Can Hecate from Macbeth be played by a 25yr old actress?

[Frozen3]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 9:46pm

I would love to use this, Character, Hecate, The goddess of witchcraft, who helps the three witches work their mischief on Macbeth, for an audition but I'm wondering if it will be inappropriate since I'm 25. What do you think? Thank you



Updated On: 1/13/14 at 09:46 PM

[wonkit]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 10:22pm

Since she is a goddess and does not "age" as a person would, she could be any age, but she has to exude tremendous authority and seem in some interesting way non-human. Go for it.

Edited to add the obvious question that I waltzed right past: As an audition for WHAT?

Updated On: 1/13/14 at 10:22 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 10:40pm

As long as the role can be playyed with steely authority dictated by lifetimes of experience, Hecate can be any age. Use the child vampire in Anne Rice's novel as an example.

[wonkit]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 10:44pm

Audition Rule # 37: do NOT use a vampire as an audition model unless you are auditioning to be a vampire.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 11:16pm

I think it depends on the type of audition.

[Frozen3]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 11:33pm

Thank you for your quick response, It's an audition for a drama program in San Francisco as my classical piece in verse, I thought it might be interesting, since I don't identify with the Romeo and Juliet piece that I was thinking..any other suggestions? thank you so much!

[Frozen3]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 11:36pm

Well, she's not a vampire she's a goddess

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 11:40pm

I think for a drama program it's fine.

[wonkit]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 3:00am

What particular HEcate speech do you have in mind?

How long a speech are they requesting?

Does it have to be Shakespeare? Does it have to be a woman's part? Can it be a sonnet (tough but beautiful)?

Do you also have to read a modern part? What are you doing for that?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 7:21am

I was using the child vampire as a model only for the fact that although she looked young ,she had wisdom and power beyond her perceived years. A witch or a goddess can appear any age.

[wonkit]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 10:17am

No offense, SNAFU - I don't know the Rice book but I am tired to death (pun) of the whole vampire thing going on in the entertainment industry. I wonder if one could use Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher as a model for Hecate? Many of Thatcher's opponents would probably love that idea!

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 10:21am

Sure, why not? (whether or not the piece suits you, in particular, is another question, and we leave that to you).

[WOSQ]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 10:39am

The only caveat I would put forth is that among many Shakespeare scholars, there is an assumption that he did not write Hecate's big scene. Someone Else did, but we don't know whom. It is one reason that Hecate is often cut from The Scottish Play.

If there are real and pseudo Shakespeare scholars among the auditioners, this could be an issue.

Think of the cool steely stiletto of Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate. Or the opposite--Cruella DeVille. Or a combination of both. My point being that you can go in any number of directions with a character like this so long as she remains magnetic and in control.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 2:57pm

Depending on what the audition is for, Shakespeare's disputed authorship might not matter.

[wonkit]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 5:13pm

LOVE the idea of Angela Lansbury from MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - brilliant performance by someone who was chronologically much younger than her character.