Interview: Sailing Solo with Charlie Bethel

Acclaimed solo-performer and amazing storyteller, Charlie Bethel currently performing in Orlando Shakespeare's THE ODYSSEY, sits down to answer some of BroadwayWorld.com questions. Bethel is an actor and writer from Minneapolis, MN, who finds inspiration from the everyday life we all live. THE ODYSSEY runs at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center from February 14 - March 17, 2013.

KM. Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. What is it like performing a solo show?

CB: It's like going on a first date with 150 people at the same time, and they're paying. No pressure, really, just be charming, beautiful and entertaining while they sit in the dark looking at you. Tell them exactly what they want to hear the way they want to hear it and you won't go wrong. The good news: I have the Power of Myth at my complete disposal.

KM. How do you manage carrying an entire show without getting tired?

CB: Actually, the audience helps with the energy management. They rarely know this, but they do help. The audience IS the other character in a solo show. They add energy to the room. I love audiences for this very reason. They are the life-blood of performance. Without them, it would only be a rehearsal, and rehearsing solo shows is not any fun, believe me. When I'm done performing a solo show, I feel like going out and dancing.

KM. Many of us dreaded reading Greek mythology in high school. Were you always interested in mythology?

CB: Myth/Story is the medium by which we are able to discern what life means. When you tell, or listen to, the old stories (and the really good new ones: viz Harry Potter, Life of Pi, Vagina: A new Biography, etc.), you access the core meaning of what it is to breathe and live, and fight and die, and kiss and love, and be and do. Our academic instructors do us all a huge disservice if and when they make mythology cold and heartless and distant from the human experience. We are people: emotionally, connected, and vulnerable to one another. And through story, we can make a bit of sense of things. And once we find meaning, we can create hope. This is the whole point of myth. Story allows us to live fully.

KM. What is most compelling about THE ODYSSEY?

CB: The basic tale itself is iconic: Guy gets lost. Guy is caught up in circumstance. Guy gets home after many hardships. Guy takes revenge. Guy boffs wife. Guy is home. The gods approve. What's not to love? Storms, sex goddesses, cannibalism, death, revenge, homecoming, seriously, what's not to love here?

KM. Is it challenging to make the content accessible for modern-day audiences?

CB: Modern audiences thirst for this kind of content, though they don't know it at first. The challenging part is convincing them, in the moment, given all of their prejudices and preconceptions, that the dish I am plating up, made completely unpalatable by the academy, is not only nutritious, but also delicious. Thankfully, I have an arsenal at my disposal to convince them: voice, movement and language, lighting and sound, are all powerful motivators in a darkened room.

KM. What is the most exciting and most challenging part of performing THE ODYSSEY?

CB: I love the Slaughter of the Suitors. EveryOne Dreams of taking mortal revenge on those who would woo his or her lover/wife/husband. I delight in their virtual deaths, the blood spilled, the mercy denied. That's the exciting part. The challenging part is probably the remembering of the long list of the names of the dying suitors in the same section. Many Greek men go down very fast. I try to name them all, and that can be challenging in any given performance. My Odyssey comprises over 13,000 words, and getting it right is a challenge on any day.

KM. Who inspired you to do this type of acting and storytelling?

CB: Wow. This is the hard question. Spaulding Gray? Mary-Louise Parker? A homeless man in Chicago reciting, actually bellowing "Invictus" in the street at 3 in the morning in the Winter of 1993? A pretty girl telling me about how her husband left her and how she just wants to be loved? Baal Shem Tov? God? The world inspires me to tell, the people and their places inspire me. Kisses, food, maps, it all inspires me.

KM. Your history in theater indicates that you're a jack-of-all trades, how do those past experiences influence your work today?

CB: I have a great deal of respect for the offstage theatre trades. Stage Managers, designers, directors, producers, scenic artists, properties artists, costume artists, lighting artists, marketing artists, accounting artists, development artists, artistic directors, all of these are gods to me, a pantheon of creators. And because I have done these jobs, naturally to lesser success than the people I work with these days, I am able to know what their capabilities and boundaries are. Therefore, as we labor together, we are able to speak in a kind of theatrical shorthand, and get things done a bit faster, or more easily, or with more humor, and sometimes all of those at once. Outside of this, it's just love and respect and total appreciation for their incredible artistry.

KM. What's your favorite part of story telling?

CB: Connection with the audience. Pleasing the other human beings around the fire. Discovering what we share in the collective memory. I love looking into the eyes of another person knowing, "you get what I'm telling you now, and you get it at the very core of your personhood." Very powerful stuff, for both of us.

KM. If you had to guess, hundreds of years from now, do you think these types of stories would still be relevant?

CB: Absolutely. No doubt. The ancient stories, and the modern ones that are the best, contain archetypes that are undeniable in their power. I once had the opportunity to hold in my hands a human placenta. I held it up to the sun, right side up and noticed the blood supply, which always takes the shape of a tree, and asked the midwife who was showing it to me, "Does the baby see this on a sunny day when mommy is lying down in the grass at the park?"

The midwife said, "Absolutely."

And I replied, "Holy crap. It's the Tree of Life!"

She said, "Sure is."

Every time you access an archetype, you get closer to the truth of what it is to be a person, and this is a good thing. Because people are good, and you are a person. Therefore you are good.

For tickets and more information visit www.orlandoshakes.org.

Photo Credit: Orlando Shakespeare Theatre