"Everywhere, At All Times": An Interview with Ariel (Kevin Tobias) by Quiana

Quiana!

Quiana was working on a scene from THE TEMPEST in a class at school. Who was she playing? None other than Ariel, Prospera's "tricksy spirit"!  Since she knew the character pretty well, she thought it would be interesting to hear more from the Young Company actor playing the same role: Kevin Tobias.

Kevin Tobias, the actor  playing
Ariel in CSC's Young  Company
production of THE TEMPEST.

Since you have experience in TV/Film and Theater, as an actor, which do you like best and why?

I love them both, but they are completely different.  I have an undergraduate degree in TV and Film, so I love the process of film making.  Film is very technical, and as an actor you have a completely different mindset.  A director can make these edits and technical adjustments that can make no sense, and an actor can mess up and ask for another take.  Film is not as glamorous as everyone thinks it is - ultimately it's a job, and sometimes you have work 12-to-14 hour shifts on set.  Theater is a collaborative effort and the execution is very different.  In theater you can't hide, so all of your flaws are out for everyone to see.  There is this thrill about being on stage; even with preparation, on opening night anything can happen!

As a Spirit or a “Super natural element” - do you have more creative freedom as an actor to shape and mold you character?  A male or female could play this character - so it really depends on the actor’s perspective/interpretation of the character.

Kevin as Ariel

Ariel is an interesting role!  In a scholarly sense, Ariel represents what Prospera wants and what she wishes she could be, but is not quite.  Caliban, on the other hand, is the part of her that she doesn’t like - the negative - so there’s this dark vs. light, man vs. self theme throughout the play. It is as if Prospera is enslaved by her evil thoughts and the relationship she has with Ariel helps her overcome that dark side, thus ultimately freeing her. Throughout the play the audience resonates with the compassion and respect Prospera has for Ariel. The biggest challenge for me is trying to figure out what it means to be a spirit.  Ariel is pretty snarky, sneaky and sarcastic which is clear when he says “what of my potent master… here I am.”  Even though Ariel responds to Prospera like this, he always comes back because there is this level of mutual respect. Ariel can shape shift, is everywhere and he is one with everything; he doesn’t have to try as hard as Caliban to gain Prospera’s respect. What I like about this production is that the technical stuff really helps me with my character. I can focus on delivering the lines while the visual/sound effects take care of the rest.  We also have a team of spirits which serve as one entity spirit - Ariel is the head, and the other spirits serve as the arms and legs. I think this is cool because it gives off the effect that Ariel is everywhere. The director wanted there to be a balance between mystical (magical) and demonic. He tried to move away from the typical fairy dream world and made the spirits more insect-like.

Is it new or hard for you as an actor to rely on and adapt to the technical/ special effects aspects of the production?

I’m excited because the set and design help me a lot! I don’t have to worry about making all these supernatural things happen, so I can focus more on the text and what I need/want from the scene. Therefore I can easily learn from the scenery and how what I’m doing affects the scene.  

Kevin and his fellow "Ariel Spirits" in one of the more magical moments of the show.

Did you want to play Ariel, or did the director say, “Here, try this character!”?

It was actually my first time reading this play so I wasn’t really familiar with the characters. When I first read through it I found it to be complicated, experimental and one of the most amazingly written plays. There is so much that goes on in the plot in the span of 3 hours, it’s insane! At the time of auditioning, I didn’t know who I wanted to play because I was taken aback by the complexity of the play.  Finally during call backs I played both Calaban (who has beautiful and humble speeches) and Ariel (who was strange, and I didn’t understand at all). I wasn’t sure about Ariel until I realized that the relationship he has with Prospera was key in the play. It is interesting to see Prospera through Ariel’s eyes. 

Where does the Tempest land on your list of William Shakespeare plays?  Is it your favorite?
I'm not sure - that's a really great question.  My favorite Shakespeare characters are from some of his worst or unusual plays like Richard the II and Henry the 6th.  I don't have a favorite play.  If a play is done well then it can be great and amazing to watch.

Kevin with fellow actor Greg Nussen (Caliban)
putting on makeup for the performance.

You mentioned earlier that this is your first time reading/ really digging through the Tempest - was it hard understanding your character?

Yes, it was difficult reading it for the first time; I felt completely lost. It only comes through once you start embodying the text of the play and the words of Shakespeare. When you go through it, allowing that to change and affect you, it helps you unmask the true meaning of the play and the purpose of the character. You realize this word is here because of this and a certain motion/ gesture gives the audience insight on the characters intentions.  You can become the character once you allow the text to fully live in your body. For example, two people can play Hamlet - they can say the same words and the end result will still be different, because each actor embodies and interprets the character a different way. If I ever get lost, I go back to the text, because Shakespeare lays it all out for you in the text. He was a genius with language! In this production I have been given a gift where I can step in with these elements and music layered with spirits and my character becomes whole. 

In the play Prospero is originally a man. Do you think the relationship between Ariel and Prospero changes when the character is played by a woman (Prospera)?

Yes - actually, in the scene where Ariel convinces Prospera to forgive everyone, he appeals to her motherly side. A mother-daughter relationship is more nurturing and intimate than a father-daughter relationship, which tends to be more controlling. The part where she is giving away her daughter is very interesting because Prospera - the actress in the play, Ito Aghayere - is not old.  If a man where playing the role of Prospero, that moment would be a lot different because he is an old, strict and controlling man.

Walking into this play, what took you off guard, in regard to the characters and the direction they wanted to go in? What made it so different from anything you’ve seen from a William Shakespeare play?

The greatest challenge is that I don’t have as much text, but I am on stage throughout most of the play. Ariel has to be everywhere, at all times, so I have to focus on how to always be present and conscience of my movements. For some scenes I am sitting at rest, but I have to always focus on what is going on in the scene and react to what’s going on in the scene without saying anything.  Shakespeare's plays are also very intimidating because you have to get everything right - if one person messes up a word you can hear it! Shakespeare has a certain rhythm in his text, so if a person misses a line or word, it sounds like a train is derailing.  Even though Ariel doesn’t have a lot to say, he has spontaneous lines, where he has to jump into a scene and deliver a line. So my greatest challenge is learning how to always be present and be ready to jump in at any given moment.