Pierre Lien - Nick Bottom

Name:
Pierre Lien

Age:

23

School:

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, M. Phil in Linguistics

Past experience:
In my secondary school days each year we have inter-class drama competition, and I’ve come to acknowledge my interest in acting. I like to perform. In university I took part in 2 consecutive years of CUHK's Shakespeare festival where a lot of universities in China, Macau, Taiwan participate. The criteria is to direct a 20 min short play. Through that I performed in Henry the Fourth, and directed Twelfth Night, which we won. I directed Joseph (Theseus) in the latter.

How does this production compare with competitions?
In a competition we want to please the judges, so we cater for them: highly intellectual academic types. They’re very different than having a live audience, who are just people from the general population.

A lot of cast members are much younger than you, how is that affecting the dynamics?

The greatest challenge for the younger cast members is to understand what the play means. Working with them is sometimes telling them what their lines mean, so I have to take a more active role in negotiating what they are talking about. It’s great fun working with the little ones. I wouldn’t have thought that before.

What is your role in this production and how would you describe him/her?
I play Bottom, one of the mechanics. Bottom is a really lovable character. He is so egoistic that he needs to say the last lines for every single scene. So self-centred that he can’t see other people. I won’t say I identify with him, but I got to really like him. If I meet him in real life I’d really hate him, but in a play, you get to kind of love the “jerkiness”. 


It’s hard not to overdo Bottom, because he’s such a superfluous person. I tend to go over the top in every single instance, which rather flattens the character. Hence, one of the greatest challenge is to control him. To go back a little bit, and try to give him depth by giving him contrast. 


My favourite character in this play is...

Bottom is my favourite. You can put Bottom in any other Shakespeare play and it’s instantly funny, even the tragedies can become a comedy. My 2^nd favourite is Puck, the naughty, mischevious character.  

Is it fun then that you're playing a character which has a lot of interactions with Puck?

It’s interesting because Bottom cannot see Puck. That is a great challenge. There’s this scene when I’m holding a piece of paper and Sherman just takes it. I have to imagine the paper flying away when he’s physically just right there.

Do you see yourself in Bottom?
5 years ago I would say yes. In my secondary school days I was the superfluous, egoistic guy. Now I think I have grown up a bit. So playing Bottom is somewhat a reflection on myself.

My most memorable dream is...
There’s this time when I was 7 and I dreamt of my grandpa, whom I’ve never seen in life. In the dream I was with grandpa enjoying a meal, the feeling was very happy and joyous. So even if I don’t remember the story, it is a beautiful dream.

On a midsummer night I love to...

I was on vacation in the Philipines one summer and we were just sitting on the beach at night, looking at the stars, it was so great I wish that night is every single night. 

What is love to you?

I don’t think Bottom understands love…love to him equals lust. To me, however, you can’t quantify love. Right now society is quantifying love too much. There’s no degree to it. You can’t grab it or look for it. I believe that love looks for you, not the other way round. 

If I have magical powers I would...
Use it to punish people who invented homework and assignments. From a young age I’ve hated it.