Our coverage of Brave Spirits Theatre’s ongoing repertory continues as we introduce some of our actors who are playing multiple characters across the productions. Ian Blackwell Rogers and Steve Lebens share the stage as scene partners in both the comedic subplot of The Changeling and the tragedy of The Duchess of Malfi. In this post, we take a moment to ask them about their roles and their experiences working together.
Let’s start off with who you are, where you’re originally from, and what previous experience you’ve had working with early modern drama.
IAN BLACKWELL ROGERS: Ian Blackwell Rogers, from West Virginia. I’ve done lots of early modern drama with Brave Spirits and the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, as well as other companies. Lots of clowns and villains, interestingly for this rep.
STEVE LEBENS: I’m Steve Lebens and grew up in the small town of Shakopee, Minnesota. I’ve been working professionally as an actor since 1984 but have only been focusing on early modern drama for the last three years. I find that work comes to actors in cycles. For a while I seemed to be doing a lot of musicals, then mid-century American comedy, then television, and now the classical repertoire.
Who do you play in Brave Spirits Theatre’s repertory?
ROGERS: Lollio, the clown/fool character and asylum employee in Changeling and Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria and the Duchess’s brother in Duchess of Malfi.
LEBENS: I play Alibius and Alonzo in The Changeling and The Cardinal in The Duchess of Malfi. Alibius runs a hospital for the mentally ill and those with intellectual disabilities. He’s married to the much younger Isabella and is desperately afraid that she will be wooed by the much more attractive men that visit his hospital. The Cardinal is brother to the Duchess of Malfi and Duke Ferdinand. He and the Duke are desperate to keep their sister from re-marrying, particularly to someone below her station. The Cardinal is also having an affair with the wife of another nobleman.
In what ways are your two main characters in the rep different from each other? In what ways are these “comedic” and “tragic” characters similar?
ROGERS: Well, they both seek to gratify their impulses without much filter. What you see is what you get with both of them. Ferdinand is very high-status, and Lollio is very low-status. That’s a big difference in the early modern world! Lollio doesn’t have much expectation that anyone (except maybe Alibius) will do what he says. Ferdinand can’t fathom that anyone would ever not do what he says.
LEBENS: Alibius and The Cardinal are very different characters. Where Alibius is insecure and constantly in motion, The Cardinal is confident of his cunning and slow and deliberate in his actions. Alibius is just a small-time operator hoping to make a bit of money by offering his patients at the hospital as entertainers to the local gentry at parties and weddings. The Cardinal, on the other hand, has enormous ambition and has set his sights on becoming Pope someday.
What have you learned from playing opposite the same scene partner in two different stage worlds?
ROGERS: That it’s all about timing, whether the scene is comic or dramatic! Also it’s great to have someone steady and balanced to bounce off. I’m the fast one and he’s the slow one in both plays, although I’m the smart one in one and he’s the smart one in the other.
LEBENS: I consider myself very fortunate to be working with Ian Blackwell Rogers. He’s a very fine actor with a strong command of the language and style of early modern drama. From Ian I’ve learned through observation that it’s crucial to stay on point with each line delivered and to be very specific interpreting each thought in order to make the play as clear as possible for the audience. I’ve also learned that a great deal of truth can be conveyed in comedy and that certain moments of humor can be found even in fairly dark, tragic scenes. What’s particularly fun about working with Ian is that his comic timing is impeccable, and so we can banter back and forth as our various characters and really engage the audience.
What do you think would be a pet peeve for your Duchess of Malfi character? And what would he say about his brother’s?
ROGERS: Ferdinand’s peeve is anyone blocking or slowing his impulses. He has an action bias. Also anything that might in the slightest affect his family honor. I think he believes the Cardinal shares the latter peeve, but he dimly suspects the Cardinal might be irked by people going off half-cocked.
LEBENS: The Cardinal’s pet peeve is dealing with incompetent or overly demanding underlings who have been hired to do a job and then either don’t follow through or demand more payment than they deserve. Ferdinand’s pet peeve is probably just about anything depending on his mood that day. Ferdinand is an extremely mercurial alpha male whose attention is quickly distracted and who can easily go off like a loose cannon, particularly if he feels the family honor is at stake.
What would be the perfect date night for your Changeling characters?
ROGERS: Somebody laughing at all [Lollio’s] jokes while not paying attention to anyone else. He’d say Alibius wants a very quiet night in front of the TV, maybe with his wife rubbing his feet.
LEBENS: Alibius’s idea of a perfect date night is simply staying at home with his charming and adorable wife, holding her in his arms and shutting the rest of the world out. The Cardinal’s ideal date involves some rather unorthodox role playing with one of his mistresses where he finds absolution for his many sins. I suspect that Lollio’s perfect date would be with one of the local girls that he might have met at the nearby tavern. He likely buys them dinner and then goes for a long walk with them somewhere near town.
What has been the most fun or interesting aspect of playing your various characters in repertory?
ROGERS: Well, I love playing the contrasts. But I also love the similarities — that I get to unleash a host of lunatics to perform a disturbing revue in both shows.
LEBENS: The thing that I find particularly fun about this rep is being able to play broad comedy in The Changeling and then switch to playing a very serious and cunning character in The Cardinal. As the song goes: tragedy tomorrow; comedy tonight. The only thing missing is a big splashy production number (although we do get to do a bit of the can-can in The Changeling).
And finally, what’s your favorite line from each show that your characters get to say?
ROGERS: Lollio: “I’ll go up and play left-handed Orlando with the madmen.” Ferdinand: “I’ll go hunt the badger by owl-light. ‘Tis a deed of darkness.”
LEBENS: Alibius: “Thou conceivst me, Lollio.” The Cardinal: “How tedious is a guilty conscience.”
BST’s repertory of The Duchess of Malfi and The Changeling runs through November 18.
Remaining Industry Nights: November 12 (Duchess)
Additional Events: Changeling artists talkback on November 9, Duchess pre-show lecture on November 10, Duchess artists talkback on November 11
For Tickets: http://www.bravespiritstheatre.com/tickets/
-Production Dramaturg, Claire Kimball