Wednesday, November 9, 2011

MEET FRANK VAN PUTTEN

Frank Van Putten makes his debut on the Beautiful Soup stage in NORA IN REP. Playing the ill-fated Dr. Rank in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Frank took a few minutes out to do an interview with us. Check it out!

With hundreds of casting calls a week in this city, what attracted you to this project? I've always loved this play. It's still fresh.

What do you hope audience members come away with after seeing the show? I hope we'll energize them, and that maybe they stumble on a ghost or two in their own lives. Where are we still like Nora or Torvald. What have we inherited, what are the choices of our own free will. What is a marriage.

Who or what inspired you to go into theatre? I saw a Hamlet when I was seven or eight. I've wanted Denmark ever since.

What's your dream role? I just have a short list: Vanya is a role I am dying to do. Krapp one day. And Lear, no less.

Who is your hero and why? An illegal immigrant. To make a life here, coming from another culture, another language. To have no rights; remain civil, and keep cheer.

What's the greatest experience you've had on stage? One performance, when I didn't try, didn't remember anything, but everything just was. I couldn't remember afterward how I got there.

Who is the one person you haven't worked with that you would like to? Javier Bardem? God, so many great actors have the ability to reach into your heart, who can just be that person, taking you on the journey of a soul. It's a great privilege to work with artists you can absorb and learn from.

What's your favorite musical/play and why? My favorite play is Uncle Vanya. I love the complaining and the futillity of it.

What's your favorite ice cream? Ginger Lemon ice cream is my latest discovery; Trader Joes make it.

Nora or a Torvald? I definitely come from Torvald's world. My Father was the picture of a patriarch, but my Mother was Nora, she questioned everything, slammed a lot of doors, only she didn't leave. I'm likewise caught; I think I secretly would love to go back to a time when I could be Torvald, unquestioned: that adoration, that power, feeling so benevolent with dainty feet tiptoeing outside my study... If only I could trust that certainty.

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