Demetra Pittman, Actor
Demetra Pittman is an actor at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She portrayed Sicinius in Coriolanus.
Audio Excerpt
Pittman talks about the complexity of characters
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Interview Excerpts
ON CORIOLANUS
DEMETRA PITTMAN: With this, my role is—I’m a representative of the people. I’m one of the tribunes of the people. And I see this character, Coriolanus, who is sort of a hero slash anti-hero as a definite threat to the people. I don’t want him to come into power because I believe he will be selfish and arrogant and have a great deal of disdain for the people which indeed, he does express. And yet there’s a strange code of honor about him. He’s also very attractive, and to a certain degree there’s a certain amount of his ability to draw the people in. He’s a great speaker and very persuasive about his own opinions. But ultimately, he does not have the people’s interest at heart. At least that’s what we feel, the tribunes feel. So it’s a very dark, complex, complicated play that seems to reverberate today.
ON THE COMPLEXITY OF CHARACTERS
DEMETRA PITTMAN: When people say something about Shakespeare plays and you need to stay true to the text, and you need to do it in period. And it’s kind of this sacred thing that they have. With regard to choosing a particular identity, I think for each individual that’s up to them to choose how they want to define themselves. And nobody else outside should be telling you who you are. Nowadays, there are many, many people who have mixed racial backgrounds, for example. To have somebody say, choose one, pick one, that’s it, is not even accurate. You know, there’s the assumption that if you choose one, that’s accurate. It’s not. It’s complex. It’s so many things. It’s much more complex. It’s a complex issue. There’s more in the mix. It’s hard for people to accept complexity. And I revel in it. I love complexity. I revel in studying characters, study complex characters is just fascinating. And it’s just more about what life is about. Life isn’t black and white. It’s all the shade in between. That to me is what’s exciting, what I do, what I get to say is No, it isn’t just this or just that. No, it’s complex. There’s more to it. Isn’t it great that there is more? Isn’t it great that there is this complexity of character, of our own individual selves? I mean, wow! It’s fantastic.
ON THE TRANSCENDENCE OF SHAKESPEARE
DEMETRA PITTMAN: To me, our personal definitions are so personal. They’re some of the most personal things about us. And so particularly when you’re an actor, and you’re in front of the public a lot, and you are asked to work in plays a lot, act in plays a lot, and do a lot of characters, these kinds of issues are going to come up for you. Shakespeare, I’ve felt, has been one of the most comfortable for me, playwrights to work on, because the plays are old enough, and brilliant enough, that they seem to transcend generations, and they seem to transcend cultures. Clearly that’s what they’ve done. And yet, the core of them is a European, is that Medieval mindset. That’s at the core. And no matter what you do with them, you’re dealing with that at all times, in the language, in his thoughts, in the characters, and how you, if you want to bring the play into modern times, which we do all the time, that’s the only way we can do it because we’re not of that time, then we’re always interpreting it. There’s always this amount of complexity in terms of your own personal identity—race, gender, your own personal definitions. You’re always dealing with that. But the beauty of Shakespeare is that you can bring all that to it and still have it speak and actually sing and soar.
