Word: svetlovidov
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Swan Song is a long soliloquy by an old actor, Vassily Vassilyith Svetlovidov (John Ross), punctuated occasionally by remarks from an equally ancient prompter (Peter Weil), whom Svetlovidov finds in a deserted theater. Svetlovidov is alternately pathetic and ridiculous, as he recalls his life on the stage...
Director Maurice Breslow has chosen to make the old actor rather self-assertive, a tired braggard, who occasionally recognizes what a fool he is. To portray Svetlovidov this way, Ross would need a greater range to his voice than he has. When he recites lines from Hamlet or Lear, Ross must convince the audience that the Svetlovidov he is playing really was great once--as the benefit he has just received suggests--and in this he fails...
Since Ross is unable to do this, I think Breslow should have made Svetlovidov a more reflective, quietly bitter man. Breslow's interpretation may be wrong in any case, since Ross seemed to be rushing through his lines...
Much of what Svetlovidov says is reverie, and his words should simply drift out of his mouth. Declaiming as he did, Ross could not give much gentleness to his character, and he lost the potential beauty of many lines...
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