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| ‘You Create That Chemistry’: How Actors Fall in Instant Love | ‘You Create That Chemistry’: How Actors Fall in Instant Love |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The course of true love hardly ever runs smooth? Agreed. But few romances are as extravagantly potholed as Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Yes, the play ends with an extravagant wedding, but the path down the aisle is cratered with a death threat, an elopement, pixie interference and the greatest catfight in world literature. Also, botanical date-rape drugs. | The course of true love hardly ever runs smooth? Agreed. But few romances are as extravagantly potholed as Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Yes, the play ends with an extravagant wedding, but the path down the aisle is cratered with a death threat, an elopement, pixie interference and the greatest catfight in world literature. Also, botanical date-rape drugs. |
| Through it all, four actors have to fall deeply, wildly, lip-bruisingly in love at every performance. | Through it all, four actors have to fall deeply, wildly, lip-bruisingly in love at every performance. |
| “You do, genuinely,” Shalita Grant said. | “You do, genuinely,” Shalita Grant said. |
| “We have had to develop a sort of kinetic, frenzied physical relationship,” her co-star Annaleigh Ashford added, gesturing to her castmates. | “We have had to develop a sort of kinetic, frenzied physical relationship,” her co-star Annaleigh Ashford added, gesturing to her castmates. |
| In the “Midsummer” now in previews and opening on Monday at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, Ms. Ashford plays Helena, who pines for Demetrius (Alex Hernandez), who loves Hermia (Ms. Grant), who adores Lysander (Kyle Beltran), who adores her right back — at least until the fairies roofie him. At each performance, these actors have to convince a Shakespeare in the Park audience of 2,000 of their overwhelming, clothes-ripping desire. | |
| Then they have to take their bows, go home to their various partners and come back the next night to desire all over again. Faking true love: How do they do it? | Then they have to take their bows, go home to their various partners and come back the next night to desire all over again. Faking true love: How do they do it? |
| Sitting outside the Delacorte on a sweaty afternoon, slugging down water and dressed in casual rehearsal wear, the four actors described a process that involves a particular blend of practice and experiment, memory and imagination. Chemistry isn’t always automatic, Ms. Ashford said: “You use your tools as an actor. You create that chemistry. If it’s not given from the gods, then you make it.” | Sitting outside the Delacorte on a sweaty afternoon, slugging down water and dressed in casual rehearsal wear, the four actors described a process that involves a particular blend of practice and experiment, memory and imagination. Chemistry isn’t always automatic, Ms. Ashford said: “You use your tools as an actor. You create that chemistry. If it’s not given from the gods, then you make it.” |
| That work begins on the first day of rehearsal, Ms. Grant explained. She recalled sitting next to Mr. Beltran and asking herself, “What do I like about this person?” She noted his kindness, his chivalry and the way he approached the text. (It was at this point in the conversation that Mr. Beltran started to blush.) “It was a longer version of a first date. That’s how I saw our rehearsal process,” Ms. Grant said. | That work begins on the first day of rehearsal, Ms. Grant explained. She recalled sitting next to Mr. Beltran and asking herself, “What do I like about this person?” She noted his kindness, his chivalry and the way he approached the text. (It was at this point in the conversation that Mr. Beltran started to blush.) “It was a longer version of a first date. That’s how I saw our rehearsal process,” Ms. Grant said. |
| Mr. Beltran agreed, saying that they’d built the Hermia and Lysander relationship on trust and openness and care. This came in handy during the scene in which she seizes him like a praying mantis about to enjoy a post-coital snack. | Mr. Beltran agreed, saying that they’d built the Hermia and Lysander relationship on trust and openness and care. This came in handy during the scene in which she seizes him like a praying mantis about to enjoy a post-coital snack. |
| Mr. Hernandez had a different mode of attack, maybe because his work on the play is “way more family-friendly than how I live my life” and “my actual sort of carnal appetite isn’t what’s necessary,” he said. (It was at this point in the conversation that I started to blush.) | Mr. Hernandez had a different mode of attack, maybe because his work on the play is “way more family-friendly than how I live my life” and “my actual sort of carnal appetite isn’t what’s necessary,” he said. (It was at this point in the conversation that I started to blush.) |
| Instead of trying out the first-date stuff with Ms. Ashford, he has looked to Shakespeare’s language. “The emotionality of it really gets me and makes it really easy,” he said. “When you have these beautiful speeches about how devoted I am to the beauty of your eyes and all, I could almost do it to a rock.” | Instead of trying out the first-date stuff with Ms. Ashford, he has looked to Shakespeare’s language. “The emotionality of it really gets me and makes it really easy,” he said. “When you have these beautiful speeches about how devoted I am to the beauty of your eyes and all, I could almost do it to a rock.” |
| “I’ll be your rock, baby,” said Ms. Ashford, unoffended. | “I’ll be your rock, baby,” said Ms. Ashford, unoffended. |
| For her part, she’s grateful that she’s had weeks of rehearsal with Mr. Hernandez. She spent several years on the Showtime series “Masters of Sex,” where, she said, actors would often introduce themselves in the morning and by afternoon “we’d see them having a tryst without any clothes on except for a sock.” | For her part, she’s grateful that she’s had weeks of rehearsal with Mr. Hernandez. She spent several years on the Showtime series “Masters of Sex,” where, she said, actors would often introduce themselves in the morning and by afternoon “we’d see them having a tryst without any clothes on except for a sock.” |
| “So we are really lucky here,” she added. | “So we are really lucky here,” she added. |
| While Ms. Grant and Mr. Beltran began to practice their kisses early on, the better to establish the intimacy between a longtime couple like Hermia and Lysander, Ms. Ashford made Mr. Hernandez wait until a full run-through to try out the kiss between Helena and Demetrius. “I’ve been waiting to get down with him maybe my whole life,” Ms. Ashford said, speaking for her character, “so it made sense to just sort of wait. It’s a whopper of a kiss.” | While Ms. Grant and Mr. Beltran began to practice their kisses early on, the better to establish the intimacy between a longtime couple like Hermia and Lysander, Ms. Ashford made Mr. Hernandez wait until a full run-through to try out the kiss between Helena and Demetrius. “I’ve been waiting to get down with him maybe my whole life,” Ms. Ashford said, speaking for her character, “so it made sense to just sort of wait. It’s a whopper of a kiss.” |
| Kissing is a reminder of how strange and funny it is that actors’ bodies have to substitute for the bodies of their characters. It’s maybe even funnier for Ms. Ashford, whose real-life husband, Joe Tapper, whom she thinks of when a scene needs “more crackle,” is also in “Midsummer,” playing one of the Rude Mechanicals. (He, too, is a little in love with Mr. Hernandez, Ms. Ashford said teasingly. “He is astounded by your physique, as we all are,” she said.) | Kissing is a reminder of how strange and funny it is that actors’ bodies have to substitute for the bodies of their characters. It’s maybe even funnier for Ms. Ashford, whose real-life husband, Joe Tapper, whom she thinks of when a scene needs “more crackle,” is also in “Midsummer,” playing one of the Rude Mechanicals. (He, too, is a little in love with Mr. Hernandez, Ms. Ashford said teasingly. “He is astounded by your physique, as we all are,” she said.) |
| But the actors are clear about drawing distinctions between performance and life. Ms. Grant believes in “really healthy, strong boundaries,” she said, and as Mr. Hernandez put it, “This is literally my job. I went to school for it. I’m not skeezing on anybody. It is in the text.” No carnal appetite here. | But the actors are clear about drawing distinctions between performance and life. Ms. Grant believes in “really healthy, strong boundaries,” she said, and as Mr. Hernandez put it, “This is literally my job. I went to school for it. I’m not skeezing on anybody. It is in the text.” No carnal appetite here. |
| And yet they have to make audiences feel otherwise, which means substitutions and tricks and what-ifs to sell what Mr. Hernandez calls “unadulterated, family-friendly passion.” At the end of the play, which culminates in that triple wedding, Mr. Beltran, who is unmarried, thinks about “what it would be like to have this moment.” In that scene Mr. Hernandez, also unmarried, feels “really like beautifully nervous, and awkward and wonderful,” he said. “Playing pretend, you get a second of the real emotion.” | And yet they have to make audiences feel otherwise, which means substitutions and tricks and what-ifs to sell what Mr. Hernandez calls “unadulterated, family-friendly passion.” At the end of the play, which culminates in that triple wedding, Mr. Beltran, who is unmarried, thinks about “what it would be like to have this moment.” In that scene Mr. Hernandez, also unmarried, feels “really like beautifully nervous, and awkward and wonderful,” he said. “Playing pretend, you get a second of the real emotion.” |
| Mostly the emotions come pretty easily, helped along by the ample rehearsal time, the heightened language and the demands of the text. (Lear deBessonet is the director). During a fight scene, when Hermia believes she has been betrayed by both her lover and her friend, Ms. Grant finds it hard to catch her breath, “And I am a fit person!” she said. | Mostly the emotions come pretty easily, helped along by the ample rehearsal time, the heightened language and the demands of the text. (Lear deBessonet is the director). During a fight scene, when Hermia believes she has been betrayed by both her lover and her friend, Ms. Grant finds it hard to catch her breath, “And I am a fit person!” she said. |
| The kisses aren’t much of a worry either. As Ms. Ashford said: “The buildup to me is more important. You want to see them fall in love. The kiss is the payoff.” | The kisses aren’t much of a worry either. As Ms. Ashford said: “The buildup to me is more important. You want to see them fall in love. The kiss is the payoff.” |
| Mr. Beltran congratulated himself on never having had an awkward stage kiss. “Maybe I’ve just been fortunate in that way,” | Mr. Beltran congratulated himself on never having had an awkward stage kiss. “Maybe I’ve just been fortunate in that way,” |
| “You have been,” both women said immediately. | “You have been,” both women said immediately. |
| At the end of each performance, the actors say, they feel exhausted from the mosquitoes and the choreography and the verse. They feel exhilarated too. Ms. Grant can’t fall asleep until 2 a.m., she said. Mr. Hernandez needs a long bike ride back to Brooklyn to calm down. | At the end of each performance, the actors say, they feel exhausted from the mosquitoes and the choreography and the verse. They feel exhilarated too. Ms. Grant can’t fall asleep until 2 a.m., she said. Mr. Hernandez needs a long bike ride back to Brooklyn to calm down. |
| The next day, they’re ready to come back to fight and flail and kiss again. | The next day, they’re ready to come back to fight and flail and kiss again. |