![]() ![]() ![]() ‘You can’t just put on the black identity like a piece of clothing’, they’d say, and rational people everywhere would agree. And I expect that calling myself black would be an affront to actual black people, who would rightfully point out that I am as white as the driven snow. Of course I am not going to do this because it would be mad and also a tad racist. From now on I choose to identify as black and I insist that you all refer to me as a black man. I think he would've gone with that.I’m done with being white. And I think he would've been OK with a trans-woman playing all the characters. So, he played here, doing Dickens, and I'm here doing Dickens, years apart. Dickens played here in the Steinway Hall - it was the Steinway company, and not only did they have pianos, but they had a 2,000-seat hall. I don't feel like this is an away city this is a home gig. What is it like to do Dickens in New York City over Christmas? I think it's trying to distinguish between her and Estella. And Havisham…I'm getting better at Havisham. Wemmick and Herbert have a lot of attitudes in them and they're a little bit off-kilter. Herbert is fun to do especially in the early scenes because he's just kind of bonkers. And through the years, there are a lot of women of whom I thought, "You are so beautiful, you're not gonna be interested in me," just like Pip was feeling. She's such an ice queen and so heartless. And I'm gender-fluid, so I access the boy in me to play Pip and Joe and Magwitch, and I access the girl in me to play Havisham and Estella, and I find that fascinating. It's interesting as a trans-woman, doing a one-woman show. Of all the characters you're playing, do you have a favorite? The Pocket family is gone, because they were a crazy bunch of people. We put it on its feet, cut it down to about two hours, and I'm playing about 19 characters. He ended up doing the whole thing, because I was touring in America. I said to my older brother, Mark, that we should adapt it together. I could use the technique that Richard Pryor uses, where he would have characters talking to each other, which is what I adapted into my own standup, thinking that most standups did this, but actually most don't. In the recording studio, I thought that we could put it onstage. Because they say, "Well, you've signed a contract, so you have to do this." Three weeks in the recording studio, over 20 hours of book, and Great Expectations read by me is out there. So in my weird little brain, I said, "Why don't I get a company to pay me to read a book?" It's quite nice to be paid to read a book, but it also ensures that you read the book. He had a lower-middle-class life, it wasn't quite totally impoverished, but his dad got into debt and was in prison, which is what Little Dorrit is based on, and then he made it all the way up.Īnyway, I hadn't read a work of literature. There's also something kind of American dream about it, too. I am exactly 150 years younger than Dickens to the day, which doesn't mean anything, but I thought, "Let's run with this." I kind of liked his story. I'm severely dyslexic and I realized that I had never, ever read a great work of literature. How did you settle on Great Expectations? This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. Here, Izzard tells us how it came to be, and what we can expect. At the Greenwich House Theatre on Barrow Street, Izzard is making a rare New York stage appearance, playing all the characters in a solo edition of a different Dickens classic, Great Expectations. In a refreshing break from all the Christmas Carols that come around during this festive holiday season, actor and comedian Eddie Izzard is thinking outside the box with her new off-Broadway show. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |