I call this "If I ruled the World". I don't do fanfic, don't read it, don't write it. But I do like to play the casting game, as do we all. I dare say there isn't one of us at one time or another that hasn't said "What were they thinking? "X" would have been better in that part!"
So "If I ruled the world" and had unlimited budget and authority, I set the ground rules. So here goes.
Prelude:
I take for my model the Old Globe Theater complex in Balboa Park. I chose to cast Valentine Pelka live on stage doing Shakespeare because I like Shakespeare and having seen him on screen I want to see what he can to with a live performance in front of an audience. I know I won't be disappointed.
The Globe Complex consists of three theaters. The main stage is a model of the original Globe. It is fully modern with a revolving stage and trapdoor, computerized light board and sound system. Yet it is an intimate theater.
The Cassius Carter Center Stage is theater in the round. Smaller and more intimate than the Globe, almost a black box theater but not quite.
The Festival Stage is an outdoor theater, a wooden amphitheater built on pylons over a small canyon adjacent to the Globe and Cassius. The back of the theater can be opened to reveal the tops of the Eucalyptus trees stretching off into ever increasing dense foliage. Under the stars on a summer nights it's awesome.
I take as my model the Shakespeare theater runs right after the complex was rebuilt in the early 80's. Six plays in rotation from June through end of September. Two per theater, one Shakespeare and one other. I do not concern myself with the 'other'. I'm casting Mr. Pelka in three, rather than two Shakespeare plays on rotation. He may be working 6 nights a week and two matinees on occasion but he'll be paid well. After all, I rule the world.
Now on to my choice of play and what role I cast him in. I won't concern myself too much with other cast members. They can get their own fan clubs.
In the Globe I'll put the History, in the Cassius the Tragedy and on the Festival Stage the Comedy.
Now the Choices.
Part one: The History on the Globe Main stage
So if I ruled the world and had unlimited budget and authority, I set the ground rules. There are plenty of parts in the Histories that VP could handle. While I'm sure he would not only want and desire to play Richard III he would also make an excellent choice...no. My philosophy of casting is not only must the actor be good in the role but the role must be good for the actor. He must learn, grow and get something out of it. Not Richard. Instead I choose Henry V.
Henry is a commanding figure. A noble King, a great leader, a courageous warrior and an inept suitor. His men will gladly fight for him out of respect and happily die for him out of love. He need not be the towering, chiseled, handsome Viking I see so often cast. He must, however be a commanding figure, an orator. Imagine VP doing "Once more unto the breach" or the Crispian's day speech. OK, now snap out of it. (See why I love Shakespeare?)
Give Henry a sword and an army and he is master of all he surveys. Now picture our confident, powerful Henry after battle, tripping over his feet and his tongue in the presence of Princess Katherine. (Who cares who plays the part, she's virtually window-dressing) There is nothing so romantic as a man in love making a mess of things. Poor Henry, such a romantic klutz.
For my purposes Henry may look like Maurice de Bracey with shorter hair, but the similarity stops there. I just happen to think the hair and beard are perfect for the three plays I'm casting. It's a good look for VP's bone structure and will carry well on stage.
I'll be doing Henry in period dress. Nothing fancy or avant guard. A leek will be eaten on stage.
Part two: The Tragedy in the Cassius Carter Center Stage
Not much of a selection. Basically Romeo and Juliet, Othello, MacBeth and Hamlet. I'm looking for a play with a strong lead not an ensemble piece, so not Julius Caesar. Not King Lear. Not yet. In another 20 years. I never liked Romeo and Juliet. Call me callous but I always thought 1. They were too young to know love, lust maybe, but not true everlasting until death love and 2. They were stupid, romantic but stupid. If I cast VP in any R&J role it would be Mercutio. Mercutio you ask? Yes, Tybalt would be the obvious choice and they are both minor characters. But I always felt Mercutio had a lot more depth. I'll never forget McEnry's portrayal in the Zefferelli film. It was the only time I cried in the whole movie. He's dying and no one believes him. Nope, won't waste VP's talent on a minor role in, for me, a flawed play. On to Hamlet. Yes, he could play the melancholy Dane exceptionally well. But Hamlet has choices throughout the play. He makes them and lives and eventually dies with the consequences. He has power over his destiny and chooses death for himself and everyone else at every turn all for the sake of revenge. It won't bring his father back from the dead, only give him more company. VP has control in Henry V. Something else is needed. So not Hamlet. Othello? Othello was the victim of his own flaws. His jealousy was so easily used to control him. He says he loves his wife so much and mistrusts her so easily on the flimsiest excuse from the most questionable source. (Pardon me while I grind my teeth.) While VP as Iago is such a no brainer I feel it's a been there, done that sort of thing. Yes. Picture Iago with a buzz cut or slicked back hair and Van Dyke beard but dyed black and a Kronos attitude. But Iago also lacks dimension for me. He is also a victim of his own character flaws regarding revenge, bigotry, control and hunger for power. Nope.
Now MacBeth. Now we're talking. MacBeth is a man who has the potential to be a King. Power and command and ambition. But it is his fate not to succeed. No matter what he does he will not be King. MacBeth is a Greek tragedy. The fates have already determined his destiny and at every turn nothing he does can change it. MacBeth is a passionate man, both in his personal life and marriage and in his political lust for power. He is both controlling and impotent. MacBeth has no control over this fate. Yes. VP as MacBeth, the antipathy of Henry V.
I'd use period dress with a Greek flavor. My three weird sisters would be identical triplets if I could find any who could act. They would be young, voluptuous and beautiful. One blonde, one redhead and one brunette, with big eyes, big hair and tight clothes. If you've ever seen Mercer Mayer's illustrations in The Sleeping Beauty (pg. 32 the three fairies) that's it. Because of the three play rotation VP would still look like de Bracey, but the similarity would stop there. Lady MacBeth? Maybe Zoë Wanamaker or Felicity Kendal. But she's got to be good. Able to play fiery passionate and coldly calculating at the same time.
Part Three: The Comedy on the Festival Stage
So many of the Comedies are flawed with what I term the "fairy tale syndrome". Even as a child I loved fairy tales (still do) but was not content with the "love-at-first-sight-because-of-outward-beauty" thing. I know a lot of them try to stress good deeds and nice personality and such but the only one I really loved was "Beauty and the Beast." It's the only subject Disney actually improved on. (Little Mermaid burns my cookies!)
So let's start picking.
Taming of the Shrew. I liked this when I was young (real young and didn't know any better.) It was the first Shakespearean play I saw live (I was 12(?) and saw Marc Singer doing Lucentio. This was way before he made it big (around 1966-8) and I spotted him right away as the only one in the cast who could act his way out of a paper bag.) Shrew is basically the story of a man beating up on his wife, mentally if not physically. Directors try to clean it up with moderate success and the play within a play is cute but there are only two morals in Shrew. 1. Agree with everything a man says even when he's wrong and 2. Even a shrew can get a husband if she has enough money. Nuff said.
Midsummer Night's Dream. Can you say Dysfunctional? The Duke and the Amazon? A mini shrew thing there. The four young lovers? Shades of fairy-tale shallow love. Oberon and Titania? Petty bickering and spiteful pranks. Oberon (think slicked back hair and a black silk caftan open to the waist) is the only role I see VP in and still wouldn't waste my last play on this one. The greatest part is the play within a play, the cute little town oafs. And while VP could do Puck or Bottom equally well.....well, he can't play all the parts, now, can he?
The Tempest. Love-at-first-sight-of-beauty-hawk-spit. I always thought Caliban got a raw deal. Thought he behaved badly because of the way he was treated. And people treated him badly just because he was ugly. Yes VP as Caliban. No, not The Tempest.
Measure for Measure? Too flawed.
Comedy of Errors? Too stupid.
Merchant of Venice? Portia is the star. I never liked the ring bit. It was a lose/lose proposition and I don't like the 'prove you love me' bit.
As You Like It and Twelfth Night? Don't like the cross-dressing love interest.
O.K., let's cut to the chase.
Much Ado About Nothing. VP as Benedick. Yes, there are problems with this play. The Claudio/Hero thing is soooo fairy tale. He falls in love at first sight, asks to marry her and then is so quick to condemn her on the flimsiest evidence from such a questionable source. But that's not the point. Beatrice and Benedick are the point. And what a wonderful point they are. Here is mature love, love that has burned for years. B & B have known each other probably since their teens and like all teens their attraction to one another took the form of teasing. And as they grew older they became trapped in a habit of their own devising, a self-protection against the other's rapier wit and sharp tongue. Don Pedro knows, or at least suspects. He knows for sure when he asks Beatrice to marry him and she declines most gracefully. And Benedick doth protest the state of marriage too much. None of their friends have a clue. But Don Pedro does, which is why he engineers the practical joke. The friends think it's just that, a joke. But Don Pedro knows it is the only safe way to allow Beatrice and Benedick to voice their true feelings without fear of being verbally slaughtered. And it works...beautifully. And I love an intelligent female lead who can hold her own. Not the shrew of Shrew. And I'll take Beatrice over Portia any day.
Here I'd do Victorian, turn of the century, perhaps British in India sort of thing. Lots of white wicker, lattice and a gazebo. Parasols, Gibson Girls and gold braided uniforms. Again maybe Zoë Wanamaker as Beatrice.
"Do you not love me?"
"Why no, no more than reason."
" A miracle! Here's our own hands against our hearts. Come, I will have thee; but, by this light, I take thee for pity."
"I would not deny you; but, by this good day, I yield upon great persuasion; and partly to save your,life, for I was told you were in a consumption."
"Peace, I will stop your mouth."
Ah, There's never a Benedick around when you need one.
Postlude
So if I've got unlimited funds and authority... why stop here?
Valentine Pelka reading the complete Sonnets on audio books. Then maybe Elizabeth Barrett Browning or e.e.cummings.
Other plays, other periods.
Perhaps I'll tackle Victorian drawing room next. I love Shaw...VP in Pygmalion?
I've always been partial to The Importance of Being Ernest. No, not Jack. Can you say "Bumbury?"
Assumptions are I still rule the world and money is no object. Thus, I can hire any actor regardless of schedule because I can buy them out of any contract, etc. However, I cannot change the rules of time, physics or the universe. That means I cannot bring back the dead, no matter how badly I would like to pair up Valentine Pelka and Audrey Hepburn. Nor can I change time, so I cannot have Valentine play opposite a twenty five year old Anthony Hopkins. So with those parameters in mind we begin Fantasy Casting part 2.
The Men- At this point I'm not deciding who is an antagonist or protagonist, who's the father figure, brother/buddy, son/disciple. Just some actors I think would be compatible. Hope you're surprised at some.
Sir Anthony Hopkins
David Warner
Donald Sutherland
Malcolm MacDowell
Sam Waterston
Morgan Freeman
Christian Slater
Colin Firth
Johnny Depp
Tim Robbins
Steven Weber
Ed Harris
James Spader
Matthew Broderick
Rutger Hauer
David Strathairn
Joseph Fiennes
Glenn Quinn
Ian McKellan
The Women- Same parameters as the men. I'm not separating love interests from friends, family or working relationships, amicable or not. Just a few women I think would offer interesting chemistry.
Zoë Wanamaker
Felicity Kendal
Nicole Kidman
Anna Paquin
Andie MacDowell
Olympia Dukakis
Mary Steenburgen
Megan Followes
Glynnis O'Connor
Kirsten Dunst
Regina Taylor
Gillian Anderson
Elizabeth Garvie
Dame Judi Dench- BINGO! Word is Valentine Pelka has finished work on a film with Judi Dench and Ian Holm. Working title is "Last of the Blonde Bomb Shells". Possibly a made for TV movie made for the U.K.
Helen Hunt