Alternative Character Interpretation about Theatre.
#-A
- 35MM: A Musical Exhibition: The songs being vingettes being based on abstract photographs, this show lends itself especially well to this trope, enough to qualify for its own page.
B-D
- Could there be a homosexual subtext to the relationship between Becket and Henry in the play Becket?
- Brand by Ibsen: A fanatic jerkass who willingly lets his family die for his cause, or a tragic idealist who is doomed by circumstance? He has often been interpreted and shown as something close to the first, although Ibsen himself stated that Brand actually was meant to be a good guy.
- In the musical Chess, opinions vary as to whether Anatoly is a selfish jerk who betrays both his wife and his lover just to win a chess game, or if he's justified in choosing to put his own ambitions above the blackmail that the KGB and the CIA are trying to use on those he cares about. Or is he a man too proud not to give the game his best effort?
- Florence: a desperately lonely woman with horrible taste in men, likely stemming from her Daddy Issues, or selfish player who managed to make both of the world's best chess players into her pawns, despite Freddie's dodgy mental health and Anatoly being a married man with kids?
- Freddie - Anatoly wonders this aloud and we never know one way or another; is the American completely out of his mind, or is it a carefully cultivated gambit to bring him wealth, fame, and publicity, as well as unnerving the hell out of his opponents?
- Anatoly's wife: A poor woman hopelessly devoted to her philandering Jerkass of a husband, or someone who puts up with his shagging other women, abandonment of their kids, and betrayal of their country because she gets the prestige, wealth, and perks of being married to a national hero?
- The Arbiter: someone only in it for the love of the game and completely above all bribes and manipulation, or a representative of neutral countries who are mutually pissed off at the Americans' and Russians' mutual posturing and gleefully enjoying the chance to tell them both to go screw themselves?
- The Children's Hour:
- Karen's and Martha's relationship is up to interpretation. It's an extremely well-known fact that Martha loved Karen, however Karen's feelings for Martha are more ambiguous, to the point where even in-series people have their curiosities. Was she in love with Martha or were they only friends?
- Did Mary actually understand what she was saying? She spread lies that she had heard her teachers being intimate however what is her understanding on sex, and homosexuality for that matter? The way she stumbles around when lying could be because she doesn't know what to say or it could be because she's nervous. Whether Mary was purposefully spreading sexual lies or was parroting what adults have said changes just how terrible she is.
- There are various readings of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. There have been productions that managed to turn Mephistopheles into The Woobie. But even if you don't go that far, whether Faust is a Tragic Hero who is frustrated by a callous god's refusal to do anything and honestly wants to improve the world, or a bored academic who was mostly just trying to summon demons for the lulz and had no idea what he was getting into, or a Villain Protagonist who doesn't care about the rest of the world at all and is only in it to enrich himself is open to personal interpretation.
- Nora from Ibsen's A Doll's House is, in the conventional reading, a naive innocent who gets a harsh lesson in the world and grows up to move out. A wholly different interpretation is that we're actually seeing a plot involving several conspirators, organized by Nora, to break her tyrannical husband's hold. The Doctor being "ill" is a setup - he's fine and the card with the X through it is a signal he's ready for Nora to take off with him as they've obviously had a thing going on. Nils Krogstad's reasons for going along with the setup are obvious (knowing he's on the chopping block at work because of Torvald he has nothing to lose and everything to gain revenge-wise) and Nora is also, more kindly, masterminding the reunion of Krogstad with his old girlfriend and her old friend, Christine, who's been the victim of a similar domestic tyranny. Nora is in fact a Diabolical Mastermind orchestrating her husband's downfall.
- In Molière's Don Juan, the character of Don Juan's servant Sganarelle is obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but given the nature of plays, it's possible to portray him as decently crafty, given his intellect and low education. That is, you put a bit of subtext on his seemingly stupid comments in certain scenes. So it's possible he's not a complete buffoon - until a recent English translation added a line that can't possibly be read as anything less than comic relief.
E-J
- Elisabeth:
- Is Death a creepy character who has an unhealthy obsession with Elisabeth, slowly destroying her life because she won't return his affections? Or does he know the pain that Elisabeth is going to endure so he tries to get her to die so she wouldn't suffer in a twisted case of I Want My Beloved to Be Happy?
- The Antwerp production, unlike most other productions, portrays Lucheni as being utterly terrified of Death.
- Some viewers interpret Death as a metaphor, a hallucination, or a manifestation of Elisabeth's wish to die, instead of an actual character.
- Is Sophie an Evil Matriarch intent on making Elisabeth's and Rudolf's lives miserable, or a Well-Intentioned Extremist who does what she thinks is best for everyone?
- Does Death actually care about Rudolf (inasmuch as he's able to care) or does he simply uses the prince as a pawn? note
- Jesus Christ Superstar:
- Intrinsic to the play is the reinterpreted character of Judas, stating his fear that Jesus was no longer in control of the situation as his reason for betraying him, rather than simple greed. Although one might find Judas quite a sympathetic character in the musical, he can, however, also be seen as a coward looking after number one.
- The DVD version with Jerome Pradon as Judas seems to suggest that Judas was romantically in love with Jesus, to the point of obsession, and there's a scene where Judas appears jealous about the attention Jesus gives to Mary Magdalene. Therefore his later actions in betraying Jesus could be seen as those of a lover scorned.
- How sympathetic an individual play's portrayal is can usually be determined by Judas's costume in titular number, where he appears as a vision to Jesus on the cross, where he'll either be dressed in a red/black combination or in white.
K-M
- In L'Orfeo, since both Charon and Hades are bass roles and appear shortly after another, some productions have them played by the same actor and imply that Charon is Hades in disguise as one of his servants.
- Is Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors just a flat-out irredeemable murderer? Is he a Tragic Hero who makes a regrettable Deal with the Devil? Or is he just doomed by his circumstances?
- Another interesting interpretation is that the entire play is happening in Seymour's head. This theory is supported by some scenes, most noticeably "Suppertime" when Audrey II is singing quite loudly, but Mushnik is unable to hear it.
- Machinal has several examples:
- The play itself serves as one to real life murderess Ruth Snyder, who killed her husband with the help of her lover so she could run off with him. Was she truly just a cruel woman who wanted money? Or was she trapped in a machine of societal expectations that forced her into a bad situation with no way out?
- The Young Woman's lover Richard Roe- was his affidavit truly voluntary? Or did the prosecutors threaten to extradite him on trumped-up charges if he didn't comply? It's worth noting he could've lied in the affidavit, and didn't, dooming her to the electric chair.
- Is her husband, George H. Jones, merely Innocently Insensitive, convinced he's doing the right thing by society's standards? Or is he a lecherous rich guy, bullying her into marrying him with his money and power?
- There is also the theory of the Villainous Tenor in some Gilbert & Sullivan works, particularly The Mikado which holds that Nanki-Poo is in fact selfish and shirking his princely duties to the point of lining multiple innocent people up to be killed to cover his escape, rather than merely being a victim of Katisha's machinations. Perhaps more credibly it has been advanced for Frederic in Pirates Of Penzance, questioning whether he is a slave to duty or merely going along with what seems his best chance of survival, first going straight as piracy isn't working out for the gang, then joining the pirates again when they have a gun to his head and then refusing to switch sides even when they capture his apparent love interest (who, he wooed largely as an easy way of going straight).
O-Q
- Recent revivals of Oklahoma! have switched the roles of Curly as the "good guy" and Jud as the "villain". They present Curly as a self-absorbed Jerkass, while Jud is a lonesome, hardworking everyman who dreams about things he cannot have. In these productions, by the end, rather than thinking "Jud got what he deserved", you think "That asshole Curly got away with murder!"
- A 2012 production at Seattle's 5th Avenue cast a black actor as Jud, adding "racist douchebag" to the above insult against Curly. In fact, every other character in the show could be seen as racist based on the way they treat Jud.
- Even his attempt to kill Curly with the trick eyeglass isn't fully unprovoked or self-serving. Before that, Curly just randomly shows up at Jud's house, starts up a song about what it will be like when Jud is dead, and when Jud gets pissed off at this, Curly gives what is really an underhanded threat of killing him by showing off how good a shot he is, inside Jud's own house, no less.
- On the other hand, there's Jud's "Bartlet farm" speech, where he recounts how a hired hand burned down his employer's house (killing the entire family inside) because the farmer's daughter rejected him. Jud claims to have gotten the story from another hired hand, but some productions have implied Jud himself was the killer.
- In the 2019 Broadway revival, Jud and Curly's brawl at the wedding is replaced with Jud merely offering Curly a pistol as a wedding present, whereupon Curly shoots Jud in claimed self-defense. The trial is thus played much more like a hasty cover-up and leaves the audience with the question of Jud perhaps being suicidal. It also has an added racial element in that Laurey is a black woman navigating two white men's feelings for her, and a farmhand, played by a black actor, is noticeably shut down by Aunt Eller.
- Depending on the production, Cupid in Orfeo ed Euridice can be seen as anything from a benevolent figure sincerely trying to help Orpheus to an amoral Trickster God unconcerned with mortals and their grief, or somewhere in between. The Mood Whiplash of the encounters with him add fuel to varying interpretations, particularly the finale where he brings Eurydice back to life after Orpheus's suffering is wrung out to the point of near-suicide.
- Hoo boy, The Phantom of the Opera is just full of these:
- Erik: Evil genius, crazy, or abandoned woobie who just needs to be loved? He's generally regarded (by those not part of the rather sizeable Misaimed Fandom, who just see him as a Draco in Leather Pants cinnamon roll) to be a combination of the three.
- Christine: The Ingenue, idiotic, who destroys the Phantom's last hope of love, or poor girl confused by extreme unwanted attention? There's also the interpretation that she only agrees to marry Raoul as a desperate attempt to cling to the familiar in her suddenly changing world, especially since, every time he sings about how he loves her, she only sings about how she wants him to keep her protected and safe.
- Raoul: Foppish pretty boy who was not interested in Christine until she became famous, or romantic young man fighting for his love? Were his attempts to convince Christine that the Phantom only existed "inside your mind" made out of concern for her mental well-being, or was he being dismissive of her, her thoughts, and her feelings?
- Carlotta: Cartoonish diva villain, or Technician being forced out in favor of someone less talented, coincidentally right after she disappeared overnight with the theater's wealthy patron?
- Madame Giry is one of the more enigmatic characters, too - talk to ten different fans and you will probably get ten different motivations behind her actions.
- The Contested Sequel Love Never Dies (2010) has made this even worse: Raoul has been turned from Christine's good-hearted childhood friend into an angry alcoholic and gets blamed for his failed marriage to Christine because he's just not good enough for her. Critics of the show take the view that Raoul is the real victim, having been driven to dissolution by ten years of living with an emotionally distant and faithless wife and an irritatingly precocious kid. As well, in the 25th Anniversary staging of Phantom in 2011, Raoul seems to spend half the time exasperated with Christine and half the time bravely and boyishly adoring her, which may be a hint of what's to come in the sequel. Especially since Andrew Lloyd Webber cast his two Love Never Dies leads in the concert, it seems like he's deliberately trying to make a point that wasn't there. Fans who ignore the existence of Love Never Dies just think it's a more layered way to play Raoul, a role that can easily come off as dull or one-dimensional.
R-S
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
- Johanna can be seen as the token Broadway Love Interest, as she apparently fell in love with Anthony within the space of two seconds; or she could just be using Anthony to get an escape route away from Turpin's clutches.
- Another interpretation of Johanna in the stage version is that she's something of a budding Sweeney herself. This is based on her abusive childhood, possible inherited mental instability, the posited manipulation of Anthony, her time in the asylum, and her willingness to shoot the asylum-keeper (in the stage musical; the film has the asylum-keeper killed by his "children").
- Toby can be cast either as a child or as a mentally retarded man (indeed, this ambiguity is often exploited to solve talent availability/labour laws issues). The only description given is that he's "simple." Thus, The Movie has a Toby the size of your thumb, whereas stage productions often cast a man decades older (though the 1980s taping has a Toby that you can accept easily as a man playing young - until you notice the mustache).
- Neil Patrick Harris in the 2001 concert recording may be an example of an adult Toby - although with Johanna and Anthony being played by the definitely not teenaged Lisa Vroman and Davis Gaines, he could be playing younger as well.
- Another interpretation of Toby, based on the ending of the stage version where Toby is shown as a grown man locked and straightjacketed in an insane asylum, is that it is an adult Toby telling the story from his own childhood memories and that the adult actor is used consistently to ensure that the audience knows that he is the same character.
- Though not as major as the other characters, the Beadle certainly counts as well - he can be seen as either a complete psychopath who's no better than Judge Turpin, or a Well-Intentioned Extremist police officer who believes a Hanging Judge is the only way to enforce the law.
T-W
- Take Me Out is about major league baseball player Darren publicly coming out as gay. The main antagonist is his teammate Shane, who is supposed to just be a dumb, racist, homophobic redneck, but his personality suggests a different story: he's asocial and withdrawn even when directly approached, excels at one specific skill (pitching) but is inept at everything else, has certain rituals he must perform on game days, and has no concept of social grace. When he leads the team to victory, he's interviewed by the press and makes a comment about being on a team with "coloreds, spics, and showering with a faggot," but what we see of him suggests that he's not actively hateful—he never directly harasses his teammates—and is more like someone on the autism spectrum who grew up in a hateful environment and doesn't know better. Throughout the play Shane never seems to fully grasp the impact of his words and actions and is genuinely hurt when the team wants nothing to do with him, making it easy to feel sorry for him being surrounded by people who don't understand autism, rather than hating him for being a bigot.
- Wicked:
- In the Wicked fandom, a large number, but not necessarily a majority, of people believe that the Wizard could be a sympathetic character who is ultimately a pawn controlled by Madame Morrible. But only in the musical. In the book, Morrible doesn't even reach the level of The Dragon (and is unceremoniously killed near the end) whereas the Wizard is evil.
- It goes beyond that - as mentioned in Literature, the play is based off Alternate Character Interpretation. (Specifically, that for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.)
- The wonderful Avaric. Virtually no one accepts him as the carriage driver he is in the musical, he's either the jerk like he is in the book or... well anything from a serial rapist, murderer and blackmailer to a better love interest to Elphaba than Fiyero and it's not unknown for one fanfic author to express both views of him in different (or the same) fics.
- Glinda near the end. The implications of her more than platonic friendship for Elphaba, and her general personality invoke this in both the musical and books. Her being a Stepford Smiler is the most common, though fans tend to dig deeper.
- Just what is the relationship between Glinda and Elphaba? Platonic on both sides, unrequited affections on Glinda's side, or mutually romantic? Fans have their different interpretations, especially shippers.
- Considering the controversial ideas of Wagner his opera can really go through this.
- Is Siegfried from The Ring Cycle really an Ubermensch who refuses to follow the rules of a corrupt society and creates his own morality? Or is he a bully and boor who treats anybody weaker then him, even the one who raised him, with contempt? Could it be because of a difficult upbringing from Mime without his mother? It doesn't help that his treatment of Mime seems to have anti-semitic tones, which considering Wagner were intentional.
- Is Wotan a Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to create a lawful world, withdrawing when he realises his time is up and it is time for men to rule? Or a self-serving figure who kills himself from despair?
- Is Hagen really a Bastard Bastard who is motivated by greed and just likes causing misery? Or has he had a different upbringing due to being illegitimate and growing old prematurely so decides to react against the world when his father offers him a chance?
- To some, Hunding at first looks like a
Lawful Evil character who is rightfully killed by Wotan for his persecution and killing Siegmund. Yet by the standards of the time he hasn't done anything wrong and has good reason for pursuing Siegmund who has killed his kinsmen. He even obeys the laws of Sacred Hospitality in letting Siegmund stay the night despite knowing his crimes. Ultimately Wotan kills him for doing what any man of the culture Wotan set up would be expected to do. - On the other hand Hunding forced Sieglinde to live as his wife in a loveless marriage, having received her from the killers of her and Siegmund's mother. And in the story Wotan already plans to have Hunding killed when he still wants Siegmund to win the fight; however, he does at that point say that Hunding is unworthy of being brought to Valhalla, which must concern events other than his treatment of Siegmund. In the end, Fricka forces Wotan to let Siegmund die for committing adultery and incest with his sister; since Fricka appears as Hunding's patron and Hunding as Fricka's champion, Wotan after being forced to kill his son Siegmund then also kills Hunding as a Take That! to his estranged wife: he explicitly tells Hunding to report to Fricka that the fight turned out as she demanded.
