Quick Q&A: Deirdre O’Connell

I talked with the always brilliant Deirdre O’Connell about her performance as an acting teacher in Circle Mirror Transformation, now at Playwrights Horizons.

Did you base Marty, the character you play, on a teacher you had?

Not really. A lot of it is me imagining myself trying to teach. But I do have a lot of friends who teach and I’ve certainly been in a lot of different kinds of workshops and so many classes. There isn’t someone I’ve worked with who’s quite like that. She’s an amalgam.

What was the most important thing you wanted to convey about her?

It’s so easy when you’re creating a character to reduce them because it would be funnier. There’s a temptation to make fun of her – you could have a lot of fun doing that – instead of recognizing how smart she is. That’s the line to walk with Marty, to find the foibles without having her lose dignity as a person. I think all these characters have so much dignity despite being in this undignified situation with each other.

Did you and your castmates play “theatre games” in rehearsal like the ones depicted in the play?

Yes we did! It’s so funny because being actors we all knew them and had gone through them – they always terrify you no matter how many times you’ve done them and they always make you feel so vulnerable. Some of us loved them, some of us hated them. It was a conundrum because we brought a certain irony to them as actors, an instant understanding of what they were for, that these characters wouldn’t have. We had to really analyze what the difference was between us and these people who were for the most part embarking on them for the first time.

production photos: Carol Rosegg

Why do you think the ensemble fits together so well?

We’re just so lucky that it’s just such a beautiful group of actors, and we’re lucky that we’ve been able to stay together. We’d done a bunch of workshops and almost every time we’ve had the same whole cast. It was one of those blessed situations when a play you’ve been workshopping gets a production within a year so the people are still around and available. We arrived at that first day of rehearsal knowing we had three weeks ahead of us, but already ahead of the game knowing each other really well. It’s also Sam (Gold, the director) holding the line and knowing what kind of actors to put in this.

Has the play changed since that first workshop?

The play arrived very close to what you’re seeing. Annie (Baker, the playwright) had done a lot of work on it before I saw it, but nothing major in the tale that is being told. It’s also very precise – every “um” and “ah” is written down. I don’t find that limiting at all. The game of being in a play is that you have to say all the words that are written down and then the other person has to say all their words that are written down and that’s the only rule. The fact that it’s been so thought out before we even rehearse makes the game like the Wednesday crossword puzzle instead of the Sunday.

When I saw the show there was a real divide in the audience between those of us who got what was going on right away and those who needed time. Do you feel that while you’re performing it?

Oh yes, we certainly do! There was one show we had where this poor lady was just hating it from the second it started because she didn’t get it, and it sort of wasn’t fair because it was a really aggressive “we get it, oh my God I’ve been there” audience so they were laughing a lot. Sometimes it’s like wild horses in there! So she was talking: “What’s funny!?” And then some other people in the audience were telling her just to leave if she didn’t like it. It was turning into a little bit of a war out there. As you know our play is subtle, we’re not singing songs or anything, so when the audience starts having a conversation it’s as loud as we are!

There’s a definite balance and we’re trying to ride it. When we have people in who are still acting students they go crazy, they see us lying on the floor in that first scene and they’re laughing. So you want to let the other people catch up. I’m not sure what it is that we do about it except that we don’t play to the raucous people who are already laughing. Part of the structure of the play is to let people gradually understand it. Annie’s writing is amazing that way.

You and Peter Friedman, who plays your husband, convey a lot about the marriage without having a scene devoted to it. Were you aware of that as a challenge?

I was very aware. The way that the play functions is that it’s kind of like seeing the tip of the iceberg for everybody; if you were in the room with these people and they were going through this, this is probably all you would know about them. As actors we are so tempted to put everything in and make sure that we are communicating about every aspect of the relationship. It’s been so interesting to have to work the other way and to be so careful not to add anything to it. Peter and I have worked together before and that was so helpful because I trusted him. I think he’s a beautiful actor and a beautiful man so it was easy to imagine having a whole life around him.

The particular task of this writing is that you have to show a lot of restraint and rigor. I once worked with Blair Brown as a director – I was playing a married person. She kept talking to us about how long-married couples are not demonstrative in the way that actors need to be demonstrative in order to feel comfortable with each other. There’s a real difference between two actors touching each other to do the work to create a relationship and how people really behave. That direction from another play was so helpful with this in trusting that a whole lot could be communicated about a marriage without doing a lot of touchy-feely that would be connecting as an actor. It would be easier to play but that’s not what married people do.

What do you look for in a role?

There are so many things. I look for humor and a kind of intelligence but that can mean a lot of different things. I want an interesting thing to happen to the character. I don’t like seeing people reduced. And more and more I like it when my children don’t die in the play. My children have died so many times in plays so I don’t know if I want to do those anymore. That’s it – living children that don’t die!

What would you do if you couldn’t be an actress?

I’d be a painter. Going after the money, right? I love to paint and I do paint and I would all the time but then I would never see other people and I’d be really weird. I love the social interaction aspect of acting – you do get to meet such interesting people. Sometimes I think acting is an excuse for that.