Q: As soldier number 14?

A: Soldier number 14 is a particularly good role because soldiers number 1 through 12 are killed in the first ten minutes of the opera. Soldier number 14, the privileged one, is the messenger's assistant. The messenger comes to tell the high priest that Samson has killed soldiers number 1 through 12; that's a very good part because I move alone on stage, clearly, conspicuously, to my own individual, personal set of cues. During the high priest's area of vengeance against the Jews, I had to show tremendous hatred toward the Jews, and that took a bit of acting.

Q: Do directors generally pay close attention to how well you're playing the part?

A: Different directors will have different styles. Some will work a lot with the extras to get them to do the right emotions. There are others who will just assume that it all gets done. As far as I can tell, it works either way--it's not that sophisticated that you have to devise a "concept."

Q: How complex are the motions you have to portray? Are they generally things like fear, happiness...?

A: Yes, it's usually on that level. "Look afraid." "Hear a sound, look around." "Look worried and disturbed." Fear is a big one. Happiness comes up occasionally.

Molto Allegro

Q: What are some great happy moments?

A: A happy scene might be during the last act of [Wagner's] Meistersinger, laughing at Beckmesser, who is a comic character. Or, another one from Samson and Delilah, the Bacchanale scene which ends in Samson's knocking down the pillars, is a drunken orgy. You're supposed to be doing whatever you want, so you wander around and slap people on the shoulders in no apparent order onstage. I was talking to people and revelling and having a good time.

Then there are the stealthy moments. Another example from Samson and Delilah: I was one of the blinders, the people who blind Samson in the second act. There's a storm, the stage is dark--the ten of us have to prowl around the stage before we sneak up and pounce on him.

Q: Was he shaken up?

A: Yes, he was "visibly" upset. After that is the famous scene where he knocks the temple down. Samson stands between two pillars at the center of the stage. They have pillars with wire frames and canvas made to look like rock, and they hang from the ceiling. There are two men crouched behind the pillars, which are fake, so when he pushes his hands out, the two men do something and the pillars fall together. Then all these fake rocks fall, and I get hit by a rock and fall dead. But then, the frightening thing is, one of the two real pillars on the side comes crashing down across the front of the stage. It's made of solid wood, and it's about 30 or 40 feet high, so it's a real thousand pound pillar, and they let it freely drop. The ballet people have to scamper out of the way. That's really a fear moment.

Q: Sounds like a pretty convincing death scene.

A: The Siege of Corinth has a similar scene at the end, after we kill the women, The city burns--there was smoke on stage, if I remember--and again there were rocks. Unfortunately, the falling rocks were a lot more prominent, because the stage was better lit, and they bounced a bit. That didn't look too cool.

Q: Were you in any other great death scenes?