A Closer Look at Edmond Dantes | The Count of Monte Cristo
When Matthew Holloway auditioned for The Count of Monte Cristo, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. The freshman Communication Arts major did not know the story or any of the major characters but tried out anyway for his first collegiate play, never dreaming that he would land the lead role of Edmond Dantes.
What do you enjoy about playing Edmond Dantes?
It’s been incredible to get inside of the character’s head. It was extremely frustrating in the beginning because I’m used to being able to understand the character’s within a day or two of thinking about it. For the longest time, I could not figure out who this guy was or what was going on. It took me about two weeks to correctly interpret the character.
A lot of the time, [Edmond] is very reserved and at other times he’s extremely sharp. He has many double meanings that he uses in conversation. It’s been cool to see that and take on that character.
Our director has helped me add layers to this character. Last week, we worked to give Edmond more energy. He’s not going to be a “Mr. Darcy” character; he’s going to have a lot more energy than that. Now that I have the stalwart side down, I can add the energetic layer so when I get shocked or jarred, the audience can see the contrast.
What about his character do you find yourself connecting with?
[Edmond] uses a lot of large words and I’ve started using a lot of weird large words in normal conversation.
He’s a very conflicted guy. In the beginning, there’s zero part of him that’s worldly-wise; he’s very sheltered. And in the span of one day, he gets destroyed. There are certain areas of my life in which I am a very trusting person and I’ve had a few people take advantage of that. That betrayal is devastating. It’s easy to draw on my own emotions for that and feel the pain that he endured.
I love playing him in the later years because he has such a developed sense of hiding all his pain and it’s manifesting itself as revenge. And when there’s no more revenge to be had, all the pain comes out. All the emotions that come out at the end are actually who he is. It resonates with the innermost part of me because that’s his real self coming out after his whole life has been fake.
When you’re getting into character, what aspects of Edmond do you find yourself easily imitating? What aspects do you struggle with?
I feel like I’m good at being an angry actor. I’ve tried to pull back on that because he’s not angry all the time. It’s easy to get into the passion that he’s feeling.
I struggle with his complicated personality and letting that show on stage. It’s hard to balance the anger, despair, stalwartness, and giddy excitement. It’s difficult to not make it seemed scatter-brained. He’s very calculated and multi-faceted. Figuring out and visibly displaying that raw humanness is very difficult.
What have you learned from your character?
It’s been good to see how he realizes at the end that his revenge did not get him anywhere worthwhile. It got him plenty of places, but it caused him more pain. It’s very pertinent to see how he exposes other people through the whole story.
He is essentially the antagonist and protagonist at the same time in the story. It’s a crazy thing because it’s not even two sides of his personality – that’s just how it is. It’s incredible how he is able as the protagonist to expose all these horrible people while carrying out his antagonistic ideas.
It’s interesting to see how there are a lot of people who you know and interact with daily who are not who they say they are. They do not have the goals that they say they have. While I can pick those fake people out, it can be bad because I tag those people immediately and then don’t give them the benefit of the doubt at all. At one point, [Edmond] destroys this guy and then realizes the hurt and pain that [the guy] has gone through because of his poor choices.
[It’s important to] realize that everyone has their own story and has their reasons. A lot of times it’s because of their past experiences. People are not one-sided. You can’t make a good decision based on one interaction with a person. It’s hypocritical to do that; I hate it when people do that to me.
The Count of Monte Cristo opens Thursday night, April 15, and runs through Saturday, April 17. Tickets are available at mbu.tix.com.