Post by Ash Blake on Nov 15, 2020 5:54:50 GMT -5
You have reached the voicemail box of PET'UH GAHVEY, please leave a message after the tone.
"Peter, darling, could you be a dear and deliver a get well soon card to Graham Baker's hospital room? I just, I worry about him is all. And besides, nothing says 'it wasn't personal' better than checking on his well-being well before any of his so-called friends do."
"I've never claimed to be a thespian, Dionysis, but I like to think I know a thing or two about masks."
The tragedian mask sits, propped up at the center of a small circular table. Behind it stands Ash Blake, AW World Television Championship slung over her shoulder, fingertips pressed against the table's surface.
"The same can't really be said of you, can it? Mister Leading Man, so absorbed in the world of the theatre that you've gone and let it infect you to your core. You let the theatre seep into the folds of your brain and crooks of your joints. And, honestly? It looks good on you. It's fitting; truthfully, I don't know if I've ever seen a moniker as effective of a summation of one's essence quite like you literally calling yourself The Leading Man. Because it betrays what you really are, just under the skin."
A coy smile.
"A prissy, preening, primadonna flailing desperately in hopes of landing the perfect role. Because that's the ugly truth that actors don't like to admit, right? That they need the role much more than the role will ever need them. The role is the role no matter the performer; every performer, then, must shift and contort themselves into the right shape to fit.
"Now, I'm not much of an actor myself, and I'm admittedly no student of the arts, though dabble I may. But, I like to think I have an eye for talent; when you grow up in rural Kansas, you learn real quick how to separate the wheat from the chaff. And to that end, I think I can pretty well articulate what separates a great actor from a good one.
"But — truth be told, Dionysus — I don't think you'll like to hear it.
"Because a good actor is a chameleon. They can slip into any role, don any mask they like and carry themselves convingly. They can play pretend better than just about anyone else on the planet. And consequently, they can fool anyone they want.
"I think you're a good actor, Dionysus. You'd certainly have to be, with all the masks you've slipped on, both literal and figurative. Isn't that right, Crimson Gladiator? So decked out in homage to the brutal bloodsports that this industry can trace its lineage back to. So harsh and rough & tumble, ready to take names.
"That is, until you slip on the purple and become the hedonistic bard channeling your namesake's essence. Or you don the masks of old ancients embody the theatre itself and become the medium for your message. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the newest mask, the one stapled to your face right now; the blank. The amnesiac. The stranger from nowhere, locked into a body whose past he barely understands.
"It's an inspiring performance, truly. Again, you're a good actor.
"But therein lies the difference between a good actor and a great one. A good actor can slip into any role; a great actor makes the role become them.
"The mark of a great actor isn't in how unrecognizable they are when they let the mask and fall and their true selves reinhabit their body; rather, it's the inverse. A great actor is defined by the fact that when the mask is gone, they look exactly the same. To the point where you can't even tell where the mask ends and they begin.
"A good actor can fool anyone. A great actor doesn't need to.
"And you haven't found that role, have you? That's why the Crimson Gladiator donned the suit. That's why Dionysus put on the mask. Because you're still contorting yourself to fit the mask. Because that's all you've ever done, and at this rate I'm not so confident you'll ever learn the lesson.
"Because the first step to making the role become you is to know who you are in the first place. Is that a low blow? Something you shouldn't say to someone with massive memory issues? Under normal circumstances, maybe, but this isn't a new thing for you. This has been your life, in whole and in part. Just scratching around the periphery, trying so desperately to get in where you fit in that you've never self-actualized. You've never taken control. You've just been looking for a part to play.
"And that's no way to make your living in this industry. And while the fall from the pinnacle of your career put you here, another former world champion's head I could mount, I can't help but feel for you in a way that I couldn't feel for Jason O'Neal. A way that I will never feel for Winston DiVito.
"Because they took control. They seized it. And they sure as hell didn't have this much trouble finding a mask that fit."
A beat.
"Y'know, everyone's waiting for the moment. The reveal. The slip. Where I stumble and show myself to be exactly what they want me to be. What they need me to be, because of my affiliation. But that's the difference between you and me.
"You go mask on to disguise the fact that your nine lives ran out three comebacks ago. I've been mask off this whole time because I never needed to front.
"Why not start your new life today? Because the only thing your little hot streak has accomplished is make it my responsibility to remind you what it's like to lose."
You have reached the voicemail box of Carter Shaw, please leave a message at the tone.
"You did great, hun! I'm proud of you."
"Peter, darling, could you be a dear and deliver a get well soon card to Graham Baker's hospital room? I just, I worry about him is all. And besides, nothing says 'it wasn't personal' better than checking on his well-being well before any of his so-called friends do."
The tragedian mask sits, propped up at the center of a small circular table. Behind it stands Ash Blake, AW World Television Championship slung over her shoulder, fingertips pressed against the table's surface.
"The same can't really be said of you, can it? Mister Leading Man, so absorbed in the world of the theatre that you've gone and let it infect you to your core. You let the theatre seep into the folds of your brain and crooks of your joints. And, honestly? It looks good on you. It's fitting; truthfully, I don't know if I've ever seen a moniker as effective of a summation of one's essence quite like you literally calling yourself The Leading Man. Because it betrays what you really are, just under the skin."
A coy smile.
"A prissy, preening, primadonna flailing desperately in hopes of landing the perfect role. Because that's the ugly truth that actors don't like to admit, right? That they need the role much more than the role will ever need them. The role is the role no matter the performer; every performer, then, must shift and contort themselves into the right shape to fit.
"Now, I'm not much of an actor myself, and I'm admittedly no student of the arts, though dabble I may. But, I like to think I have an eye for talent; when you grow up in rural Kansas, you learn real quick how to separate the wheat from the chaff. And to that end, I think I can pretty well articulate what separates a great actor from a good one.
"But — truth be told, Dionysus — I don't think you'll like to hear it.
"Because a good actor is a chameleon. They can slip into any role, don any mask they like and carry themselves convingly. They can play pretend better than just about anyone else on the planet. And consequently, they can fool anyone they want.
"I think you're a good actor, Dionysus. You'd certainly have to be, with all the masks you've slipped on, both literal and figurative. Isn't that right, Crimson Gladiator? So decked out in homage to the brutal bloodsports that this industry can trace its lineage back to. So harsh and rough & tumble, ready to take names.
"That is, until you slip on the purple and become the hedonistic bard channeling your namesake's essence. Or you don the masks of old ancients embody the theatre itself and become the medium for your message. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the newest mask, the one stapled to your face right now; the blank. The amnesiac. The stranger from nowhere, locked into a body whose past he barely understands.
"It's an inspiring performance, truly. Again, you're a good actor.
"But therein lies the difference between a good actor and a great one. A good actor can slip into any role; a great actor makes the role become them.
"The mark of a great actor isn't in how unrecognizable they are when they let the mask and fall and their true selves reinhabit their body; rather, it's the inverse. A great actor is defined by the fact that when the mask is gone, they look exactly the same. To the point where you can't even tell where the mask ends and they begin.
"A good actor can fool anyone. A great actor doesn't need to.
"And you haven't found that role, have you? That's why the Crimson Gladiator donned the suit. That's why Dionysus put on the mask. Because you're still contorting yourself to fit the mask. Because that's all you've ever done, and at this rate I'm not so confident you'll ever learn the lesson.
"Because the first step to making the role become you is to know who you are in the first place. Is that a low blow? Something you shouldn't say to someone with massive memory issues? Under normal circumstances, maybe, but this isn't a new thing for you. This has been your life, in whole and in part. Just scratching around the periphery, trying so desperately to get in where you fit in that you've never self-actualized. You've never taken control. You've just been looking for a part to play.
"And that's no way to make your living in this industry. And while the fall from the pinnacle of your career put you here, another former world champion's head I could mount, I can't help but feel for you in a way that I couldn't feel for Jason O'Neal. A way that I will never feel for Winston DiVito.
"Because they took control. They seized it. And they sure as hell didn't have this much trouble finding a mask that fit."
A beat.
"Y'know, everyone's waiting for the moment. The reveal. The slip. Where I stumble and show myself to be exactly what they want me to be. What they need me to be, because of my affiliation. But that's the difference between you and me.
"You go mask on to disguise the fact that your nine lives ran out three comebacks ago. I've been mask off this whole time because I never needed to front.
"Why not start your new life today? Because the only thing your little hot streak has accomplished is make it my responsibility to remind you what it's like to lose."
You have reached the voicemail box of Carter Shaw, please leave a message at the tone.
"You did great, hun! I'm proud of you."