Pygmalion: Catching Up With The Doolittles

George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion shows us three very different family units. We’ve already peeked behind-the-scenes at the trio of secondary characters that make up the Eynsford-Hill family. The next family is the Doolittles: Eliza and Alfred. While the two characters are family, they share little stage time together, and the particulars of their relationship are left up to the actors playing them. We caught up with our actors backstage before the show one day.

SOLITARY LIFESTYLES

“I don’t think that the characters really have much of a relationship,” says Stage Left Ensemble Member Mark Pracht, who plays Eliza’s father, Alfred Doolittle. “It says in the script he hasn’t seen her in two months, and I don’t think that’s unusual. I have it in the back of my head that Alfred has, like, 28 kids that are all running around London and he hardly sees any of them.”

“Her falling in with Higgins is just an opportunity for him to suck some money off of somebody. I think that’s just of the nature of that family, at least from Alfred’s perspective. He lives for himself. He doesn’t want to take care of a kid. If forced to he will, but he doesn’t really want to. So the fact that Eliza is able to take care of herself with selling flowers means he doesn’t have to deal with her.”

Stage Left Ensemble Member Mouzam Makkar, who plays Eliza, concurs. “I feel like Father Doolittle was just this remote presence in the household. She does tell the story of “my aunt died of influenza, but my father, he kept ladling gin down her throat…” So I feel like he was around, but they didn’t really talk. But I knew he was my dad and he would come by sometimes and-“

“And ask if you have money,” chimes in Mark.

“Exactly,” says Mouzam. “I feel that was pretty much the extent of the relationship.”

AN OPPORTUNISTIC STREAK

”Early on in the show, I’m doing a lot of just touching things, because I feel like Eliza probably hasn’t touched, for instance, nice engraved wood or plush couches, and I just totally imagined her being very sensory and touching and smelling things.”
-Mouzam Makkar

Still, the two characters came from the same neighborhood and the same class structure, and even if they didn’t have much interaction, they do share some familial similarities. “There is a certain assertiveness to the characters,” admits Mark. “The ability to just walk into the Higgins household and ask for what they want— that takes a certain disdain for the class structure. They’re both very opportunistic people. I think that’s probably on the Doolittle coat of arms: ‘Do for yourself.’”

Mouzam agrees. “Yeah, Doolittle is a smart guy, he knows where his strengths are, he knows what he can do, and I feel like Eliza knows what she is capable of too.” This is aptly demonstrated in the first scene of the play, in which Eliza rallies the crowd to her defense when she feels she might be arrested. “They both know how to manipulate a situation. They’re not strangers, she just knows ‘this is how I do my thing and this is how he does his.’”

COSTUMES AND BEARDS

“The interesting thing about Alfred’s argument as to why he should be given the money for Eliza is really hilarious to me, because at the time the concept of a dowry was pretty common, and I think that’s the way he looks at it: you’re taking my daughter, and that means you give me some money. He’s adept at using the society against itself.
-Mark Pracht

Mouzam and Mark are each drawn to their characters for different reasons.

“I love how strong Eliza is,” says Mouzam. “And it’s a role that kind of scared me at first, and I thought that meant I should probably audition for it. Because how often do you get the chance to say, ‘If get this role, then crap— I’m going to need to really figure this out and work hard at it!’”

For his role as Alfred, Mark has been specifically highlighted in many reviews, such as in the Chicago Sun-Times, which noted that he “mines every ounce of the comedy and self-awareness in Eliza’s dad.”

“I describe it as sort of a paratrooper role,” muses Mark. “You drop in, you say some funny stuff, and then you leave. And that’s always fun to do. You don’t have to carry the show.” No, but he certainly steals every scene he’s in. “I would never say I do that,” he demurs.

For this role, Mark grew an impressive set of friendly mutton chops, a style in which the mustache and side burns are connected. “In the last couple of years, I’ve been lucky enough to do parts that required me to do fairly extensive makeup, of one kind or another, and I really enjoy that,” Mark comments fondly. “I enjoy the idea of looking in the mirror and being about to go onstage and not seeing me, but just seeing the character. That’s also why I enjoy getting the costume. Thing don’t really come together for me until then.”

Speaking of costumes, Mouzam undergoes no less than five complete costume changes in the course of the two hour show. The evolution of these costumes also helped inform her acting choices. “The first costume I wear is so bulky and I can just slouch and be on the ground and I don’t think about ‘is my skirt set right?’ Plus I get to put dirt on my face and have scraggly hair. That really helps define early Eliza.”

“And then I get to do a slow transformation, where I take the dirt off first, and then I put all of my hair up, which makes me think, ‘oh, I don’t have anything on my shoulders now, this is nice,’ and then I get to put on the nice dress. My dresses get more and more constrained as the evening goes on, and that really does help me get to the point at the end where I’ve become a lady.”

You can see the Doolittles in action in BoHo and Stage Left Theatres’ joint production of Pygmalion, now playing at Theater Wit until February 10th. Do you have thoughts on the characters or our actors’ approach to them? Leave a comment below and join the conversation!

Pygmalion: Dialect Coach Lindsay Barlett Sounds Off On Working With Our Actors

In our continuing series of posts looking behind-the scenes at BoHo's co-production of Pygmalion with Stage Left Theatre, we got a chance to talk to Dialect Coach (and Artistic Director of 20% Theatre) Lindsay Barlett on how she approached her work for this show.

Working on Pygmalion would seem to be a dialect coach's dream because it's a show all about dialect. Where do you start with a play like this? What is your process for gathering info?

Lindsay: This show is definitely a dialect coach's dream but then again any show with a vast amount of dialects is a dream to do because it challenges me. When I got the job working on this show I watched a lot of My Fair Lady as well as taped versions of Pygmalion just so I could get the tone. I also, as per usual for the shows i worked on, started gathering worksheets and voiced examples to not only use but pass on to the actors. A lot of my process happens after the show is cast and the rehearsals have begun because then I can witness how well a person will do with a specific dialect and whether we can tailor it or not.

What is the most fun about being a dialect coach?

Lindsay:I think the most fun thing about being a dialect coach is watching people become somebody different. Even when an actor is in their normal street clothes when you watch them put on a dialect they become a completely different person even though they are just changing the sounds that are coming out of their mouth. I kind of see it as a super power and I taught them it. I think Higgins nails it on the head when he says "you have no idea how frightfully interesting it is to take a human being and change her into quite a different human being"

What is the most challenging aspect about what you do?

Lindsay:I think the most challenging aspect about what I do is that sometimes people just can't do dialects. It's the same was as singing, not everyone is born with that talent and it takes time. It's very difficult sometimes to carve out time with an actor to work on dialect stuff because the blocking, working and general rehearsal process takes precedent but the dialect work sometimes takes the longest.

What is something that you think people don't realize about what you do?

Lindsay:I think that people don't realize how long dialect work takes. It's a different sort of designer schedule than more prominent designers like set or costumes. A Dialect Coach has to be available as often as possible at rehearsals and outside of rehearsals. Coaches are essentially an extension of the cast and not the production team.

Where do you find the time to be so knowledgeable about dialects AND be an artistic director at the same time?

Lindsay:sometimes I ask myself that very same question ;) To be honest, dialects come very easy to me, it's second nature and I have been doing them since I was a little kid so it is easy for me to translate what I know into teaching it to other people...I also am addicted to coffee and can run on very little sleep.

You can learn more about Lindsay on her website: www.lindsaybartlett.com. You can also hear all of Lindsay's carefully crafted sounds in person: Pygmalion is currently running at Theater Wit through February 10th. Learn more...

Pygmalion: Tips on Playing the Same Role Twice from Sandy Elias

Colonel Pickering appears in every scene of Pygmalion as Henry Higgins’ steady companion, eager to dissect dialects and help train Eliza in becoming a proper lady. As a counter point to Higgins’ disinterest and cruelty, Pickering offers a kind, supportive, grandfatherly presence to Eliza. But what really makes him tick?

A FAMILY AT WIMPOLE STREET

Stage Left Theatre Ensemble Member Sandy Elias plays Pickering in our production. He believes Pickering leaps into the task of training Eliza—going so far as to move into Higgins’ apartment at Wimpole Street—because he’s attracted to the youthful energy there. “I used to be a college professor,” Sandy says, “and it’s a lot of fun to teach somebody. That’s the best way to learn a subject—to try to teach it to somebody else. Just being in that kind of environment of learning and watching Eliza develop is fun and exciting for him. He says it in the play: ‘It makes me feel young again.’

“So that’s part of what keeps him there. But it’s also genuine affection for Higgins and Eliza, and Mrs. Pearce, who takes care of everyone. It’s like an adopted family.”

“That’s one of the reasons I do plays,” Sandy continues. “It makes ME feel young again, just being involved in that kind of energy. Obviously, Steve [O’Connell] has tremendous amount of energy, as does Mouzam [Makkar], and it just carries into our offstage life.”

PICKERING REVISITED

Our production is not the first in which Sandy has played Colonel Pickering. He first played the role five years ago with Southwest Shakespeare Company in Arizona. Recreating a role under new circumstances is a unique challenge.

“Part of the trick, for me, was to forget about the other production I did and just play the moments as they occur in this one. That’s a bit of a challenge because sometimes I’ll be thinking about what happened last time, and maybe how this other kid delivered that line last time. But it makes you realize the organic, marvelous nature of live theatre. As you know, each performance is different, and obviously each production is different. So it’s kind of fun!”

SWEET HOME CHICAGO

Sandy is a graduate of Northwestern University’s theatre program. “When I moved to Chicago, I was 18, and I started at Northwestern in their summer theatre program. I had a wonderful time! I really owe a lot to Northwestern. It’s a great school, and I met some great people there.”

In all his years traveling around the country for theatre—and in working for over a decade at the Southwest Shakespeare Company—one thing stands out to him. “Every actor that I meet, when I’d tell them I was retiring from my teaching post and going back to Chicago, they were all jealous. They all want to be here, because the scene is so vibrant and alive… You can’t beat this city!

Catch Sandy's work while you can: Pygmalion is currently running at Theater Wit through February 10th. Learn more...