line - your
conga line was just too much! [laughs]
MICHAEL:
We made that up, because that's not really in the play. But
we had to make up a party scene, you know? Conga - that was
hysterical.
JAN: That was so funny! Michael, I
think I wrote down about 20 different nouns -
MICHAEL:
[laughs heartily]
JAN:
- for all the different emotions you displayed, and I'm thinking,
how can one person display so many emotions, so powerfully in
two hours? I don't know how you do it.
MICHAEL:
Oh, thank you, thank you. You know what? It's a great role,
it's a challenging role. It's just such a good story. Like,
you love to tell the story because the story is what it is:
It's R. P. McMurphy versus the Big Nurse, and everything that
that means. Control, fighting against it. It's like, "Do
you want to be free? Do you want to live free? How do you live?
Do you have any guts?"
I
just follow the story. I listen to these people and their emotion
carries me along. When certain sections are over and it's my
turn to speak, the emotion created by the other actors is what
I use during my monologues. They relate to each prior scene,
but they very often comment on it or react to it. If I'm following
the arc of emotion created in the prior scenes, then it's easier
to add to it with my monologues, instead of creating atmosphere
and meaning from scratch.
Remember,
the Chief is a spy. He's cagey, he listens, and they don't see
that he's listening. He knows everything about them. And he's
crazy, too, so that has its own emotion. He's psychotically
deranged.
JAN:
In the first act, he's really off, but you mentioned something
before about when he hears the geese, it's almost like he's
starting to come into some measure of sanity.
MICHAEL:
Exactly.
JAN:
You display that so well.
MICHAEL:
Oh, good, thank you. You guys had the good seats for that moment.
It's a good play. It's just flat-out really a good play.
JAN:
I enjoyed the play even more than the movie. It brought out
some things in a completely different light. Plus your role
is so much stronger in the play.
MICHAEL:
That's why I wanted to do the play. The best actor possible
for the movie did it already. And that's been done. Why would
you remake the movie? You'll never have another Jack Nicholson,
you'll never have another Louise Fletcher. But the play is a
suit that anybody can try on. The play's so well written that
it attracts you to wanting to play it. Even a character like
Martini [played by Adam Hoffman], who doesn't have a whole lot
[of lines] - Our Martini nearly steals the show because he's
so good! He's so funny. [imitates] "I could sell things!"
And our Dale Harding is great. [imitates] "Does this young
upstart…" I'm starting to memorize their lines, I'm
hearing them so often.
In
every show I'm learning something about the role. I think it
was my best performance tonight, so far. As you practice something,
you get better at it. That's just the way it is.
JAN:
And you also had a lot of positive energy in that audience because
you had a lot of your friends there.
MICHAEL:
[laughs] It was great! But you know, the crowd was hard to win
over so we had to work at it. It wasn't easy. The direction
was very good. I thought the director [Sue Ott Rowlands] brought
up the best elements in the story. It was important that we
had pace because it's a long play. But if we play it well, it
doesn't seem too long.
JAN:
No, it flowed beautifully. Excellent timing. Everything.
MICHAEL:
Oh, good.
JAN:
What top-notch actors.
MICHAEL:
Really good actors. I'm proud to be in a show with them.
[TAPE
ENDS]
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Text
and photo © Jan, 2002
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