Desirable Characteristics

If I were to take on traits of some of the characters I’ve played for real, which bits of them would I like to adopt?

The Wild One – I’d like her outward energy, her strong sense of her own physical presence and her fearless way of approaching people. And her passion and eloquence. Her steadfastness of opinion in the face of apathy.

Emma – Her depth of concern for others and the purity of that concern – the fact that she doesn’t let outside influences touch her inner values. She has a real ‘giving’ energy.

Benvolio – His sincerity. The fact that you can just look at Benvolio and know he’s telling the truth exactly as he knows it without filtering it through his own judgements.

Lucy – What I like about Lucy is her consistency. Despite her cartoon appearance, Lucy is an emotional being with a real and consistent way of expressing herself. For one, she says what she means. Lucy hides nothing from no one. She’s an open book. What you see is what you get. I’d like to be like that, in that it would be great to be able to tell people what I really think as a matter of course. That way everyone would know where I stood. My inner emotional state would not pass by unexpressed, and therefore it would not become suppressed. When Lucy has a feeling, she expresses it – lets it out, lets it go, and if it rattles someone (or everyone) then so be it. She’s just being honest, consistently honest, about her emotions.

Kate Hardcastle – She’s tricksy! I’d love her quick wit! She’s a frivolous blonde, a kind hearted gentlewoman and a cunning heroine all rolled into one. Who wouldn’t want to be that versatile? She’s the Restoration Charlie’s Angel!

Portia – Well, what can I say? I love everything about Portia. If I could be any one of these characters, I would choose to be Portia. Like Miss Hardcastle, she’s got it all. She is sassy, sexy, strong, smart and sweet. What I really love about her is her sheer energy and her willingness to get her hands dirty.

Audrey – (just realised I forgot her) He he he. Sometimes I’d love to be so completely ignorant that I could walk around in a cloud of oblivion, not knowing (or even suspecting) what tricks I was falling for, just enjoying the ride with whoever would take me along. And then of course there’s the luxury of being able to squeal like an aardvark whenever I’m in a good mood without feeling self conscious.

Agatha Silverthorne – Baba Yaga-esqe cannibal woman of the suburbs. She’s very organised. The word meticulous comes to mind. I wouldn’t like to be THAT organised, but sometimes I’d like that level of attention to detail. I mean, this woman thought of EVERYTHING. She was pretty cool, really. I mean apart from being a desperate, human-consuming witch.

Sally Sunshine – Stereotypical Sally, created for the purpose of propaganda, although truly sickly in terms of bubbliness, believes she can solve any problem she comes into contact with. And not only does she believe she can solve it, she wants to with all her sweet little heart. When faced with a negative, Sally doesn’t even acknowledge it as a negative. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be like that? I’d love to put her in a room with Daria and see what happened. He he he.

Jacquie – If I’d had the sort of life Jacquie had, I wouldn’t be standing. She suffered physical abuse from her father figures for many years and was moved all over Australia with a nasty alcoholic stepmother. But her sense of escape brought her through it. She held onto what was pure about her childhood – her memories of Disney and little songs she knew – and she came out at the other end of it with self awareness and desire for good relationships. So I’d have to say I’d like to have her resilience in the face of those sort of disabling events, and the ability to dream no matter what the circumstances.

The White Witch of Narnia – Now here’s a woman with many qualities. I think the thing I like most about her is her stick-to-it-ive-ness (or however you spell that). Once she gets annoyed about something, she gets onto fixing it. She also likes to turn people into stone if they get on the wrong side of her. That could be fun.

That covers most of my memorable roles over the years. It was fun. Y’all should try it.