Author Archives: Rory Eggleston

Painting, painting…annnnd, it’s gone.

Okay, this is the first time I’ve ever really worked with an actual set before, so it was all new to me. Usually strike involves putting a few props and costumes away. My experience with Uncle Vanya, was, of course, very different.

When the set was getting put together, I came in, fresh-faced (if scruffy due to that damned beard) and eager to work. Naturally, we were painting. This was good, I enjoy painting. There’s something about that methodical type of work that is soothing and also engaging at the same time. Even though we had to be very careful not to get paint on certain areas of the stairs we were painting, it was relatively easy to get into a rhythm and also be able to hold conversations with others. We sang a few times, or argued about the motives of characters in Les Mis, and all around had a good time in each other’s company, while also getting some significant work done. I came in and painted three times, about 5 hours in total, although it felt like less than that.

Saying goodbye to the set was hard. It had become such an integral part of our performances and of how we worked together that it felt like we were destroying some great monument to what we’d achieved in these past three months. But, the life of the theater is nothing if not ephemeral, and so it had to go to make way for something new. It was a prime example of entropy in the universe: the set that had taken at least a week, if not more, to go up was almost completely demolished in around three hours. It felt like a construction site: we were all scrambling around the woodworks, pulling, hacking, unscrewing, you name it, everything in the name of pulling the set apart utterly and completely. It was intense, and, as I said, actually pretty emotional. I am extremely glad that I had the chance to take part in both putting it together and tearing it down.

“Why are you laughing?” “I don’t know!”

What an incredible couple of weeks these have been. There have been ups and downs, to be sure, but all in all, it has been a glorious experience. Exhausting, yes, but glorious, and totally worth it.

As an actor, I’ve been aware that the presence an audience has and how they react to the action onstage has a significant effect on the outcome of a performance. Yes, it is true that performers shouldn’t let an unresponsive audience effect their performance, and I don’t think that it ever really changed our performance per se. For example, I personally felt (don’t know about everyone else) that in our first matinee, I gave a performance on par with the one I’d given the night before, which had gotten a nice response from the audience (laughter, etc.). However, the audience that Sunday simply didn’t react very much, which was a bit disgruntling. Despite that, I kept doing everything that I usually do, and was content with my own performance, as well as those of everyone else in the cast.

The only times I felt our performances have changed (for the worse) were on opening night and “second opening night” (the second Thursday). This was more a product of having an audience again and remembering all of the things we needed to do after a short hiatus. In other words, we were doing everything that we had to for each scene, but it was more mechanical and disjointed than it should have been, which resulted in a less responsive audience. This was entirely justified, because our (or at least mine) performance was not as engaging as it could have been.

Having an audience helped me cement some aspects of my character and performance, such as the scene between Waffles and Astrov. On the first night, I’ll admit, I tried to play that scene for laughs, and it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. After that, I let it go: either the audience would find it funny, or they wouldn’t. And, somehow, that scene has gotten progressively more funny as the run has gone on. Now that I’m not actively trying to get a response, but rather actually working with Nick, it feels more natural. Waffles is certainly not trying to get laughs; he’s genuinely pissed off at Astrov and shows it. That is what the audience finds funny, not Rory Eggleston being Waffles and trying to be funny.

I feel like that should have been an obvious conclusion that I could have come to a long time ago, but there it is. Now I know.

-Rory Eggleston

Confessions of Waffles

His Excellency has been here for a month now, along with his lovely young wife, Yelena Andreyevna. Well, she’s quite nice-looking, anyway. She hasn’t spoken to me yet. Anyways, their presence, though delightful, has thrown the entire household into an uproar: Vanya has completely forgotten about his duties and pouts all day long, Sonya is bending backwards to compensate, and Marina Timofeyevna is all in a tizzy over the hours that Alexander keeps. Maria Vasilyevna is, of course, extremely happy that her son-in-law has returned, and makes a point to talk to him every chance she gets. Me, I’ve settled into our new routines, although I do confess that I am a bit miffed that his Excellency has not spent very much time with me as of yet. He’s got important work to keep up with, I understand, but still. We used to have such wonderful conversations, him and Vanya and me. Not so now, though. Vanya’s completely changed, I’m sad to say. He complains, mostly about his Excellency, and continuously moans about his life being wasted. I don’t really see what he’s so angry about. I’ve lived with him and Sonya and Marina Timofeyevna for almost thirty years now, and we’ve all dealt with our problems and work together. We’ve accomplished something wonderful, the maintenance of this beautiful estate and I think that’s worth something.

Today, Alexander has asked me to accompany him, Yelena, and Sonya on a walk around the estate, to which I have gladly said yes. Perhaps, now that they have gotten settled, things can go back to the way they once were.

****

The doctor is here tonight and I must confess, I do not appreciate it. He is a good man, I think, and truly is dedicated to his work, especially when it comes to his precious forests, but he is such a crude man. He and Vanya got drunk and caused such a rucus. Everyone was up and everyone was angry tonight, and they did not help one bit. Myself, I was trying to rest, because I need to help Sonya cut hay tomorrow morning, but no such luck. Mikhail Lvovich roused me at around one in the morning (can you imagine?) and had the gall to ask me to play for him, as if I was some musician for hire. I play my violin when I feel like it, thank you very much, not on the whim of some drunkard. It was neither the time nor the place, what with his Excellency feeling unwell.

Astrov’s presence always causes Sonya to act differently. She loves him, I think, though I am hardly an expert in these sorts of things. It’s very sad, really. They complement each other, and it is certainly a good pairing, but the doctor…I don’t think he is the type of man who will settle down with a wife. And, quite frankly, I think Sonya would be unhappy, no matter what she thinks right now.

****

I’ve come down with a head cold, of all things. Just what I needed, right when I’ve begun to have to do more and more of the chores, along with Marina Timofeyevna. Sonya spends all of her time with Yelena Andreyevna these days, and Vanya…well, I hardly even see him out of his room anymore. When I do, it’s always with Yelena as well. That woman, she’s like a siren right out of the myths I used to read in school.

Things just haven’t been right since that storm back in July. Everyone’s restless, snapping at each other with no provocation, it’s almost more than I can bear sometimes. I just want everyone to be happy, really. Back when Sonnyechka’s mother was alive, we all got along so swimmingly. I love everyone in this house (well, except for maybe the doctor) and I hate to see them fighting like this. Marina Timofeyevna is the only one I talk to anymore, really, and even she’s shaken by the way things are going, which scares me. She’s always a steady person, no matter what’s going on.

His Excellency has asked us all to meet him to discuss something later today. He made it sound quite important. Maybe it will be something that can bring everyone back together. I can only hope, I suppose.

****

I can hardly believe that I am still alive. It was disgraceful, what Vanya did, completely insane. I love him like a brother, and I think I know where he’s coming from, but have I not lived through these things as well, felt the same disappointments that he has? I may not be as intelligent as he, but nevertheless, there are always times when I have wanted something else. I guess the shooting scared Yelena, because she has insisted that she and Alexander leave at once, which means that, for the moment, they are not selling the estate. I am grateful for this, because I do not want to leave this house. It is the only home I have now, and all of my friends and family are here. I’ve been talking with Marina Timofeyevna about things, and we both agree that, in the end, it’s for the best. His Excellency and his spouse are not meant for the life that we lead here, as sad as that is. So they will go to Kharkov and we will stay here, as things were before. We will settle back into the routines of old. We’ll eat at normal hours, sleep at night like decent people, and all of this antagonism will dissipate. It’s how things must be. I don’t pretend to be any good at philosophizing, but it does seem to me that we are meant to be here, doing the things that we do, and the presence of Alexander and Yelena changed that, and not for the better. We are creatures of habit, and I do not think that that is a bad thing, unless a change could benefit our way of life, and if the events of yesterday prove anything, it’s that such a change has not arrived yet. And I do so look forward to eating noodles again.

-Rory Eggleston

There’s always something

I am no longer overwhelmed. Or, at least, not in the same way I was at the beginning of this wondrous process that is “Uncle Vanya”. Back then (okay, so it was only a month ago, but still) I was a new person in a new place, and everything seemed completely beyond me. Now, though, I know my fellow cast-members, our director, dramaturg, and stage managers, and I can honestly say that I can’t see doing this production with a better group of people. Our movement workshops with the incredibly talented Kali Quinn and our character/theme work with Jeff and Jules have been astounding; really, that’s the word for it. I’ll admit, I was not overly familiar with the play before I auditioned, but in the space of four weeks, I’ve learned so much about the characters, the setting, the multitude of themes…and all without much use of the original text! I guess where I’m going with this is that I am no longer overwhelmed by the production itself as I am by what Waffles and all that he represents in the world of Vanya.

I have always believed that every character in a play is important, no matter how “big” or “small” a role is, and this is especially true of “Uncle Vanya”. Marina, Maria, and Waffles are all, as we’ve described in class, sideline characters. That being said, each one of them is utterly necessary for the play to work. Marina is always in the background, as she has been since Vanya was a child, and while she doesn’t often vocalize her opinions of the various conflicts between characters, when she does, it means that much more. Maria, I feel, represents everything that the Professor wants and says he has, but which, in reality, he can’t stand (“…that old bitch, Maria Vasilyevna…”, Act II). Waffles, for his part, is the unsuccessful moderator of the various interactions between Vanya, Astrov, and the Professor. As we learned in the culmination of Kali’s workshops, he is toadyish and faithful, needy and eager to please, and yet he always speaks his mind. Granted, no one ever pays attention to his little outbursts, but it is also fairly evident to the audience that he understands what is going on and does not like it one bit.

Okay, so how did these character ideas fit into the movement workshops? We started with basics, all the way back at the beginning of September. Instead of using lines, we used our bodies to express the emotions and thoughts of our characters. One particularly moving exercise (at least, for me) was one that involved working with another person. I was paired with Thomas, one of our two versatile and extremely talented Vanyas. Essentially, the exercise involved looking into each other’s eyes while one partner remained in neutral position and the other moved as directed by Kali. The subtleties of Thomas’ emotional shifts and how much he could convey with just his eyes were mind-blowing. Even though we weren’t technically using our characters, I could totally see Vanya in all of his unsettled glory in motions as simple as pointing or the folding of Thomas’ arms. When my turn came around, I could feel myself settling into Waffles’ person, and I found that he has a lot of pent-up emotion. See, no one really likes him, except Sonya and Marina, and in general, he has accepted that and lives with it. However, when Vanya or the Professor shut him out and show complete disregard for his thoughts, it frustrates him. All he wants is to be heard, but even that is denied him. He is even-keeled to a fault, but there’s always a limit, and that is one of the important things about this play: all of the characters are pushed to the very edge. With some, it is pretty obvious when and why it happens (e.g. Vanya and the Professor). With others, it is less so (e.g. Marina). Inevitably, every single on of them is forced to ask the question: What have I done with my life, and what will I do with it now?

–Rory

Waffling

Well, hi there!

I’m Rory, a newly-minted freshman, and can I just say that I’m basically freaking out? It’s a good freak-out, though. The kind of freak-out one gets when one is working with a bunch of supremely talented and creative people to create something that is more than a sum of all of the already incredible parts.

Uncle Vanya is a new play to me, and having just read it and now watched Vanya on 42nd Street, I can’t wait to get started! It is a work that accommodates all sides of humanity and encompasses all forms of theater, from drama to comedy and on to tragedy and everything in between. It is truly a play about people, and who they are, where they came from, and where they’re going. It is an exploration about what being human means, as all works of theater (in my mind at least) should be.

Anyway, the character that I’ll be playing is Ilya Ilyich Telegin, or Waffles, as he’s called by the rest of the characters, on account of the many pockmarks on his face. Get the title now? I mean, I’m waffling too, I guess, but I’m also Waffles, so…I’m Waffle-ing. Maybe that was a bit forced. Whatever the case, I’m looking forward to exploring Telegin and how he interacts with everyone else, because although he’s unfailingly cheery for large portions of the play, there are times (the beginning of act IV for instance) when he shows a deeper side to himself, part of him that doubts and fears the world he lives in.

And on that cheery note, I take my leave. For now. No, wait, actually. One more thing: THE SET IS INCREDIBLE OH MY GOODNESS.