Struts & Frets: Interviews with the Cast and Crew of Love's Labour's Lost - Travis Klemm

Travis Klemm has been with us since the beginning. He stole our hearts in Two Gentlemen of Verona, dutifully brought them back in The Taming of the Shrew, and pawned off our hearts and our sanity in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [Abridged]. He's been the butt of many jokes, the victim of constant double-casting, and one of our hardest workers. Sometimes it's hard to say why we love him so much, but we're certainly glad he wandered into your lives.

Plus, we get a government subsidy for keeping him off the streets--
Er...we mean...nevermind.

HID: Travis, for $25,000: What are Longaville and Dull’s favorite color and why?

TK: Longaville's favorite color is ninja turtle green. He always secretly wanted to be a pizza eating crime fighter, and thinks of the dudes of Navar a bit like an exclusive bale of turtles. 

Dull's favorite color is dark white. Not grey, mind you. Dark white. It may only exist in his mind, you'd have to ask him what that looks like.   And I'd assume his answer would be "Its white…but darker" 

HID: By now you’ve got a reputation for playing multiple roles in Hamlet Isn’t Dead shows. Do you have a process for approaching each character that helps you make them so different?

TK: It's always a little different for each character, but I basically find a physical hook for each one, right off the bat, and let the character evolve from there. Sometimes it's a stance or a walk, sometimes it's something a bit sillier. Like "What if Thurio had personal space issues, and just touches people a bit too much?". It's always a character by character issue, but I find that especially with multi-rolling, clear & distinct physical traits help keep different characters easily identifiable. Vocal choices and different sets of actions tend to fall into place pretty quickly after that.

HID: If you were going to play every single role in one of Shakespeare’s plays, which would it be? And how do you think it would be received?

TK: Definitely a tragedy. I think a one man show full of death and murder would be a lot of fun. Titus maybe. I think playing a girl with no hands who is also playing a man cutting off his own hand has some real potential for greatness. 

HID: Are there any moments in LLL that are difficult as an actor not to laugh at?

TK: Tons. Some I've entirely given up on, but they're semi-appropriate moments for me to be laughing (and hopefully the audience will be so busy laughing themselves that it'll slide past unnoticed). I have a very hard time keeping a straight face anytime José is onstage. 

HID: Anything else we need to know about you or the show itself?

TK: It's great!! You should buy your tickets early and often. Oh, and if you get the chance you should read some of the notes that get tossed around during the show. They range from comedic genius to utter filth. 

Challenge accepted! Come catch the love (and a furiously balled-up haiku) with Travis and the rest at Love's Labour's Lost!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For tickets and more information, you can either go here: http://hidlove.bpt.me/
or here: http://www.hamletisntdead.com

If you haven't Liked us already on Facebook, now is the time! All the cool kids are doing it.
https://www.facebook.com/HamletIsntDead

If Twitter's more your speed, we have that too. We just want to please you any way we can.
https://twitter.com/hamletisntdead

Or to see us in action, you can check us out (and subscribe, hint, hint) at https://www.youtube.com/user/hamletisntdead

Basically, if you want to follow us, you just put hamletisntdead after something. And why wouldn't you want to follow us?? We're a lot of fun. So, see you soon for Love's Labour's Lost!

And remember, it's Hamlet Isn't Dead:
Theatre You’ll Love, Whether You Like It Or Not!