Joseph Lin - Theseus

 

Name:

Joseph Lin Chi Wo

Age:

22

School:

Chinese University of Hong Kong, MA in English Literature

Past experience:

Shows at CUHK

Fun fact:

Drama transformed me. It channeled my creative energy into the right place.

Why this production?

To understand Shakespeare you need to act it out. Stage directions such as blocking, i.e. how the characters stand in relation to each other, all these just make Shakespeare so much richer. This production is a much welcomed break from working on shows at the University, where people tend to be too serious. We would sit at a table and pour through the script, analyzing every tiny detail. Here, I work with a cast much younger than me. They have so much energy and they just laugh all the time. It is really brilliant.

What is your role and how would you describe your character in the play?

I play Theseus, the mythical king and creator of Athens. He represents law and order in the play, as opposed to Oberon, the fantastical fairy king. These two characters represent an interesting contrast. When characters talk to each other inside Athens, they always follow reason and everything is orderly. And when they go to the forest (symbolically a place of wilderness and fantasy), magic happens.

My favourite moment in the play is…

There are many. One has to be “the play within the play”. For this part there is an introduction that can have 2 different meanings depending on how you say it. If you focus on the lines without the punctuation, it is a fairly normal welcoming speech, but if you pay attention to the punctuation, the meaning not only changes 180 degrees. Just by putting in different punctuation, Shakespeare changed the meaning completely. That is a brilliant and funny speech.

What is Shakespeare to you?

Wow…what kind of question is that for a literature student! He is amazing. You just don’t know how his brain works. It boggles my mind that he can consistently produce so many brilliant works. For a typical writer you can expect 1 or 2 masterpieces in their career, but Shakespeare…everything is so tight. If you have tried to adapt his plays you will understand why. When you try to cut Shakespeare down you will realize that every word is there for a good reason. If you take away anything it’s just isn’t as good. That is just amazing.

Name a favourite dream.

I think a very fun dream would be similar to what happened inside A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when I can play tricks on people and have them fall in love.

What’s a favourite thing to do on a midsummer’s night?

When I was working on shows at the University, there’s always this moment close to midnight when I was so tired I want to give up, and then things would suddenly click together. One time it happened on a midsummer night when I was still an undergrad. The greatest moment is epiphany. When everything clicks beautifully together.