Feste as Hieronimo/Revenge

There was only one actor multi-faceted and complex enough to play Heironimo, and that was Feste. This "sad clown" is able to reach down to the depths of raw despair and up to the heights of blood-thirsty mania within a moment. Oh yes, Feste was the only one with a dark and complex enough center to play Heironimo. You see, Feste sees the world as it is, and he knows what it means to struggle with disillusionment. Instead of entering an existential crisis, Feste stays detached and darkly bemused about the injustice of life, but he knows the dark side of human psychology very intimately. He is a wanderer and has nothing like a son to lose, but he says, in addition to his perverse sense of humour, this detachment is the only thing that has saved him from his own Hieronimo-like doubt and desperation.

You see, Feste is a fool- but a wise fool at that. Feste is a clown- but a sad clown at that. He is a man in opposition with himself, much like Hieronimo. Hieronimo is Knight-Marshal of Spain, and though he is in charge of Justice he can find none for his son. Feste can tap into this conflict and the madness it creates.

In addition, Feste is very circuitous in speech, and Heironimo is very circuitous is character- both hint at an absurdity of life. Feste himself, if he was more tied to the world that he examines, would be thrust into an existential crisis much like Heironimo.

In this way, however, Feste has a removed and omnipotent way about him that will work very well when he steps into the red-light and becomes the frame character of Revenge. During his audition, he was able to prove to me that he knows ways about this world that your average soldier or nobleman would shudder to think about. He has a way about him that is more knowing than those around him, much more able to accept the profane without blinking, much like Revenge.

Since rehearsals have started, and since they are cast in antagonistic roles, Barabas often challenges Feste to a battle of the wits, but Feste can out maneuver him every time. He just plays to Barabas's weakness; he will smile and bring up Barabas's desire for justice, or in other words, Barabas' want of revenge against Ferneze. Barabas is unable to find such an emotional hot-spot in Feste.

However, I know somewhere in the soul of this jester there is actually a vast ocean of world-worn wisdom. Wisdom that deep and dark enough to drown even the most balanced Knight-Marshal.