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Flirting with Facts (Part 2): The Great Inheritance

Posted by DCA Theater on September 20, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, Hideous Progeny

by Benno Nelson, Dramaturg for Hideous Progeny

For the second part of this series on the in’s and out’s of making a play based on real people and events, dramaturg Benno Nelson speaks with four of the actors who played characters based heavily on their historical counterparts.  Hilary Williams plays Mary Shelley, Tom McGrath plays Percy Shelley, Danielle O’Farrell plays Claire Clairmont (Mary’s half-sister), and John Taflan plays George Gordon, Lord Byron.

BN: What was it like playing a real person?

DO’F: It’s fantastic! It’s a little terrifying and a little wonderful.  You feel a great responsibility to get it right while still telling the story that the play is telling.

HW: Well, I’ve never played a real person before.  You want to be true to the text you’re given, but it’s really easy to over research.  There’s a difference between enhancing the beauty of the text and enhancing the beauty of the person.

JT: It was great because the play itself was so well researched. I kept finding things in my own research that Emily [Dendinger] had already snuck into the play, and that made the whole thing feel so much more real and important

To read the full interview by Benno Nelson CLICK HERE to visit LiveWire Chicago Theatre’s blog.