I don't have the name of the actor to hand, partially because I was given an old program book (the theater apparently lost the box that had the corrected books, and thus only half the audience saw the appropriate credit).
The actor is physically dark skinned, shorter than Patrick Page and heavier set. He calls to mind a Papa Legba, rather than a traditional Hades. His voice is somewhat higher and his movements were not as spare, but he was equally confrontational and projected an air of harried brusqueness, overlaying a deep worry about the state of his kingdom.
He made a much more human Hades, as he projected less of an untouchable persona and was given to wiping his bald head with a handkerchief repeatedly, which wasn't just stage business, as he was copiously sweating throughout. He was costumed almost exactly as Patrick Page was, but the pants were a different stripe and therefore not as elongating.
In performance, he brought a stronger forward momentum and a deeper sense of the tenuousness of his relationship with Persephone. You had the sense that he was really drinking her in, and truly starving without her, which I didn't get as much from Patrick Page, but that might have been the height disparity more than any particular body posture.
It did change the color balance of the play significantly, and I found delivery of Hey Little Songbird much more jazz/R&B inflected than Page's which made for an interesting interpretation. I can certainly picture this Hades doing a stint above ground as a jazz singer, or occasionally moonlighting at Persephone's speakeasy.
no subject
I don't have the name of the actor to hand, partially because I was given an old program book (the theater apparently lost the box that had the corrected books, and thus only half the audience saw the appropriate credit).
The actor is physically dark skinned, shorter than Patrick Page and heavier set. He calls to mind a Papa Legba, rather than a traditional Hades. His voice is somewhat higher and his movements were not as spare, but he was equally confrontational and projected an air of harried brusqueness, overlaying a deep worry about the state of his kingdom.
He made a much more human Hades, as he projected less of an untouchable persona and was given to wiping his bald head with a handkerchief repeatedly, which wasn't just stage business, as he was copiously sweating throughout. He was costumed almost exactly as Patrick Page was, but the pants were a different stripe and therefore not as elongating.
In performance, he brought a stronger forward momentum and a deeper sense of the tenuousness of his relationship with Persephone. You had the sense that he was really drinking her in, and truly starving without her, which I didn't get as much from Patrick Page, but that might have been the height disparity more than any particular body posture.
It did change the color balance of the play significantly, and I found delivery of Hey Little Songbird much more jazz/R&B inflected than Page's which made for an interesting interpretation. I can certainly picture this Hades doing a stint above ground as a jazz singer, or occasionally moonlighting at Persephone's speakeasy.