How Does Atticus Change In To Kill A Mockingbird
Alex Cochran, Deseret News
The spotlight fell upon Richard Thomas as he stood on the stage. Act One of the play "The Member of the Wedding ceremony," based on Carson McCullers' novel, was coming to an end, and in that instant, Thomas had an of import moment of self-realization.
"'OK, this is what you are. You lot're an player,'" Thomas recalled himself thinking. "'This is who you are. This is yous. This is your life.'"
He was 9 years old.
Today, the 71-yr-erstwhile actor said he has never questioned his profession, joking that yous demand other skills to be able to consider another career. His exploration of the interim world started early — he was 7 when he fabricated his Broadway debut.
"Children have a sense of who they are and who they desire to be a lot sooner than a lot of people realize," Thomas recently told the Deseret News. "I only was lucky enough to exist actually doing it when I realized it."
Over the years, Thomas has appeared in countless productions on TV, film and Broadway. Although he is well known for his portrayal of John-Boy in the 1970s series "The Waltons," he's also had lead roles in movies including "The Red Bluecoat of Courage" and "All Quiet on the Western Front."
Now, that epiphany from his childhood has led him to portraying Atticus Finch in a newer have on Harper Lee's classic "To Kill a Mockingbird," which but concluded a run in Table salt Lake City and is now moving on to the West Declension.
Aaron Sorkin reinterprets Atticus in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
When Thomas first heard almost "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of "To Kill a Mockingbird" — which had a 2018 Broadway debut with Jeff Daniels in the role of Atticus — Thomas knew he wanted to be a office of the show in some capacity.
So when an invitation to star as Atticus in the production's national tour came along, the player was fix.
Similar the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel — which follows the story of Tom Robinson, an honest Black man accused of raping a white woman in 1930s Alabama — Sorkin'south "To Kill a Mockingbird" hasn't been without controversy. Prior to its debut, Sorkin's script ran into issues with Lee'south manor considering it strayed from the novel. The manor was specially concerned with the liberties the script took when it came to Robinson's lawyer Atticus, whose views are challenged and called into question.
But for Thomas, this was ane of the biggest draws.
"He's really taken Atticus downward off that pedestal, which is great because icons are unplayable — you can't play an icon," Thomas said. "Y'all tin can play a human, a person, because icons are non interesting equally theatrical roles."
In reinterpreting Atticus, Sorkin creates more vulnerability for the character, Thomas said. Audiences see Atticus struggling to raise his children and struggling to maintain his idealism. His challenges and breakdowns are more than transparent. And through substantially expanding the function of Calpurnia, the Finches' Black housekeeper, Sorkin has created a stronger vocalisation that is simultaneously supportive and disquisitional of Atticus — a relationship Thomas chosen "one of the most moving parts of the play."
"He'south predictable the problems with the whole white savior scenario," Thomas said, noting how the novel has sometimes been criticized for perpetuating that trope and leaving Black characters relegated to the margins in a story nearly oppression.
"I would hope this makes him a more relatable character rather than a sort of a father effigy, which he is to the kids but not to the audition — nor should he be," he continued. "He's but a good man trying to practice the correct thing. Merely also, with a very naive point of view most everybody'south goodness."
Bringing 'To Impale a Mockingbird' to life
Thomas first read "To Impale a Mockingbird" as a kid in school. But in preparing to bring the character of Atticus to life, the role player revisited the novel, which unexpectedly ended up being one of the nearly rewarding parts of starring in Sorkin's product.
"Every bit with a lot of books we read in schoolhouse, it's not a book for kids; it's a book for adults," Thomas said. "And so if you liked 'Mockingbird' and if it meant something to you as a young person, and you want to, you lot should read information technology once more as an adult because it'south a whole dissimilar experience and very, very deep and very fulfilling."
The national "Mockingbird" bout started in late March. Six months later, Thomas' routine has largely stayed the same. On the dark of a performance, he spends the whole solar day thinking about how he will perform once the curtain rises. He gets to the theater about 90 minutes before a testify, and runs through the story in his mind, letting "Richard and Atticus slowly come together."
Although the script doesn't change, no operation is the same. Dark after night, audiences connect with different moments, and have varying reactions to the same scenes.
"If in that location'due south no audience, it's not theater," Thomas said. "They are the other character in the theater with yous. They are doing the show with y'all every nighttime. It'southward like y'all accept a new actor in the part of the audience every night, and you don't know how they're going to respond moment to moment."
One commonality Thomas has found, though, is the overall response to the production.
"Nosotros all similar our applause, but in that location is such a feeling of the play being embraced emotionally past the audiences," he said. "So information technology's really gratifying. It's very moving for me. At the end of the evidence, the audience demonstrates that we all shared something, and that means a great deal."
'To Impale a Mockingbird' gets shelved on Broadway
The warm reception Thomas has received on tour stands in stark contrast to the trouble the product has recently faced on Broadway.
In tardily July, it was announced that Sorkin's adaptation of "To Kill a Mockingbird" was being shelved on Broadway — a controversial determination made by former producer Scott Rudin, who still owns the rights to the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rudin told the show's team in an email that he had "a lack of conviction in the climate for plays next winter," and that he "did non believe that a remount of 'Mockingbird' would take been competitive in the market," per IndieWire.
"It's too risky and the downside is too great," Rudin wrote, according to IndieWire. "It'south the right decision for the long life of the show."
This arguably puts the national bout of "Mockingbird" fifty-fifty more in the spotlight, only Thomas said the bout is a "separate entity" and far removed from the pressures the Broadway product has faced.
"People are coming like crazy and enjoying it," he said. "The route has actually been a piffling scrap more secure than New York and Broadway at this point, in terms of being able to stay open. People are flocking to the theaters on tour. They really desire to get out and come across shows, so we're reaping the benefit of that."
The tour extends through summertime 2023. Every bit it travels from coast to coast, from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, Thomas believes information technology will go along to receive praise and success, largely thanks to an adaptation that brings something new to a familiar story.
"These different iterations of classic materials should be different," he said. "It should modify. It should, you know, reflect where we're at now. That's really important to me, and it makes information technology more than just a museum piece."
Source: https://www.deseret.com/2022/9/11/23339268/to-kill-a-mockingbird-national-tour-richard-thomas-atticus
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