BWW Interviews: Talking with Oleanna's Diego Matamoros

David Mamet's controversial play Oleanna opens tomorrow night at the Young Centre and launches Soulpeppers 2011 season. The show is about an ordinary meeting between a professor and his student that proceeds to explore into a debate on the abuses of power that threaten to turn the tables on the relationship between the two parties. The play brings to question the implications of thoughtless action and political correctness gone sour.

Diego Matamoros & Sarah Wilson star as the two characters embroiled the in the hot topic discussions concerning sexual harassment and political correctness. Both actors took a few minutes to speak with BWW about the show. Today we are speaking with Diego about his approach to the piece and what it is like working on something that does address such difficult subject matter:

Oleanna is considered to be Mamet's most controversial work, and it deals with issues that are certainly still relevant today. As actors, how do you approach such difficult subject matter?

It's important to understand I think that good plays don't 'discuss issues' - instead they are a piece of 'life lived' up on a stage. They are not an attitude or an opinion, they are a living fact - a created piece of 'reality' The ones who are in the position of discussing issues after the play has been presented I believe are not the actors but the audience. It is for them that this work has been created. They can discuss it, they can meditate on it, they can love it, like it, hate it, or simply forget all about it the next day.

As an actor I approach the work by trying to put myself into the person and into the situation that my character inhabits. That's all. It is in and of itself a monumentally difficult task and a lifelong task to ever get some of it to "feel" right.

Sexual harassment and political correctness are both hot-button issues; do you find it a challenge to prevent your own feelings on the subject matter from seeping into your portrayals of the characters?

For me, the actor in the play, there are no 'issues' here in this Mamet work to be dealt with - just two people trying to communicate with each other and deal moment to moment with that challenge. That is something we all try and do every day of our lives. I'm not a critic or an audience member hence I do not have an outside view of what I am creating and what I go through. I try to explain this to interviewers so they will understand that I don't deal with issues and opinions and philosophies but with a person who is trying to get on with their life as best they can from inside it. Period. The rest is up to the audience - they will come, they will get whatever they get from the experience of attending the event and they take something (or nothing) away with them afterwards. I have no idea what that might be as I am inside the work and not outside of it and this is most important to understand when asking an artist what they 'think' of their work or of the plays they inhabit.

This type of subject matter (and the way it is approached in the play) often make audience members uncomfortable, which could be regarded as a good thing and a sign of fine theatre. Do you agree? Or do you think perhaps the uncomfortable nature causes people to shy away?

I don't generally trust artist's take on their work, especially if they are an actor/actress. I listen to the audiences who come and sometimes after the performance I meet some of them and I can tell you that I am always fascinated (and often surprised as well) by what they tell me of their experience of the work. I don't know that this work will make anyone feel anything at all - uncomfortable, comfortable, happy, sad, mad, frustrated, enlightened, etc. I hope, of course, that it will work on some level or even several: verbal, emotional, intellectual, physical, who knows, right?

Finally, for people unfamiliar with the show, what would you say to encourage them to come out and see it?

All I can honestly say is: Come see the show! We've worked really hard and long on it and would love to share it with you.

When and Where?
Oleanna
Young Centre for the Performing Arts

Performance Schedule:

Previews start January 29th, 2011 and opening night is February 3rd, 2011.

Tuesday - Saturday at 8PM, Saturday at 2PM
Monday Night Performances on February 7th and 21st

Tickets range from $28-$60 and are available by phone at 416.866.8666 or online at www.soulpepper.ca

$22 tickets are available for 21-30 year olds through StagePlay at www.stageplay.ca StagePlay is sponsored by TD Bank Financial Group

 

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