Sir Toby Belch is something of a contradiction – a knight coming back from war (the only veteran in the play – indicating it was a very bloody war) who drinks all day, but is treated as comedic relief in the majority of the text. The play glosses over his military background, and most characters treat it as a backdrop, but for Toby, I believe his service defined every day from the day he came back to Illyria. It will be an interesting challenge to play the duality of the character (or, as Antonio would say, playing the left and right handed sides of the character). Toby is a man with demons who constantly says funny things. The main question I have to ask at the moment is whether or not Toby gets drunk and tells jokes because he is genuinely in high spirits all the time, or because the alternative is too depressing to face.
I've included a video of a traditional English folk song, which, although it has been modernized somewhat (it references Iraq and Afghanistan), the theme of the song has remained unchanged. What I thought exemplified Toby Belch is the way the song is written – the lyrics themselves are very dark (“My son John was tall and slim/He had a leg for every limb/But now he's got no legs at all/For he run a race with a cannonball”), but the music is upbeat and even catchy. I want to explore how to play Toby like this song.
No comments:
Post a Comment