Add another to the list of felons at AU

[Townhallsavoy]

Blake Burgess has a busy week ahead of him.
He’s got a murder to cover up, a pesky, slightly off-kilter nephew he’s trying to have killed, and Denmark’s not going to govern itself.

Normally, this type of behavior would be frowned upon.

But anything goes in Shakespearean tragedies.

“It’s not every day you get to plot someone’s murder in a malicious way,” said Auburn’s sophomore center, who is playing King Claudius in the University Theatre production of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” which opened Tuesday night.

“That’s kind of a release.”

Burgess has been splitting his time this spring between perfecting protections, reads and blocking technique as he battles for Auburn’s starting center spot and perfecting lines, marks and choreography as he gets into the role of the Shakespearean villain that made something rotten in the state of Denmark.

He’s managing. Barely.

“It’s been very crazy,” Burgess said. “It’s been a lot.”

‘The play’s the thing’

To hear Burgess tell it, his entrance to the theater sprung from a bout of sibling rivalry.

His older sister Brandi, who now studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, was doing it, so why couldn’t he?

“I was purely jealous of all the attention she was getting from her early theater career,” Burgess said. “But from that point on, I fell in love with it on my own.”

Burgess said he’s been in productions all over the spectrum, from “High School Musical” to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Chris Qualls, Assistant Professor of Theatre at Auburn, said one of his colleagues at Vestavia Hills — Burgess’ alma mater — emailed him two years ago to let him know about a promising prospect that would be arriving at Auburn soon.

“He said that Blake Burgess is coming and I should take a look at him,” said Qualls, who adapted and directed the university’s latest version of “Hamlet.”

“He told me to watch out for this kid. And I’m glad he told us.”

Qualls said Burgess initially applied — and was accepted — for the university’s musical theater program, but couldn’t make it work because it conflicted with football.

The first time Qualls saw Burgess act, he was doing a satirical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” for a class project.

What struck Qualls the most were Burgess’ sense of humor and stage presence.

So he was delighted when the 6-foot-2, 273-pounder auditioned for Claudius, even if he couldn’t exactly use that sense of humor as the “nefarious” king of Denmark.

“He showed an intimidating physical presence, but most importantly a complex emotional and intellectual portrayal of the character,” Qualls said. “Claudius is a multi-faceted character, not simply a cardboard villain.

“He requires an actor who can portray a real human being, rather than a melodramatic villain.”

That “intimidating physical presence” certainly helps when Burgess is stalking around the stage in a cloak, only the bottom of his face visible and his disembodied voice rumbling over the loudspeakers when he’s playing the double role of the Ghost — Claudius’ brother, the dearly departed King Hamlet.

And it’s about the only thing that sets him apart from the other actors during rehearsal.

He takes direction and gives suggestions, jokes around and debates the merits of shows with fellow actors during break.

But he’s a head taller than the other actors in most every scene.

And, at least during Saturday’s run-through, he was wearing UnderArmour 2010 National Championship shorts.

Qualls asked Burgess on Saturday if he’d been given a prop ring yet for a scene that required one.

“I have my own ring,” Burgess informed him. “It’s a big, gaudy football one.”

‘A hit, a very palpable hit’

Burgess, a walk-on, served as Ryan Pugh’s backup on the Tigers’ national championship team last year.

And, with Pugh’s graduation, he’s in the hunt to be the starter this year.

“There are so many things that go into whether you have a chance to play or not,” Burgess said. “There are so many things you don’t have control of, but Coach (Gene Chizik) said, ‘If you work your hardest, opportunities will come.’

“So that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been putting my nose to the grind and trying to let those opportunities come.”

With four starters graduating, offensive line coach Jeff Grimes has repeatedly stated it’s open season on every job.

And, after watching Levi Jones blossom from a walk-on into a first-round pick at Arizona State, Grimes is not in the business of counting out anybody.

“I don’t ever look at a guy any differently. I look at all these guys the same,” Grimes said. “I look at Blake the same way I do as any other guy. He certainly has progressed and I’m anxious to see what he’ll do with the rest of spring.”

As Burgess said, “it’s opportunity time.”

It also happens to be a time he has to share with an all-consuming acting endeavor.

“I just thank everyone who has helped me through this: my coaches, my director,” Burgess said. “They’ve been allowing me to do this and having slack in certain areas where they wouldn’t normally. It’s just been an honor.”

‘This above all: to thine own self be true’

Burgess and four or five other actors huddled during a break in Saturday’s rehearsal.

They were discussing Burgess’ T-shirt, which took some explaining.

It had a design of a football on it, with the words “UArts” — shorthand for his sister’s school — and “undefeated since 1876” accompanying it.

“That’s the year they were founded, and they’ve never had a football team,” Burgess explained to the group. “So they’ve never lost.”

For the most part, Burgess’ theater life is foreign to his football friends, and his football life is foreign to his acting friends.

But he deftly inhabits both worlds. Even if he gets a hard time about it from both groups.

“It goes both ways,” Burgess said. “But surprisingly it’s not as bad as you might think. It’s something both sides know I’m very passionate about. My theater friends know I’m really passionate about football, and my football friends know I’m really passionate about theater.”

The two skill sets required aren’t exactly mutually exclusive either.

Qualls said an athletic background is beneficial for actors, and Burgess is using it to great effect in his portrayal of Claudius.

“(Athletes are) very direct, objective-focused, comfortable with their physicality,” Qualls said. “They’re used to the idea of creating an ensemble while at the same time actively pursuing their own goals as a character.”

Burgess said taking direction, learning from mistakes and putting corrections into action permeate both his acting and football worlds.

But he’s just happy for the opportunity to step outside of himself for awhile.

“It’s something I love to do,” Burgess said. “To inhabit another character and become that is so much fun.

“(Claudius) is a departure from who I am. That’s always fun to explore.”

Burgess gets to explore today through Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Telfair B. Peet Theatre on campus, along with a Saturday show at 10 a.m.

He’ll take the final bow about two hours before suiting up for A-Day.

“That’ll be a fun morning,” he said.

dmorrison@oanow.com | 737-2568

 
 

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