Parker Gray on Malcolm
When did you first encounter Macbeth?
I read and discovered both Macbeth and Malcolm in the summer of my senior year at SMU. Senior Acting Professor Michael Connolly gave us what I believe to be one of the greatest assignments I had during my time in undergrad: to simply read 20-25 of Shakespeare’s plays and write about them. It was the beginning of a really exciting journey. Senior year was structured as Shakespeare 24/7 at SMU then. I was also cast as Malcom in the Macbeth that Connolly directed that same fall.
What was your first impression?
I hadn’t read Macbeth before I was cast. In fact, the first time I read the play I also decided to do some "givens" work (aka given circumstances) in preparation, defining the “positive” and the “negative” qualities about my character as presented in the text. I created a table and was writing down the textual evidence of each, and when I reached Malcolm and Macduff’s infamous scene in act four scene three I suddenly had a lot of “Negative” character traits. I was voluptuous, avaricious…I would even “pour the sweet milk of concord into Hell”, had I power. I remember sitting in the center of my favorite coffee shop thinking to myself, “Oh goodness, this is not the read I had on this guy.” At the end of the scene, I had a full page of negatives. Little did I know that two lines later I would give the Shakespearean equivalent of a “psych!”, and tell Macduff "just kidding!" and that I needed to test his allegiance to Scotland. So, not wanting to erase ALL the work I just did, I had to write “Lie” next to all the Negatives. Lol.
Suddenly, this became one of the hardest scenes--and characters!--of Shakespeare I had ever read. You have to be this responsible, maybe even underwhelming prince in Acts I and II, and then by the time you are visited in Act IV, fully convince Macduff that you are the most disgusting, horrific person to walk the earth and then assure him you just told the biggest lie of your life. And that he should follow you into battle.
What's it like to do it again?
To this day, it’s still one of the two hardest roles I’ve ever had to do. To have the opportunity to tackle it again, this time as a working professional actor out in the world, is a dream! Part of the reason I’m drawn to Fair Assembly and their work, is the focus on the craft and the ensemble and collaboration, but also the commitment to The Play itself - not a concept or idea of what The Play could be. And I’m excited to experiment with some new ideas that I have that will hopefully inform the heart and conviction of Malcolm and his journey - but only experimentation, trial, and failure will inform if those ideas work!